Lighting

Where are you and your Owners Corporation heading with your common area lighting, let alone in your own apartment?

Your apartment development has three specific areas for consideration in lighting:

1. Common Area Lighting.
2. Emergency Lighting and,
3. Individual Apartment (Lot) Lighting

Check out this informative YouTube video before going further

Energy Efficient Light Bulb Comparison

Use of LED Lighting can make a huge difference to your common area electricity consumption when used for general common area lighting and emergency lighting. What you use in your apartment is your own choice, but again LED will also provide significant savings. A word of caution though. If you just change the globe to LED and not the transformer (also called ballast) to one that is more efficient and designed to work with your LED lighting, you may not get the power saving you are expecting and your LED globe may not last as long if operating with the old transformer.

What is LED Lighting?

Use of LED Lighting can make a huge difference to your common area electricity consumption when used for general common area lighting and emergency lighting. What you use in your apartment is your own choice, but again LED will also provide significant savings.

LED stands for Light Emitting Diode and is an electronic light source. Most lighting found in Australian homes and offices today are very inefficient resulting in high electricity costs as well as emitting CO2 into our atmosphere affecting our environment.

LED lighting is a viable replacement for existing household and office lighting, just much cheaper and better for our environment.

Colours

LED Lighting can come in many colours, the most common of these in household usage lights are Warm White, White and Cool White. The standard for many houses especially in Australia is Warm White.

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.

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. 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. The B22 and E27 both now come in 10 WATT  LED globes and will fit directly into existing B22 and E27 fittings.

Whats the difference between GU10 and MR16?

GU10 is a direct connection to 240v – When 240v (GU10) is used, there is no need for any transformers. Dimming can be achieved by using a dimmable GU10 LED globe with a standard trailing edge dimmer.

MR16 is a 12v lighting connection which is stepped down from 240v to 12v using a transformer – Where 12v LED lighting is concerned, you need to use LED specific transformers for LED optimal performance.

And why the need for LED transformers?

The brightness, and optimal evenness of light output and actual life of the LED globe is dependent on the transformer you use for 12v MR16 lighting. Generally wire wound (Iron Core) transformers will successfully run most LED globes, however they do not produce the best results – Using Electronic or Iron Core transformers, not only void our LED warranty they also cut the LED life from 50,000 hours to around 43,000 hours.

Most cheaper electronic transformers used to power halogen globes will not run LED globes at all. Typical tell tale signs of the faults seen are a noticeable flickering. Many electronic transformers have a “VA” rating or a  load rating “20-60” stamped on them. If this is the case they will not recognize a load of only 4watt , 3x3watt  or 10watts.

In general terms you’ll be much better positioned to change to actual LED transformers, this enables you to take full advantage of low voltage lighting and maximum savings in the long run. LED transformers will use far less energy and run much cooler than traditional standard electronic or wire wound transformers.

When using our Mean Well LED transformers, you can choose to run individual LED globes off each transformer or multiple LED globes. This is simply dependent on the physical distance between your lights.

The Cree Difference

Globally and within Australia, people are looking to greatly reduce the harmful environmental impact consumer products have and make sound economic decisions. Traditionally the lighting industry has given us a no-win option: choose highly inefficient incandescents or fluorescents that contain mercury and greatly increase global carbon emissions . Fortunately, we no longer have to consider these outdated technologies, because there’s a new option.

Technological breakthroughs by Cree LED Lighting give us light that is more efficient and longer lasting than both incandescents and CFLs, and contain NO TOXIC MERCURY. It’s the perfect ECO Friendly home and office lighting solution.

LED Light globes including CREE XR-E and CREE MC-E contain Premium Quality CREE LED Diodes, the globally known brand.

Comparison Charts

1. Equivalent wattages and light output of Incandescent, CFL and LED bulbs:

2. Comparing the features of Incandescent, CFL and LED bulbs:

3. Choosing an LED light bulb:

Many different models and styles of LED bulbs are emerging in today’s marketplace. When choosing a bulb, keep in mind the following:

• Estimate desired wattage – read the package to choose desired illumination level. For example, a 3W LED is equivalent in output to a 45 W incandescent.
• Choose between warm and cool light – new LED bulbs are available in ‘cool’ white light, which is ideal for task lighting, and ‘warm’ light commonly used for accent or small area lighting.
• Standard base or pin base – LEDs are available in several types of ‘pin’ sockets or the standard “screw’ (Edison) bases for recessed or track lighting.
• Choose between standard and dimmable bulbs – some LED bulbs are now available as dimmable bulbs.

4. Cost Comparison between LEDs, CFLs and Incandescent light bulbs:

5. Energy Savings over 50,000 hours, assuming 25 bulbs per household:

Notes:

• Cost of electricity will vary. The figures used above are for comparison only, and are not exact.
• The cost per bulb for LEDs may vary. We used the figure of $35.95 (for a 6 watt LED) as an average among lighting retailers.
• Estimates of bulb lifespan are projected, since it would take about 6 years of continuous lighting to test. Some manufacturers claim the new LED bulbs will last up to 25 years under normal household use, but this is not proven.
• Bulb breakage and bulb replacement costs have not been factored into this comparison chart. Incandescent bulbs and CFL bulbs are more easily broken than LEDs, which increases their cost of use.
• Most LEDs come with a minimum 2-year guarantee. Any defective LED bulb will usually fail within this time.
• Dimmable LEDs cost about 40% more than non-dimmable LEDs of similar wattage.
• Estimates of bulb lifespan are projected, since it would take about 6 years of continuous lighting to test. Some manufacturers claim the new LED bulbs may last up to 25 years under normal household use.

Terms:

Lumens – The unit of measurement of the flow of light, or ‘luminous flux’. With light bulbs, it provides an estimate of the apparent amount of light the bulb will produce.
Colouring Rendering Index (CRI) – CRI represents the quality of light and its ability to render colours correctly.