Know your LEDs?
The Goodlight quick guide to ‘lighting jargon’.
COLOUR RENDERING (CRI)
This refers to how effectively an electric lamp or luminaire can display true colour, when compared against a natural light source like sunlight. Light sources with a high CRI are desirable in colour-critical applications e.g. fashion retail or inspection detailing.
On this scale of 1-100, Goodlight lamps and luminaires consistently achieve 80 CRI or above.
THERMAL MANAGEMENT
LED chips don’t like heat. Where heat is allowed to build up within an LED lamp or luminaire, it dramatically affects the lifespan and light output, and reduces both. The Goodlight way is to use premium aluminium heat sinks in our lamps and luminaires as our first defence. The more high-powered the LED, the more complex the cooling solution.
We are continually pioneering unique and innovative cooling solutions, being the first to incorporate ultra-reliable MagLev fan technology with LED and ‘phase-change’ technology in our copper cooling systems! We go a long way to ensure our LEDs are kept cool – so that we can run our lamps and luminaires brighter for longer, whilst maintaining colour integrity!
LUX
Known as the ‘lx’ value, this is the internationally accepted unit of illuminance. It is the measure of the intensity of light perceived by the human eye. One lux
is equivalent to one lumen per square metre, and one lumen is approximately the brightness of one candle.
COLOUR TEMPERATURE
This is the exact measure of the CCT rating, or colour temperature of light emitted in Kelvins (K). Goodlight products are confined to an area within the Kelvin chart from 2,300K up to 6,500K. Below and beyond these values, the LED can produce more orange or blue at opposing ends of the Kelvin colour spectrum.
POWER FACTOR (PF)
This is the ratio of real power to apparent power. It is the measure of how effectively the electrical power is being channelled within the product. This can vary massively
across LED products in general. As a guide, the most efficient LED products have a power factor as close to 1 or 100%, meaning 100% efficiency, or no current being wasted in the electrical system. Goodlight products have a PF of 0.90-0.97, ensuring minimal power losses.
LUMEN MAINTENANCE
Another important metric determines how well a light source maintains its lumen performance over time. Due to the longer life of the LED, the updated method of
calculating lumen degradation is used termed L70, Rated Lumen Maintenance Life. It’s the measure of the hours it takes a lamp or luminaire to reach 70% of the initial lumen output. It is useful when comparing one product against another, as you are able to determine a lamp whose L70 value is 35,000 hours against another at 20,000 hours. In addition, Goodlight products use premium which are chips, which are LM-80 certified.
DRIVER COMPATIBILITY
Choosing the right driver ensures stability, reliability and smoothness of LED output. Many of our products incorporate our own unique, drivers to deliver precise performance. Premium drivers such as Meanwell and Tridonic are configured into our high-performance Goodlight products, which are built to last. Our driver solutions
are geared up to provide additional functionality such as multi- dimmability and emergency battery back-up solutions.
LUMINOUS EFFICACY / LUMENS PER WATT
This is the measure of how efficiently a light source converts current into visible light. It is determined by the ratio of luminous flux to power consumption, known as ‘lumens per watt. Traditional lighting wastes most of the energy as heat, for instance a traditional halogen spotlight produces only 6 Lumens per Watt, while the equivalent Goodlight LED Spotlight is 10X more efficient at 66 Lumens per Watt.
