LED Lighting Guide

What is LED Lighting?

LED stands for Light Emitting Diode and is an electronic light source. Most lighting found in Australian homes and offices today are very inefficient costing homeowners bucket loads of money as well as emitting vast amount of CO2 into our atmosphere killing our environment.

LED lighting is a viable replacement for existing household and office lighting, just much cheaper and better for our environment. There is no reason to wait any longer, get rid of your costly Halogen lighting and switch your globes to LED today.

LED Lighting Colours

LED Lighting can come in many different colours, the most common of these in household usage lights are Warm White, White and Cool White.

led lighting colour chart

LED Beam Angle - 30° 60° or 100°?

If you are replacing existing halogen downlights, and spacing cannot be changed a beam width of 60 degrees is more than acceptable on 2400mm ceilings. If you are installing LED Lighting during a new house build or renovation, the rule of thumb is that on taller ceilings you use a narrower beam, (30 degrees) and on a lower ceiling or bulkhead use a wider beam (60 or 100 degrees).

The beam should cross at about 1100mm above floor level, for even light distribution. On a globe with a 60 degree beam this would mean an optimum spacing of 1200mm.

So Why all the Hype About LED?

LED lighting is a huge leap in technology which is going to benefit both our environment as well as your spending for household lighting.

The below list gives you an idea of how revolutionary LED lighting is and how it will be the future of household lighting in Australia and around the world.

·         Light Life: LED lights last up to 50 times longer than a standard Halogen light globe. At 45,000 hours you only need to change the globes once every 30 years.

Efficiency: LEDs produce more light per watt than incandescent bulbs.

Colour: LEDs can emit light of an intended color without the use of color filters that traditional lighting methods require. This is more efficient and can lower initial costs.

Size: LEDs can be very small (smaller than 2 mm2) and are easily populated onto printed circuit boards.

On/Off time: LEDs light up very quickly.

Cycling: LEDs are ideal for use in applications that are subject to frequent on-off cycling, unlike fluorescent lamps that burn out more quickly when cycled frequently, or HID lamps that require a long time before restarting.

Dimming: LEDs can very easily be dimmed either by Pulse-width modulation or lowering the forward current.

Cool light: In contrast to most light sources, LEDs radiate very little heat in the form of IR that can cause damage to sensitive objects or fabrics. Wasted energy is dispersed as heat through the base of the LED.

Slow failure: LEDs mostly fail by dimming over time, rather than the abrupt burn-out of incandescent bulbs.

Lifetime: LEDs can have a long useful life. LED life is approx. 35,000 to 50,000 hours of useful life, though time to complete failure may be longer.  Fluorescent tubes typically are rated at about 10,000 to 15,000 hours, depending partly on the conditions of use, and incandescent light bulbs at 1,000–2,000 hours.

Shock resistance: LEDs, being solid state components, are difficult to damage with external shock, unlike fluorescent and incandescent bulbs which are fragile.

Focus: The solid package of the LED can be designed to focus its light. Incandescent and fluorescent sources often require an external reflector to collect light and direct it in a usable manner.

Toxicity: LEDs do not contain mercury, unlike fluorescent lamps.

·         Cost Saving: LED lights run on 90% less energy than standard halogen lights, and with up to 50% of  a electricity bill comprising of lighting, thats a huge saving over a year.

·         Efficiency: LEDs produce more light per watt than incandescent bulbs.

·         Colour: LEDs can emit light of an intended color without the use of color filters that traditional lighting methods require. This is more efficient and will lower ongoing costs.

·         Size: LEDs can be very small (smaller than 2 mm2) and are easily populated onto printed circuit boards.

·         On/Off time: LEDs light up very quickly.

·         Cycling: LEDs are ideal for use in applications that are subject to frequent on-off cycling, unlike fluorescent lamps that burn out more quickly when cycled frequently, or HID lamps that require a long time before restarting.

·         Dimming: LEDs can very easily be dimmed either by Pulse-width modulation or lowering the forward current.

·         Cool light: In contrast to most light sources, LEDs radiate very little heat in the form of IR that can cause damage to sensitive objects or fabrics. Wasted energy is dispersed as heat through the base of the LED.

·         Slow failure: LEDs mostly fail by dimming over time, rather than the abrupt burn-out of incandescent bulbs.

·         Lifetime: LEDs can have a long useful life. LED life is approx. 35,000 to 50,000 hours of useful life, though time to complete failure may be longer.  Fluorescent tubes typically are rated at about 10,000 to 15,000 hours, depending partly on the conditions of use, and incandescent light bulbs at 1,000–2,000 hours.

·         Shock resistance: LEDs, being solid state components, are difficult to damage with external shock, unlike fluorescent and incandescent bulbs which are fragile.

·         Focus: The solid package of the LED can be designed to focus its light. Incandescent and fluorescent sources often require an external reflector to collect light and direct it in a usable manner.

·         Toxicity: LEDs do not contain mercury, unlike fluorescent lamps.

Will LED Globes fit in my Current light fittings?

YES they will - LED Lights are made to simply replace your existing light bulbs using your existing fittings. Check out our LED Products page for the different types of LED Lights available and products in stock meeting your required connection type through our online store. Each product will be clearly marked with the relevant connection or fitting type (Illustrated below)

There are LED replacement globes for most types of standard lighting including: incandescent bulbs, downlights and spot lights.

The most common two connections in housing today are GU10 and MR16 connector types. All MR16 type globes use transformers, usually one per light - For LED globes to perform at their maximum, dedicated DC Constant Voltage LED specific drivers should be used.

The more traditional type globes being B22 Bayonet connection type globe, which has two side pins to connect into globe fittings and the E27 Edison connection type globe, which has a screw base now come in 10watt LED. Our 10 WATT E27 and B22 LED stock will fit directly into your existing B22 and E27 fittings.

LED light Fitting Types - Named connection type and diagram:

GU10 Connection Type: Two thick headed pins                MR16 Connection Type: Two nail like pins 

                                         

B22 Connection Type (Bayonet): Two side pins                E27 Connection Type (Edison): Screw Connection