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LED Lighting guides

Makers of washing powder ads always used advertise that the latest version - produced whiter whites, and that you'd be crazy to use any other old rubbish. Sadly, these days I don't watch day time TV (university days long gone), so i don't know if this still goes on.

However - developing LED products can be a very similar experience. No sooner have you finished a design, then, somebody introduces a new and improved version - higher efficacy, better binning - you'd be crazy to even think about using any other old rubbish. The electronics industry rule that old boards never die, they simply fade away is especially true in lighting.

Standardisation of device packages such as we've known for a long time in the wider electronics industry makes life a lot easier - same pcb dimensions, mounting arrangements etc - We ain't there yet - but a I feel we are getting closer.

Osram has just introduced the OLSON.

Word of the Electronics Weekly LED blog has spread to my village, which is now obviously driving the hit rate up by thousands. It has led to suggestions I should spend more time in the pub instead of writing about LEDs - fair point, they should put WiFi in my local, so i can multi-task. However, beyond this blog their are a number of sites, lighting and LED related, constructed by people who really should have something better to do. I've already pointed to LED Museum, but it gets better. Earlier this month I was searching google for some PED images for use in a Dialight presentation.

I read today the newest addition to the preliminary Energy Star specification on low bay lighting, this preliminary specification is an average of about 30 existing luminaries.

They are therefore trying to get LED lights to match the current technology.

This cannot be right as with the use of correct optics LED low bay lighting is able to meet much higher levels of evenness therefore not needing to accept the hotspots directly below each light unit. Thus the light fittings will be more efficient overall making the cost of ownership calculations even easier to prove that the new LED technology is the right way forward.

If I didn't know better I would say they want to keep the old technology! (That is cynical of me)

Anyway I trust you are all enjoying the LED festive lights that we see every ware and I wish you all a Happy Christmas and a safe New Year and here's to re-enlighting the world with LED's in the course of 2009.  

At least this makes it easier for us optics designers/manufactures in having a few more common parts going forward. We saw the first of this when Cree brought out the XP which as at least an optical match for the Rebel.

The question I leave you all with is this good or bad for the industry?

Please keep an eye on www.carclo-optics.com for optics to match the new Edison Fedral as we now have optics for the Luxeon Rebel and the Cree XP.

•  Standardisation a way forward for LED devices.

A key concern amongst many Lighting manufacturers is the lack of standards in LED  lighting technology. This starts at device level, when if you pick a particular LED device and design the associated hardware - PCB's, optics, drivers - it becomes an expensive exercise to then swap to an alternative LED - which may offer an improved performance, and reduced costs.

Those cheeky chinese manufacturers Edison Opto have answered those concerns and launched the Edixeon - FEDRAL which to my eyes looks very similar to the Luxeon - REBEL.

The marketing team has even followed a similar theme in the product naming

Some say that the price of the Fedral may be significantly less than the Rebel, and that it's now widely available - well that's one difference at least !

Now who's the real rebel in all this..