I just read an article at LEDs Magazine from a lighting designer who had some very frank things to say about the white LED manufacturing industry. I’ve only added an exerpt, but it’s not a very long article.
Check this out:
As an exhibition designer and lighting specifier I have been a keen advocate of white LED lighting in exhibitions, but recently I have had to reconsider this decision. There is an urgent need for the white LED lighting industry to develop a more transparent and meaningful framework for the specification and performance rating of white LED-based lamps.
If this is not done then I believe that many of the developmental gains of the last few years may be squandered as users are put off by the poor performance of some products.
High failure rates and very rapid phosphor degradation has made manufacturers claims of 50,000-hour lifetimes seem, at best, grossly exaggerated hyperbole and, at worst, deliberate deception.
A recently surveyed exhibition, containing 48 GU10-base lamps, revealed that in 2500 hours of operation, light output had fallen by between 82 and 87%, while 12% of the lamps had failed electronically.
If it looks like a dud, it smells like a dud, it might be a dud. Read the whole article here. The letter was written by Frazer Monks from Exhibitas Design.
