Jul. 28, 2025
When choosing lighting types, LEDs are the most popular and reliable option. Besides, within a brief period, it has replaced traditional lighting like- halogen or incandescent bulbs. But how? To find the reason for such popularity, you should know the advantages and disadvantages of LED lighting.
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The advantages of LED lights are numerous. Among these, LEDs’ energy efficiency, easy maintenance, and durability are the most worth mentioning. Besides, they don’t contain harmful gasses or toxic chemicals, which makes them eco-friendly. Yet, these broad advantages are followed by a few drawbacks, i.e., blue LEDs cause pollution and harm eyesight. But still, LED lights are far better options when compared to other conventional lights.
In this article, I’ve discussed the benefits and drawbacks of LED lights in detail. Besides, I also suggested LED lighting options that will suit your project the best. So without any further delay, let’s jump into the details-
LED stands for Light-Emitting diodes. A new lighting technology generates visible lighting by passing electricity to semiconductors. Besides, LED lights are energy-efficient and more durable compared to traditional lighting. That is why they have replaced conventional lighting like- incandescent or fluorescent lamps.
When electricity passes through traditional lighting, like fluorescent bulbs, it heats the filaments to generate visible lighting. But LED lights don’t have such a working mechanism. Instead of heating up, they follow the principle of electroluminescence to illuminate.
The semiconductor of LED is composed of two layers- n-type and p-type. The n-type layer contains a surplus of electrons, whereas the p-type creates holes due to electro deficiency.
In this stage, as electricity passes through the diodes, the electron from the n-type jumps toward the holes of the p-type layer using the p-n junction. And this flow of electrons from high electron-concentrated regions to low electron-concentrated areas generates visible light spectrums.
Thus, LED illuminates through the process of electron flow.
At present, LEDs are the most used lighting application worldwide. The popularity of LED lights is due to the benefits they provide that traditional lights lack. These advantages of LED lights are as follows-
LED lights consume much less energy than traditional lights. They bring the same intensity of illumination using 5-8 times less energy than incandescent bulbs. Generally, an incandescent bulb’s energy is converted to heat rather than light. As a result, significant energy is wasted as system loss. But in LED light, most energy transforms into light with minimal loss. Thus, they are energy-efficient and money-saving.
The traditional Bulbs emit light in all directions. Due to this, a large portion of the output light is trapped inside reflectors and diffusers. Besides, some light rays escape in unintended directions, causing glaring. In contrast, using compound lenses, LEDs’ compact form factor and directional nature allow effective light delivery. Thus, the optical efficiency of well-designed LED lighting systems can reach over 90%.
The LED lights use less energy and save electricity bills. Moreover, they don’t break out easily like glass bulbs. So, no maintenance or frequent changing is required with LEDs. And this is what makes them cost-effective and durable.
LED lights can switch on 140 – 220 milliseconds faster than incandescent bulbs. As a result, LED bulbs glow almost instantly. On the other hand, compact fluorescent lamps can take up to 3 minutes to reach their full brightness. In addition, frequent switching doesn’t affect the lifespan of LEDs as it shortens the life of incandescent, fluorescent, and HID lamps.
Non-uniform illumination creates uneven lighting that causes visual fatigue and affects task performance. And to solve these problems, LEDs are great lighting options. They create uniform illumination that contributes to high visual comfort and permits flexibility in task performance.
LED technology offers spectral engineering to engage specific human visual, physiological, or psychological needs. Thus, you can have greater control over the spectral distribution for different lighting. For instance- RGB or RGBW LED strips come with thousands of color mixing options to create aesthetic lighting. Again, tunable white LED strips allow you to control light spectrums by adjusting the color temperature and intensity of the lights.
Regular fluorescent lamps are not compatible with dimming control and are expensive too. Meanwhile, LED lights are excellent for dimming capability. Moreover, LED dimming comes with two options: analog dimming (CCR) and digital dimming (PWM).
Analog dimming of LEDs is the most used dimming solution for general lighting. It works through constant current reduction (CCR), controlling the drive’s current flow. But the drawback is that analog dimming LEDs don’t perform well for current flows below 10%.
Digital dimming of LED works by applying pulse width modulation (PWM) technology. Such a dimming system reduces the power loss of LEDs while dimming them. For instance, LEDs with a PWM dimming system can produce :1 or higher dimming ratios (at 100Hz) without any significant loss of accuracy.
LEDs have a wide range of design flexibility. Its small and compact design allows you to use it for various functions. In addition, they offer different lighting design options with versatile categories, i.e., LED bulbs, tube lights, flexible LED strips, or neon lights. And this is why LED lights are the best choice for any lighting solution.
The LED’s lifespan is much higher compared to regular incandescent bulbs. Where the average lifespan of incandescent bulbs is thousands of years, LED lights have an average lifespan of 35,000 and 80,000 hours. Plus, it can last 20-25 times longer than a typical halogen and 8-10 times longer than a typical CFL.
The small structure of the LED lights is one of the plus points, especially regarding LED strips. As a result, they are incredibly lightweight, easy to install, and versatile to use. Besides, LEDs maintain their illuminating performance for their tiny sizing. As a result, these compact lights can glow as bright as traditional fluorescent lights using lesser energy.
Incandescent and CFL bulbs offer directional lights at 360 degrees. Meanwhile, LED lights are directional light sources focusing the lights on 180 degrees. That means it only emits light rays in a particular direction reducing light pollution and unnecessary glaring effects. Thus, LED uses energy and lights more efficiently than traditional fluorescent or incandescent bulbs.
LED lights don’t require frequent replacement; as a result, there is no need to keep up with regular maintenance. Thus, it saves your effort, money, and time. Plus, these lights are great for use in remote areas as no maintenance is required.
Instead of a glass bulb or tube, like traditional incandescent and halogen lamps, an LED emits light from a block of semiconductors. So, there is no risk of broken glass with LEDs. In addition, LED lights have more extended durability and are incredibly resistant to shock, vibration, and wear.
Light sources easily attract bugs and insects. Especially in the case of incandescent lighting, the attraction of bugs is more. That is why they are inconvenient to use outdoors. Meanwhile, LED lights are proven to attract fewer bugs and insects. So you can easily use them outdoors.
More information, you can read Do LED Strip Lights Attract Bugs?
LED lights usually don’t blow out abruptly as incandescent bulbs. Instead, it tends to dim over a long period. So, it doesn’t require frequent fixture changing as other traditional lighting options.
Unlike conventional fluorescent bulbs, LED lights don’t contain other hazardous substances like- mercury. Additionally, LEDs are highly energy efficient. And this makes them a perfect addition to renewable energy sources like solar power. Thus, LEDs are environmentally friendly in comparison to other lighting options.
LEDs allow you greater control over lights. For example, you can adjust the brightness of the LEDs to your liking. Besides, you can also control the lighting colors and patterns with smart LEDs like LED strips. In contrast, traditional lighting doesn’t offer you such facilities.
Light sources that produce infrared or UV rays cause photobiological hazards. However, LED lights have no infrared (IR) rays which are hazardous to the skin or eyes. On the other hand, fluorescent and incandescent bulbs convert 37% and 73% of the total power consumption into infrared energy, respectively. Besides, the UV ray emission of LED lights is less than 5 uW/lm. In comparison, the UV ray emission by the incandescent lamp and compact fluorescent are 70-80 uW/lm and 30-100 uW/lm. Thus with LEDs, light sources are photo biologically safe and environment friendly.
The light source produces radiant energy over the visible range of the light spectrum (IR or UV), causing photobiological hazards. And these rays are responsible for the discoloration of paintings, drying out vegetables and fruits, melting chocolate, etc. But with LEDs, you need not worry about these problems. It only produces radiant energy within the visible wavelength of electromagnetic spectrums (400 nm to 700 nm). And so are suitable for using a museum or confectionery without worrying about product damage.
In traditional light bulbs, the tungsten filament is heated up, or gasses inside the bulb are excited to illuminate the light source. And so, this type of lighting involves a severe risk of exploration and fire breakout. In comparison, LEDs convert electrical energy into electromagnetic radiation inside a semiconductor package. Therefore, unlike traditional bulbs, they don’t heat up and are a safer option than conventional light bulbs.
Every LED light can be used as an optical access point for wireless data communication (if the LED driver can transform streaming content into digital signals). And utilizing this feature of LEDs, there appeared a new technology, Li-Fi (Light Fidelity). It is a wireless communication system that leverages LEDs’ “ON” and “OFF” sequences to transmit data. Moreover, with Li-Fi, you can get a thousand times wider bandwidth and higher transmission speed than Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
LED lights are low-voltage devices that use direct current (DC) distribution grids. This DC lighting feature of LED increases the stability of the installation and reduces the likelihood of lighting failures. In addition, they are more dependable circuits and require less maintenance. And direct lighting-based LEDs are as much as 75% more efficient than incandescent lighting.
Traditional incandescent bulbs emit tremendous heat, making them too hot while operating. They turn more than 90% of the electrical energy in an incandescent bulb into heat energy and convert only 10% to light energy. On the other hand, LEDs emit almost no heat during operation. So, they are more efficient and ideal for illuminating artworks that will break down over time with exposure to UV rays.
Cold temperature is the biggest challenge for fluorescent bulbs, requiring high voltage to start at cold temperatures. But the start-up of LED lights is independent of temperature. Therefore, they work perfectly at temperatures below -50 degrees Celsius. For this reason, they are ideal for lighting refrigerators, freezers, cold storage, and outdoors.
You can customize and play with light colors with LED lights, i.e., LED strips. For instance, an RGB LED strip with an intelligent controller offers you a variety of color combinations with DIY color options. So, you can mix the primary red, green, and blue colors to prepare the desired light color on your own.
One of the most outstanding features of LED lights is that they are compatible with smartphones. You can connect them to your through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and operate them efficiently. Such facilities are far beyond imagination in using traditional light bulbs.
Besides numerous advantages, LED lights also have a few disadvantages you should consider before choosing any LED lighting. These are as follows-
The blue light produced by blue and cool white LEDs causes more glare and impairs vision. Studies further show that blue lights affect muscular degeneration and also cause damage to photoreceptor cells. Thus, blue LEDs are harmful to the human eye.
The rate of blue light pollution in cool white LEDs is much higher than in other traditional lighting sources. These blue light rays affect the natural circadian rhythms and thus hamper the regular sleeping cycles. Yet, to avoid such situations, you are recommended to avoid using white LEDs with a correlated color temperature above 3,000K. For this, warm-tone LED lighting options like dim to warm LED strips are great choices.
LEDs are sensitive to inappropriate voltage inputs. And getting the voltage slightly wrong in an LED-based system is a bigger problem for the LED. So, it is essential to calculate the voltage drop carefully and correctly to avoid any adverse effect on the lifespan of LEDs.
Fluorescent lamps and incandescent sources allow more excellent diverging capability with spherical light distribution. But LEDs’ directional lighting nature does not allow spherical light distributions. As a result, the diverging light ability of LEDs is also limited.
In terms of pricing, halogen is the cheapest category of lighting. But LED lights have advanced technology that makes them more efficient and costly. For instance, you can purchase a halogen bulb for just $3, whereas a regular LED light can cost $10 or more. Yet, as LED lights require low maintenance and less frequent replacement, they are considered more cost-effective.
The controllers, i.e., dimmers already installed in homes, are usually designed for incandescent lights. However, an LED light uses a different dimming method that doesn’t work with traditional controllers. So, you need to include an additional cost to your LED installation process to get a compatible LED controller.
LED lighting can be classified into two categories based on its formation structures. These are-
In standard LED bulbs, chip remains are lined up in an aluminum circuit board. However, unlike traditional bulbs like halogen or incandescent bulbs, they are not made of glass. Instead, LED bulbs are enclosed by plastic which makes them more robust.
Microscopic LED chips are combined to form filament wires in filament LED bulbs. And these filaments are coated in a yellow phosphorus coating that gives a warm lighting effect. Besides, these LEDs are enclosed by a glass outlet to provide a traditional bulb outlook. However, filament LEDs are more expensive and mainly used in chandeliers for their classic appearance.
LED lights have a wide range of variations in lighting types and technologies. And these lighting technologies are of the following four types-
DIP (Dual In-Line Package) LEDs are the traditional form of LED lights. They have a plastic-coated chip structure with two straight and parallel connecting pins. And compared to modern LEDs, DIP LEDs have less efficiency and can only emit a limited amount of brightness (around 4 lumens/LED).
SMD LEDs are surface-mounted diodes placed directly onto the surface of printed circuit boards (PCBs). Compared to DIP LEDs, SMD LEDs are more efficient and brighter, making them a better lighting option. In addition, where a DIP LED uses three independent bulbs for RGB, SMD can put three diodes in the same chip. Thus, SMD LEDs are more compact and offer versatile lighting options.
COB (Chip on board) LED is a high-powered LED lighting technology where chips are directly encapsulated on a substrate ( PCB or silicon) to produce LED arrays. As a result, they can have brighter illumination compared to DIP and SMD. Moreover, COB LEDs are energy efficient and carry multiple diodes (9 or more) in a single chip.
Chip scale package LEDs or CSP is the latest LED technology that emits the highest illumination at the smallest size available in the market. These LED packages are equivalent to the size of LED chips or at most 20%. One of the main benefits of such LEDs is that they do not require a soldered wire connection. That is how they reduce thermal resistance and possible light failure points.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit LED Encapsulation Materials for General Lighting.
LED strips are the most flexible and versatile lighting category of LED lighting. They are ideal for both indoor and outdoor uses. Besides, LED strips offer you a wide range of light-controlling facilities that opens numerous reasons to choose them for lighting. Yet, I have highlighted a few strong reasons why you should go for LED strips instead of other LED lighting-
LED strips are super flexible and have a rope-like structure that supports bending for easy installation. As a result, these strips are very lightweight and convenient to use. Besides, they also offer you resizing/cutting facilities. Thus, you can use these flexible LED strips anywhere with ease.
When it comes to versatile lighting, nothing can beat LED strips. Indoor lighting or outdoor, they are suitable for ant lighting tasks. Besides, they have advanced technology that offers intensity adjustment, dimming, color temperature control, and many other options. And so you can use them in the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, facade lighting, office lighting, etc. Apart from all these, you can also make signage with these flexible strips and use it for commercial purposes or indoor decor.
LED strips like –RGBX, Tunable White, dim to warm, or addressable LED strips offer you adequate control over light color and intensity. For instance, with RGB LED strips, you can get 16.7 million hues mixing the primary red, green, and blue! Again, tunable white LED strips color temperature adjusting facilities. You can control the light’s temperature from K to K to bring warm to cool shades of white. Besides, there is another category of LED strips known as dim-to-warm. These strips provide dimming facilities for warm white shades (K to K) that give a relaxing and candle-like effect.
Yet, addressable LEDs stand out regarding color-controlling options. With these LED strips, you can control the color of every strip segment. Thus, you can have multi-coloring that gives a rainbow-like effect.
LED strips offer various customization facilities unavailable on other LED lighting types. For instance, LEDYi has customizable options where you can choose the strip’s length, width, dimension, IP ratings, voltage, or even power consumption requirements for your LED strips. Besides, we also offer you the facility to include your labels and company information in our LED strips. So, LED strips by LEDYi are the best lighting solutions for personal, commercial, or business purposes.
LED strips are very easy to install and require lower maintenance. You don’t need any professional assistance installing LED strips. As they are flexible and resizable, you can install them on your own using connectors and LED drivers. Besides, these accessible installation features of LED strips offer you personalizing options where you can customize LED lighting using these flexible strips.
Check out How to Cut, Connect, and Power LED Strip Lights for a complete guide to LED strip installation.
Water-resistant features are crucial for any lighting type, especially outdoors. But no worries, LEDYi offers you the best waterproof lighting solution with IP67 and IP68-rated LED strips. So you can use them in the bathroom, poolside, or outdoor lighting. Yet, to choose the ideal waterproof LED strips, you must know about IP ratings. In this case- IP Rating: The Definitive Guide will help you to pick the best LED strips for your lighting project.
Light color accuracy is measured with Color Rendering Index (CRI). The higher the CRI rating, the better color quality a light can provide. For instance, single LED strips by LEDYi offers high CRI, Ra>90 / Ra>95, that gives accurate color as the natural lighting. Thus, the high CRI ratings of LED strips make them suitable for domestic and commercial purposes. For example, you can use them in shopping malls or outlets to showcase your product without worrying about color degradation.
LED strips are more durable and energy-effective than other traditional light forms. It uses the least energy to bring out the maximum brightness. Thus, it saves your electricity bills minimizing power usage. And, regarding durability, LED strips can last much longer than classic lighting. Besides, LEDYi offers a five years warranty on its LED strips, ensuring their quality and performance.
In choosing the ideal LED strips, you should consider some primary factors. These are as follows-
Usually, the standard length of LED strip lights is 5 meters per reel. So, you must first calculate your length requirements and purchase reels accordingly. Yet, LEDYi offers customized options for strip lengths to meet your project requirements.
The dimension of the LED chip is an essential factor to consider as it affects the lighting outlook. And the greater the dimension of the chip, the more prominent the lighting effect it creates. For instance, an SMD LED strip with a chip dimension of 5.6mm * 3.0mm glows brighter than SMD with a chip dimension of 2.2mm * 1.6mm.
LED strips have a wide range of coloring options like- single color, RGB, RGBW, tunable white, dim-to-warm, addressable LED strips, etc. All of these lighting options offer you versatile light coloring options.
Tunable white LED strips offer you to change the color temperature of white lights to create warm to cool shades. These strips are connected to a tunable white controller with which you can adjust the color temperature from K to K. So if you are looking for adjustable white lighting, tunable white LED strips are your best option.
Dim-to-warm LED strips are great for warm and cozy lighting effects (K to K). With these strips, you can create candle-like natural effects for your indoor lighting. Besides, dim-to-warm LED strips are the best option for bedroom lighting as warm lighting creates a relaxing vibe and improves sleeping cycles.
Single-color LED strips are the most basic category of LED strips. They are available in different colors like- red, green, blue, yellow, pink, etc. You can choose any of these colors that suits you best. Besides, these LED strips are available in different power consumption and IP ratings, making them suitable for versatile uses.
RGBX LED strips offer millions of color variations, mixing the primary colors- red, green, blue, and white. The most popular category of RGBX LED strips includes RGB, RGBW, and RGBWW. They are suitable for both indoors and outdoors and so widely used in the house, automobile, marine, commercial lighting, etc. Yet, before purchasing RGBX LED strips, check out “RGB vs. RGBW vs. RGBIC vs. RGBWW vs. RGBCCT LED Strip Lights” to find the best RGB variants for your lighting project.
Addressable LED strips are the most versatile LED lighting options. They allow you to control the lighting in segments. That is, you can get multiple colors at a time running through the strips. In addition, they are visually attractive and come with many advanced technologies for which they are also known as dream color or magic LED strips.
The density of LEDs indicates the number of LED chips per meter. The higher the density, the more even lighting it produces. Besides, LEDs with lower density create dots. So, it is always better to go with higher-density LEDs. Yet, LEDYi offers you LED density from 30LEDs/m to 720LEDs/m. And for dotless lighting, you can also go for our COB LED strips.
CRI rating indicates the color accuracy of lighting. That is, with higher CRI grades, you get better color perceptions. So, always go for a LED strip with a higher color rendering index, CRI> 90 or above.
Ingress progress or IP rating denotes a fixture’s protection level against liquid and solid ingress. The IP rating allows us to find whether an LED strip is ideal for any particular use. For example- LED strips with IP65 are dust-protected but are not waterproof. So, though you can use them in areas where they may face dust issues, they are not suitable for wet environments. For water-resistant options, you need to go with IP67 or IP68.
LED strips are available in various power consumption options from 2.4w/m to 30w/m. Besides, LEDYi offers customized options to get the ideal power consumption rate for your lighting tasks.
Therefore, these are the things that you must keep in mind before choosing any LED strips for your lighting project. Yet, if you need to inquire, contact the LEDYi service team, and we will help you to get the most suitable strips for your task.
Let’s compare LED lights and regular lights to find the better one between them-
Therefore, from the above discussion, undoubtedly, LED lights are a better option than regular lights.
Of course! LED strips are great for outdoor lighting. You can use them as signage, facade lighting, architectural lighting, outdoor event lighting, pool lighting, street lighting, etc. But for outdoor lighting, you must consider the dustproof and water-resistant capability of the strips. So, it would be best to look for LED strips with higher IP ratings, as outdoor lighting faces adverse weather conditions like- dust, rain, and storms.
LED lights have many worth-mentioning advantages that I have already described above. They are energy-efficient, eco-friendly, and more durable. Besides, unlike traditional lighting, they can perform in adverse weather conditions. Apart from these, they also come with a few disadvantages, like- blue hazards and pollution caused by blue LEDs. But you can cut these issues by implementing the appropriate LED lighting options.
An LED is a semiconductor chip that generates light when current is applied in the right conditions, which is very different from any other technology currently used in lighting. These chips (known as dies), are assembled in a structure that helps support and protect the dies and the electrical connections. This structure is generally known as a package. Depending on the type of package and the desired characteristics, there may be one or more LED dies per package. The different types of LED packages have different strengths and weaknesses that impact the package’s applicability in lighting. Of note, LEDs are more sensitive to temperature than other types of lighting, and anything from lifetime to current to chromaticity can be impacted by the operating temperature.
There are currently over 500 different types of quality LED chips in todays market place. This can be confusing when a consumer sees multiple LED products with largely varied prices, shapes, sizes and looks. Often times when looking at LED products, customers will see the words “CREE Chips”. At our last count, Cree (Largest US Manufacturer – Publicly traded in the NYSE), or Nichia (Largest Asian Manufacturer) each manufacturers over 80 different chips. The best way to divide these LED chips is to classify them as Low Power LED and High Power LED. So in essence, just because a manufacturer claims to have Cree or Nichia or another brand LED Chip, does not mean that the LED product you are purchasing is of the “Light Quality” that you would expect to be purchasing. For this we must reference to the lumens per watt (LPW), which measures the brightness of the product to its energy consumption. The next step is to measure the quality of manufacturing involved, i.e welds and heat management. The final step is choosing an appropriate color of light being produced, and the beam spread of the product through the quality of optics used to disperse and focus the light.
Low Power LEDs come in two main categories, these are the lamp type and the surface mount type (also known as an SMD). In each category there are available in a number of different shapes, power levels, and sizes. These are distinguished and referred to as low power because they typically run very low current levels, in the tens of milliamps rather than hundreds of milliamps that the high power LEDs run at. This means that they will, by nature, produce less light, but also will have different applications in lighting.
Lamp-type LED packages are the type that most people are already familiar with, and are used in numerous applications as indicator lights or other applications where the requirement is that light must be seen. They use a low power LED die which is placed in a tiny reflector, and then encased in a transparent plastic material. The reflector extracts much of the light generated by the LED die and then the shape of the plastic encasement acts as a lens to give a light distribution, which varies depending on the shape of the encasement. Partially due to the plastic encapsulation (which has poor heat transfer properties), many of these LED packages will depreciate from their initial light output quickly. In some cases these LED packages can fall to 50% of their initial brightness within a few thousand hours. These LED packages are appropriate for indicators, and very minor back lighting applications (such as buttons or switches), but do not generate or maintain enough light for use in a general lighting application.
Surface Mount LED packages have more in common with high power LEDs in form factor and properties than they do the lamp type LED packages. These LED packages consist of one or more LED dies (still low power) in a single, typically flat, package. The package typically consists of either a ceramic or plastic reflector, and they are encapsulated in a protected substance, and the package is mounted to a PCB board. The orientation on a PCB board, as well as the configuration of the electrical contacts within the package, allows much better heat transfer properties in this type of configuration. This allows these low power LED dies to operate cooler, and reduce their light depreciation over time to levels more appropriate for use in lighting. This type of low power LED package has the potential to be useful in lighting where large arrays of them can be combined together to produce significant, usable light. This is also an economical alternative, as while SMD type packages can be more expensive than the lamp type packages, they are much less expensive than high power LED packages.
Some companies market LED “bulbs” with large quantities of this type of LED package that are contained in a standard lamp shape (such as a glass PAR shell), but these products will almost always result in disappointmentif they are expected to produce usable light over an extended period of time. It is simply a misapplication of the technology.
High Power LED packages are always of surface mount form factor (meaning single or multiple high power dies in a package) and get their name from running hundreds of milliamps per chip and generate a much more useful amount of light. Whereas Low Power LEDs generate comparatively little heat, these higher power versions do generate enough heat to make its management a concern. This is why the surface mount configuration, with better heat transfer properties, is essentially a requirement in using high power LED dies. These LED packages are more expensive, as they require a larger portion of semi conductor and require a very high grade of semiconductor material to operate effectively and efficiently at high currents. Despite this premium high power LEDs also have the most potential for use in replacing less efficient sources of lighting in general (and specialized) lighting applications.
The increased current through these devices increases heat management importance over that of low power products, which is why most high power products will be mounted in a structure that will help dissipate heat. This is why most of the High Power products use a complex aluminum heat sink as housing for the LED lamps, and why most of our manufacturers have chosen to mount them on a metal core printed circuit boards.
This can be a daunting task when faced with so many different prices on LED lamps. Every day manufacturers are surfacing, that promise to deliver high quality LED products, but may only disappoint you. When a manufacturer (Many whom you have never heard of) wants to bring to market an LED lamp, they will out source components from China. This reduces the cost of having to create tooling for the lamp body. Often times these lamps may have the exact same outer appearance. It is what’s inside that matters most. Low power LED’s housed in a high power LED outer shell, are still low power. When a consumer sees what by all outer appearances is a high power led but carries a much lower price, you can be assured you are getting what you have paid for. When purchasing LED products, it is assuring to purchase lamps where you are issued a Brand Name product from a company with firm roots in the United States, such as Halco, Superior Life, and many more from major distributors. This is of extreme importance because you need to have consumer recourse if a product should fail prematurely. Online companies offering really great pricing often import these lamps through the mail from China. In that circumstance, you as a consumer have little to no recourse should a problem ever arise, nor can you trust that you are truly getting a high power LED product that you can depend on for years to come.
Unlike a filament from an incandescent lamp, an arc-tube from a HID lamp, or the phosphor on a fluorescent tube, the emission of light from an LED is not Omnidirectional; that is it does not radiate in all directions uniformly. It is difficult to project light through a circuit board and heat sink, so the light from an LED is emitted from the top of the chip. This means at a theoretical best, an LED can project light in a hemispherical pattern, in reality most bare LED chips project light in a 120 to 140 degree cone. While there are some experiments in laboratories utilizing transparent substrates that may be able to further expand this distribution, these are not commercially available at this time and if and when they are, there would still be the limitation of the mounting surface and heat sinking attachment. This is why there is not currently a true “A” lamp replacement using LED technology. There are some novel methods that are producing more acceptable distributions for an omni-directional light source out of an LED, they are difficult and still suffer limitations in how much light is possible and can suffer in efficiency, depending on the approach. The most that is typically possible of an “A” lamp like LED is a distribution pattern similar to an R-type reflector lamp, directional but broad and relatively even. Despite these limitations, there are uses for a higher efficiency, long lived directional light source, and products can be made to take advantage of this.
To better direct light coming from an LED, some products such as the ProLED from Halco use what is called a secondary optic. This is a lens (although there are reflectors available) that attaches to the chip holding the LED package mechanically or through adhesive and directs the light into a different pattern (such as a narrow or a wide flood pattern). The quality of this optic affects the optical efficiency, or the amount of light that is actually projected compared to the amount of light generated by the LED. By taking advantage of the directional characteristic of LEDs, and using high quality optics, effective general lighting can be achieved with LED high power lamps.
There are no true white LEDs that are commercially viable. Every type of material used in the chip part of the LED that produces light generates a color, but none of those colors are white. All LEDs produce a color, red, green, yellow, or blue (note that IR and UV LEDs do exist as well). The two methods for generating white light are to either use multiple LED chips and mix the light, or to use a phosphor with a single color light (usually blue) to generate white light.
The color mixing method is (with current technology) less efficient, particularly in a high power setting, but through the use of advanced controls does allow virtually any color to be produced by varying the intensity of the multiple LEDs. If the efficiency gap of utilizing green LED die material at high currents is solved, there is significant potential in this method.
The phosphor coating method is currently much more efficient at producing light. This coating process does have limitations as well, and that is in the variation in color temperature and chromaticity. The phosphor coating composition and thickness affect the color temperature, color rendering, and light output. In addition to this, the phosphors have a ‘response curve’, which means that the exact wavelength of the blue LED die used in this package will have an impact on the final light output as well. Generally speaking, warmer color temperature LED packages will have more of the phosphor coating than a cooler color temperature LED. Additionally, some companies use the addition of a red phosphor as well to help with the color quality and color rendering. Increasing phosphor thickness and adding an additional phosphor, unlike fluorescent lamps, will lower the output of the LED package, as while these phosphors are very efficient, they are not 100% efficient, do produce some losses, and can have an impact on thermal management. To deal with these manufacturing variations, manufacturers of LED packages will divide their products up into “bins” which will have a defined range of characteristics. By selecting a bin, the resulting product will fall within a reasonably predictable range of color and performance characteristics. While the bins offered by manufacturers of LED packages are getting smaller, there can still be variation in the color characteristics between production runs. These are the trade-offs of using phosphors to produce white light.
Some light quality advantages they have are that the spectrum of a white phosphor based LED is much smoother than a compact fluorescent lamp (providing light emission over a broad range of spectrum), and is capable of providing high quality light. In additional comparisons to CFL technology, an LED product can achieve instant full brightness, and is unaffected by switching, all without the use of mercury. RGB based white lights can be used to create dramatic color changing effects.
An advantage that LED products have over equivalent halogen lamps is tremendous energy savings, and a beam that projects neither heat nor UV radiation, making LEDs a safe product to use when highlighting without concern of overheating or fading of the product.
The long life of properly designed LED products makes them ideal for a situation where light failure can cost a lot of time, effort, and money. Examples of such are high-mounted recess and track lighting, where changing the bulb could be both dangerous and time consuming (such as in a hotel lobby, or in the atrium of a building). With upwards of 60,000 hour useful lifespan in LED products, years of trouble free lighting can be achieved, easily saving money in labor and replacement costs for the equivalent of three to four CFL changes, or ten to fifteen halogen lamp changes. Useful lifespan is defined as when the LEDs depreciate to 70% of their initial output, in lumens. The lamp will continueto operate far beyond that, but with additional lumen depreciation.
Compare for example, a 75 Watt halogen lamp producing lumens of light. This type of lamp operates at a consumption rate or LPW (lumens per watt) of 13.3. In using a direct replacement LED product it only takes on average 11 to 14 watts of light with a LPW rate of 90.0. In this scenario, the LED is 676% more energy efficient than Halogen, thus resulting in an energy savings of 84%.
The last thing you want when using light to highlight a point of interest is for that light to damage or impair what you are highlighting. Whether the product is a delicate food that is sensitive to heat, a painting whose vivid details could be dulled by UV, or a diamond ring that has to be comfortable when it comes out of the case, an LED directional light is a great solution.
There is no glass in most LED products to break, very little heat compared to a searing halogen reflector, an no mercury to poison the environment. When the safety of your environment (working and natural) matters to you or your customers, a ProLED lamp is a great choice to suit your lighting needs. A lamp that won’t be in the landfill for years, won’t poison drinking water, and won’t shatter sending slivers of glass flying. Further there is tremendous reduction in labor costs and liability by reducing the number of times someone must work on or replace an electrical component from a ladder.
All of the LED products come with a mention of not using them in totally enclosed fixtures, which causes some confusion and concern. To clarify, the term “totally enclosed” in this instance means that there is no airflow around the LED lamp, and the reason goes back to thermal management. LEDs do generate some heat, and while not as much as any of the other types of light, in a fixture with zero airflow, the aluminum body is unable to act as a heat-sink, and reduces the life of the electrical components in the LED lamp. It is important to note the specific wording of “outdoor use” on an LED product that is exposed to the elements. This means mounting or placement where water, rain and heavy moisture build-up can occur. Use in recessed cans under walkways is acceptable in warmer, dryer climates. The second main drawback of LED based products is that they are much more sensitive to heat buildup than many other technologies. There are many applications where LEDs may still be inappropriate at the current time, where the ambient temperature is high enough that the long life of an LED product would be compromised significantly. Most LED products cannot be totally enclosed unless very low wattage or specifically designed for this application, and this includes many of the insulated recessed can lights.
LED Drawbacks All of the aforementioned benefits of LED based lighting products do not come without a price. One of thelargest drawbacks of LED based products is literally the price. High quality LED packages, with predictable and reliable color quality and output, are still very expensive when considering their initial cost on a lumen per watt basis. Using more LED packages will generally result in a better efficiency, but is then tempered by the fact that it adds considerably to the product cost. An LED lighting product is essentially an electrical appliance that produces light, and is more complex than many other sources. In addition to the LEDs themselves, the aluminum heat sinks, printed circuit boards, drivers, and optical control devices are all relatively expensive components to produce. Improvements in LED efficiency has the potential to reduce the overall initial cost, and as demand increases, economies of scale will likely bring the initial cost of LED products down over time, but they are unlikely to ever be as initially inexpensive as older, simpler, but much less efficient incandescent technology. Their long life requires a different approach to considering cost, where cost of ownership over time. When considering the purchase of LED, you must take into account the number of Incandescent or Halogen lamps one would buy to cover the same time period (60,000 hours), the energy and labor maintenance savings in total. Often consumers will find that the LED, though a higher upfront cost, yields a return on investment measured well over 600%.
The second main drawback of LED based products is that they are much more sensitive to heat buildup than many other technologies. There are many applications where LEDs may still be inappropriate at the current time, where the ambient temperature is high enough that the long life of an LED product would be compromised significantly. Most LED products cannot be totally enclosed unless very low wattage or specifically designed for this application, and this includes many of the insulated recessed can lights.
Special thanks to: David Nelkin; Director of Product Technologies – Halco Lighting, and Tom Gregg; Product Engineer – PQL Lighting for assembling this information on behalf of all lighting professionals.
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