23 Mar 2015
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Top Tips for Buying LED Lighting
The current lighting industry buzz around LED’s for commercial applications is set to continue. Forecasters are predicting worldwide revenues for LED luminaires and lamps in high-bay applications to grow from US$2.6bn – US$7bn by 2021. This will make LED the dominant technology for high-bay within the next 10 years.
In the UK, this uptake is boosted by the Government offering tax incentives including the Enhanced Capital Allowances (ECA) scheme, which allows businesses to write off investment in energy efficient products, including LED’s against the same years’ taxable profits.
The market is flooded with products and options, ranging from low cost lamps, right through to high-end investment. Unfortunately, at the low-cost end of the market, imitation products are becoming more prevalent, sold by pop-up companies who disappear as quickly as they arrived, leaving a trail of broken quality and warranty promises behind them. Buyers can be left facing high failure rates, inconsistent light, overheated fittings and negligible energy savings.
So, with all this conflicting information, how do you choose your LED product? Here’s our top tips for buying LED lighting:
1. We recommend buying from a reputable supplier with a long industry history. Although this may cost more, you can be assured that the business has been around long enough to honour its warranties. Ideally, the supplier would also offer installation warranties for full back-to-back support.
2. Look for third party certifications, to prove product safety and quality. Depending on your application area, you may require IP rating, against ingress from dust and water, or IK Rating, for impact protection. Plus there are safety accreditations such as CE and F marking and RoHS directive.
3. Check for high quality components. For example the LED housing must be made from materials that remove the heat which the LED generates (e.g. metal would conduct heat, plastic would not). Non-conductible materials will cause light failure and safety issues.
4. Ensure good system design - power supply and components also play a role. Investing in high quality LED’s and components may cost more upfront, but the design will more accurately suit your requirements, so will pay off in terms of efficiency and lifespan
5. Choose accredited installers, electrical certification such as NICEIC or ECA regularly audit contractors to ensure competence and support industry best practice.
Check out the Chalmor LED range – manufactured and tested in the UK, made from high quality components, IP66 rated, with CE and F marking and RoHS directive. The range has an industry leading 5 year unlimited usage warranty and on top of that, we offer the Chalmor service package – lighting consultation, design, supply, installation and commissioning to ensure you get exactly the system you need, from a supplier you can trust.
