Yep, you
heard me right, save a bit of $$$ up front on “average” LED lamp technology and
it could cost you in the long run. Here’s three reasons why:
- Output – “replaces a 50W dichroic” or “replaces a 100W bulb” – if either of those sound familiar to you and you didn’t spend over $50 for your lamp, you’re sure to be disappointed! The reality is that there are VERY FEW LED lamp replacements which produce as much light as their inefficient predecessors. Now, this isn’t always a bad thing, because if you weigh up the advantages (most houses are over illuminated, lower power, slower lumen degradation, tighter beam angles), this might really work for you. However, if you are replacing two 50W dichroic bulbs with 2000lm and wide beam angles which you use to light a large area, you are almost certain to be up for disappointment with your new very efficient, but very spotty LEDs.
- Lifespan – if you buy cheap LED lamps one area the manufacturer is certain to have skimped on (so they can offer that awesome price) is proper design and low grade heat-sink material. This is an issue because in small LED lamps the main game for both performance and lifespan is to properly thermally manage the lamp. There are two types of thermal management – active – commonly with a built in fan = ridiculous (how long is your fan going to last), or passive – through intelligent design and super-efficient (and slightly expensive) heat sinks. Guess which method we subscribe to?
- Compliance – nice lamp… does it work with your current transformer(s)? No? Pity. Nice paperweight. MOST LED 12V lamps (dichroic) will need a compliant transformer, and even then they may not dim properly on your current system. Empyrean Lighting’s Adaptive Technology lamps WILL work (which includes dim) on EVERYTHING – or send it back. Simple… like my haircut.
So, if you
bought cheap LED's that don’t have reasonable output, won’t last, and don’t
work on your transformers/dimmers then you really have to ask if they’ve really
saved you any money at all?
This is the
bit where I tell you that by spending a bit extra you can have awesome LED
technology that performs, lasts (30,000 hours+), and works on everything.
Got questions? Email US
