The future of LED Down Lights
In my previous posts of ” Warning About LED Down Lights” and “ Insulation Over LED Down lights” I listed a number of serious problems with down lights including the cost of replacement when they fail and how electricians laying insulation over them will effect their life, which could have serious legal implications for lighting suppliers and manufactures. With traditional halogen down lights when a bulb fails users simply go and buy another halogen bulb for a few dollars at the local store and replace them selves, saving having to buy a complete new LED fitting and paying an electrician to come out to their home to do the replacement which could be as much as $150 for one fitting.
There are a lot of problems to overcome for a manufacture to make a quality down light such as good LED chips, excellent heat sinks to draw away the heat, also the driver that comes with the LED fitting has its own issues to overcome as well, so there are a lot of links in the chain that make LED down lights a complicated fitting with many points of failure. This is a real challenge for manufactures that take top lighting engineers to over come. Then there’s the end user, either a homeowner or a business owner. From their perspective they want a similar light to the halogen that can save them energy while cutting down the replacements of bulbs and when a bulb finally dies it can easily be replaced at a economical cost. As a manufacture and lighting supplier if you can do that you will do well.
Solution! Of course this is just my view, but if you see the LED fitting above you are looking at a Par38 Cob LED bulb, This bulb is a screw based which is placed into a recessed fitting in the ceiling and when in place looks like a traditional halogen down light. When the bulbs comes to the end of its life the householder goes down to the store and buys another and replace them selves. The bulb gives the same light output as an LED down light and the colour rendering on these are now impressive. They are cheaper to produce and far cheaper for the householder and business owner, and you don’t need to be a qualified electrician to replace them. When you explain to a house holder the problems of LED down lights and the expense they will incur and then explain the lower cost recessed bulbs like this and which would they rather go with, what do you think their answer is? I know! I have already asked this question to homeowners and so far I have had 100% for these LED bulb replacements.
So for manufactures I recommend that you put your R&D into developing quality LED bulbs and Cob bulbs and perhaps smart recessed fittings that can replace traditional halogen down lights, it will save manufacturing costs, time, and the potential high risks of failures in the future. This type of bulb is a win win for the home and business owners, as well as the manufactures and lighting suppliers. However the electricians might be a different story.