Specialty and Architectural Lighting — LED

When new LED lamps are used to replace traditional light sources or LED fixtures are part of a retrofit project, an important but often overlooked issue that must to addressed is the compatibility of existing controls. Lighting is a system. The light source is one component. Ballasts, transformers, dimmers, occupancy...

By a considerable margin the most common lighting job in North America is general space lighting for commercial and institutional occupancies provided by fluorescent tubes mounted in troffers, direct / indirect pendants and strip lights. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) estimated there were over 300 million fluorescent...

If you are a business or institution and are not yet using LED light fixtures and bulbs in your operation, you should be. At the very least you should be installing sample product to evaluate it. In 2020 we are at generation 5 and 6 of LED product and the...

When determining whether or not an LED lamp or LED fixture will provide the equivalent lighting that is provided by traditional light sources such as halogen, fluorescent or metal halide, lumens is one of the numbers you need for your evaluation. Spec sheets for most light bulbs and light fixtures...

When LED fixtures (or lamps) are installed in a building, thinking about replacement is likely the last thing on the minds of staff. With LED rated life ranging from 25,000 hours (for lamps) to over 50,000 hours (for fixtures) the typical time to replacement is measured in years. However, facility...

LED downlight modules provide both an easy upgrade solution for existing incandescent or halogen downlight and an all-in-one package that makes for a seamless looking new downlight. The downlight module includes a non-replaceable LED array or light engine (not a bulb), an LED driver, a diffuser and the trim that...

It's not uncommon today for an incandescent, halogen or fluorescent light source to be replaced with an LED light source. Many LEDs are made to be direct replacements for traditional light bulbs and fixtures. In some cases, those traditional light sources have been controlled by photocells that are still in...

Before LED replacements arrived on the scene, CFL pin-based lamps were preferred for commercial downlights. Because of lower energy and demand costs compared to incandescent or halogen, CFL recessed downlights became a common feature in commercial, retail, hospitality and similar spaces. How does LED compare now?

We've written here before about one of the toughest problems for manufacturers of LED replacement lamps: achieving light intensity comparable to halogen in the MR16 form factor - particularly for narrow beam distribution. The initial blog post was written in 2014, then updated in late 2016. The update concluded by...

The effects of power quality on LED lighting performance generally receive little attention prior to installation for most commercial building applications. Power quality issues such as dips, harmonics, interruptions, transients and surges can result in expensive, early replacement of damaged or failed LED lighting equipment. While facility managers involved with...

When comparing LED troffers and retrofits to fluorescent troffers, the most LED fixtures will either exceed or match the specifications of the fluorescent fixtures. LED lumen output often matches that of various fluorescent configurations but it, along with control compatibility, requires careful consideration to ensure the LED installation will meet the needs specific to the application.

One of the fastest growing segments of the LED commercial lighting market is site, area, street and parking lot lighting. Owners of commercial property and municipalities in particular are looking at LED solutions for new developments or to replace HID fixtures in existing applications. In this post we will look...

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has conducted a field research project evaluating installation issues and performance of a high bay retrofit where the existing metal halide bulbs have been changed to LED. High bay fixtures that use metal halide lamps in warehouses, shops, sports facilities and...

Photocontrol devices use photocells to determine ON/OFF status of outdoor lighting based on the ambient light level. While generally understood as responding to visible light, some photosensors also respond to infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Normally used for roadway, area, parking, flood and security lighting, photocontrols automatically control the...

LED light is inherently directional. Most traditional light sources - incandescent, halogen, compact fluorescent and HID - emit light in all directions. For these light sources to have specific directional characteristics, the lamp is made with a reflector and sometimes a lens to modify the illumination so it becomes more...