LED Lighting - A Buyer’s Guide
What You Should Know To Benefit From New Ultra Low Energy LED Lighting
Whether you are simply curious about the new LED Lighting solutions starting to appear in mainstream DIY and hardware supply stores, or already know a bit about LED technology and are keen to do your bit to help in the coming struggle against climate change (global warming) or just want to take steps to slash your electricity bills, the fact is that LED lighting is the future.
So you’re going to have to come to grips with this and learn what this future means to you personally. This article aims to clear up some of the confusion that surrounds the various lighting solutions currently available to consumers and provide a helpful guide to evaluating and buying LED lighting.
Some Background About Domestic Lighting Solutions
The lighting systems we are most familiar with in a domestic setting are based on GLS (General Lighting Service ) light bulbs - these are incandescent filaments that burn (quite literally) and in so doing convert their input energy into about 98% heat (as you would expect for something that is burning) with the remainder given off as incidental light.
GLS bulbs have a typical lifespan of about 1000 hours, at which point, having converted your these-days-not-very-cheap electricity into vastly more heat than light, they need to be replaced. Put another way, if you started out in life with a single GLS light bulb that you used for just 4 hours per evening, you would need to re-purchase well over 100 replacements during the course of your life.
At approximately $1 per light bulb say, that’s $100. And if you think that’s a high price to pay for having a little light in your life, the cost of running your GLS bulb far exceeds the replacement costs at somewhere above $1000 in electricity bills.
And that’s just ONE measly little light bulb for a few small hours each evening. Now you know why your electricity bill is so much bigger that you would like it to be. There’s more here about calculating lighting costs if you’re interested.
So… regular GLS incandescent light bulbs are economically a poor choice for you directly. But they are also a very bad way to light the world in general.
Not only are you (and everyone else) generating a huge amount of waste heat (remember: 2% illumination, 98% heat radiation), there is also the energy and heat required by the lighting manufacturers to make all those replacement light bulbs (we’ll ignore the disposal issue, but that’s yet another concern).
Needless to say, governments around the world are alarmed by this and many governments in the developed world (where frankly the problem is worst) have already enacted legislation to phase out the production and use of standard incandescent lamps, with timescales as short as 2 to 3 years.
Yes, you read that correctly - very soon you will not be able to buy GLS light bulbs anymore.
So What About Low Energy Light Bulbs?
What indeed about low energy (for which read CFL or Compact Fluorescent Lamp) light bulbs? There is a short discussion here about how low energy CFL bulbs compare to GLS and LED lighting for those of a curious nature, but the short answer is that they are bad news on all fronts.
Total cost of ownership of CFLs is poor (the full purchase and running costs taken together); light quality is horrid; they are bulky, ungainly and downright ugly; most are not dimmable; energy efficiency is not all that great; and the cherry on top - CFLs contain toxic mercury vapour and are therefore hazardous waste.
No wonder even the lighting industry itself is keen to get beyond CFLs and into a lighting technology that really can deliver safe, high-quality light that is low-cost, low-energy, low-heat, low-carbon footprint, ultra long life-span. And the solution that lighting industry giants such as Philips have put their investment behind is: LED home lighting.
So when you can no longer find GLS light bulbs at your local store in a couple of years time, guess what you’re going to be buying? So now, time to learn what you need to know and what points to consider when buying LED lights for your home or business.
The Facts About Buying LED Lighting
The first thing to understand about LEDs is that the light they emit is directional - focused on a single spot. So they are an excellent choice for any existing lighting applications that have similar characteristics.
We’re talking here about:
spot lights, accent lighting, tracks and clusters, recessed down lights, security lighting, courtesy lights, desk lamps, decorative & feature lighting
LEDs also work very well in strips, so under kitchen units and inside cupboards are ideal applications not least because they give off almost no heat, plus their super-bright light is required in a relatively small area rather than spread widely.
What they are less good at (at the moment) is all round illumination of the sort you get from say a table lamp with a lamp shade.
So, point one: stick initially to what LED lighting currently does best - directional lighting.
LED Light Colours
The second area that gets people in a muddle, simply because it’s never been a consideration before when purchasing domestic lighting, is “color”. This is not just color as in green, yellow, red, blue, orange and all the other bright, rich and vibrant colors that are available to LED home lighting.
What is mostly meant by color in the context of LEDs is “white color”. LED lamps are available in a range of different “white colors”, meaning the difference between a softer, warmer form of illumination and a sharper, colder effect.
The “color” scale for LEDs is measured in Kelvins and ranges from just below 2000K which has a yellow/orange tinge, through 4000K which is roughly neutral and going up from there to a quite bluish hue. The colors associated with any particular LED product are often described as being one of “warm white”, “white” or “cool white”.
As a general rule warm white LED lights work best indoors as it is closer to the color we have become accustomed to with GLS bulbs, and cool white is a good choice for outdoors or anywhere where you might want sharper definition and illumination that more approximates daylight.
LED Equivalent Wattages
Next, we get to power ratings. We are used to traditional light bulbs being rated according to their wattage (the amount of energy they consume), so we know that 100w is pretty bright while 40w is comfortable in a lounge for example and 10w is basically a courtesy or night light.
LED lights don’t conform to this scale for the obvious reason that they don’t consume anywhere close to the same amount of electricity since nearly all their input power is converted to light rather than wasted as heat. So how do we compare the two?
If you wanted to replace a 50w halogen lamp (both MR16 and GU10 fittings are commonly available for LED equivalent replacements) then you would most likely being looking at an LED spot light rated at 10w.
It’s worth mentioning at this point that using LEDs with a dimmer switch can be an issue for the very reason that they are so low wattage. Conventional dimmer switches invariably require quite large loads (high wattages) otherwise they buzz, hum and generally don’t work. Clearly the tiny wattages associated with LED lamps are nowhere near enough to drive these beasts, and so in general people either opt to install LED lights for applications where dimming is not required or purchase dimmer units designed for this purpose.
However, as always it’s not quite so simple. Your choice of color will make a difference - cooler colors will appear much sharper and effectively brighter than warmer colors, but as noted above this can be harsh on the eye for a typical indoor domestic situation. So mentally adjust the wattage equivalent up or down a bit according to the color chosen.
Also, the angle of the light beam from the lamp has a considerable impact. A narrow angle, say 40 degrees or less will shine all of its light onto a relatively small focused area which will thus appear very bright. A wider angle, anything from 70 to 120 degrees for example, will disperse the illumination over a much wider area but because the light is thus diluted, more will be lit but less brightly.
Point two: take into account power rating (wattage), beam angle and LED light color.
Kelvin Temperature K - What is the perfect color temperature for you?
· 3000K - Libraries, Office Areas, Retail Stores
· 4100K - Showrooms, Bookstores, Office Areas
· 5000K - Museums, Jewelry Stores, Hospitals
· 5600K - Used to Simulate Outdoor Conditions
Unlike traditional light bulbs, LED home/business lighting is a long term investment. It will without doubt save you a great deal of money in the years (decades in fact) ahead but the costs are all upfront. (See article Doing The Maths [Commercial or Domestic])
Know who you are talking to:
It’s surprising how many electrical / lighting stores do not understand or know about LED Lighting. Major stores we have spoken to only have limited knowledge and are not aware of the range of LED Lighting available, commonly only quoting LEDs of 2 Watts!! Hardware stores seem to be only familiar with low power LEDs that they supply for garden lighting, generally units of around .5w output!
If you want to talk LEDs, their benefits and the savings available, talk to us! We do nothing else but import and wholesale LED lights. From homes to businesses, swim pools to ponds, pontoons to jetties, gardens to offices, motorcycles to car displays, and everything in between, we have generally an LED solution.
We have contacts with electrical contractors, so if you need new or additional work done, this can be organized through a qualified electrician.
Article by kulekat 