LED Myths
Myth #1: LED Lights last forever
Fact: LED Lights have an extremely long lamp life in comparison to incandescent and fluorescent lights but they will slowly fade over time.
Lumen depreciation is accelerated by using LED Lights with incompatible drivers or by over heating the LED. This can cause the LED Lights lamp life to decrease from 80,000+ hours to 10,000 hours. When LED Lights are used with the correct driver, LED Lights can achieve 80,000+ hours of life while maintaining 70% of the original light output. LED lamp life can be extended with the use of proper thermal control via heat sinks or by using LED Lights in conjunction with a LED specific Dimming Driver.
Myth #2: LED Lights are not bright enough and have poor light quality
Fact: LED Lights are bright enough to be seen even in daylight and have colour temperatures ranging from 2,500K to 6,500K with Colour Rendering Index (CRI) numbers of 75+.
LED Lights are now used in most traffic lights, which is certainly a sign that LED Lights are bright enough to be seen even in daylight. LED Lights have enough light output for use in very large outdoor daylight visible installations and can sufficiently light entire rooms, tunnels and buildings. Colour temperature describes the apparent visual warmth or coolness of a light source. LED Lights are available in colour temperatures ranging from Warm White (2,500K) to Daylight (6,500K) making them suitable for any application. Colour Rendering Index (CRI) is a metric used to measure the quality of light out of 100. LED Lights have a CRI of typically between 75-85 but some high quality LED Lights can have a CRI of 90+.
Myth #3: LED Lights hardly use any power
Fact: LED Lights use only 15% of the energy a standard halogen uses and provides up to 85% of the light output.
A standard 50W halogen lamp turns 90% of electricity used into heat with only 10% into light. LED Lights use only 15% of the energy a standard halogen uses and provides up to 85% of the light output, making them very energy efficient.
Myth #4: LED Lights don’t give off any heat
Fact: LED Lights do not give off any radiant heat, but they do need to get rid of conductive heat in order to achieve long life.
LED Lights are cool to touch and give off no radiant heat in the direction the light is being dispersed. Behind the LED Light, in the circuit board or heat sink, the energy that is being turned into heat is being dispersed. LED Lights need proper thermal design, which is why some can come with heat sinks. The heat emitted by LED Lights is 90% less than the heat emitted by halogen lights. With the advancement in technology, LED Lights will become increasingly efficient by enabling more light output per unit of energy, which will emit less heat and reduce the need for heat sinks.
Myth #5: LED Lights are really cheap
Fact: LED Lights are more expensive than incandescent and fluorescent lights but are getting cheaper at an impressive rate and have a payback period of less than two years.
The cost of LED Lights, as measured by dollars per lumen, has reduced by 50% in the past year. While it still makes LED Lights currently more expensive to buy than incandescent and fluorescent lights, it is expected that there will be a further 80% price reduction in LED Lights over the next four years. The payback period for replacing incandescent and fluorescent lighting with LED Lights is under two years as LED Lights last up to 10 times longer than halogen lights. An LED Light lasting for 50,000 hours would last for an incredible 24 years if used for 6 hours per day for 365 days in a year.
Fact: LED Lights have an extremely long lamp life in comparison to incandescent and fluorescent lights but they will slowly fade over time.
Lumen depreciation is accelerated by using LED Lights with incompatible drivers or by over heating the LED. This can cause the LED Lights lamp life to decrease from 80,000+ hours to 10,000 hours. When LED Lights are used with the correct driver, LED Lights can achieve 80,000+ hours of life while maintaining 70% of the original light output. LED lamp life can be extended with the use of proper thermal control via heat sinks or by using LED Lights in conjunction with a LED specific Dimming Driver.
Myth #2: LED Lights are not bright enough and have poor light quality
Fact: LED Lights are bright enough to be seen even in daylight and have colour temperatures ranging from 2,500K to 6,500K with Colour Rendering Index (CRI) numbers of 75+.
LED Lights are now used in most traffic lights, which is certainly a sign that LED Lights are bright enough to be seen even in daylight. LED Lights have enough light output for use in very large outdoor daylight visible installations and can sufficiently light entire rooms, tunnels and buildings. Colour temperature describes the apparent visual warmth or coolness of a light source. LED Lights are available in colour temperatures ranging from Warm White (2,500K) to Daylight (6,500K) making them suitable for any application. Colour Rendering Index (CRI) is a metric used to measure the quality of light out of 100. LED Lights have a CRI of typically between 75-85 but some high quality LED Lights can have a CRI of 90+.
Myth #3: LED Lights hardly use any power
Fact: LED Lights use only 15% of the energy a standard halogen uses and provides up to 85% of the light output.
A standard 50W halogen lamp turns 90% of electricity used into heat with only 10% into light. LED Lights use only 15% of the energy a standard halogen uses and provides up to 85% of the light output, making them very energy efficient.
Myth #4: LED Lights don’t give off any heat
Fact: LED Lights do not give off any radiant heat, but they do need to get rid of conductive heat in order to achieve long life.
LED Lights are cool to touch and give off no radiant heat in the direction the light is being dispersed. Behind the LED Light, in the circuit board or heat sink, the energy that is being turned into heat is being dispersed. LED Lights need proper thermal design, which is why some can come with heat sinks. The heat emitted by LED Lights is 90% less than the heat emitted by halogen lights. With the advancement in technology, LED Lights will become increasingly efficient by enabling more light output per unit of energy, which will emit less heat and reduce the need for heat sinks.
Myth #5: LED Lights are really cheap
Fact: LED Lights are more expensive than incandescent and fluorescent lights but are getting cheaper at an impressive rate and have a payback period of less than two years.
The cost of LED Lights, as measured by dollars per lumen, has reduced by 50% in the past year. While it still makes LED Lights currently more expensive to buy than incandescent and fluorescent lights, it is expected that there will be a further 80% price reduction in LED Lights over the next four years. The payback period for replacing incandescent and fluorescent lighting with LED Lights is under two years as LED Lights last up to 10 times longer than halogen lights. An LED Light lasting for 50,000 hours would last for an incredible 24 years if used for 6 hours per day for 365 days in a year.
