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The Blog
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Monday, December 07, 2009 |
It's time for the next installment in our Best Of Ask An Engineer series, where we take some of our most insightful "Ask An Engineer" questions and post their answers where anyone can find them.
Customer names have been changed to protect the innocent.
"LED Dock Lights @ ACME"
The Question
"In our pre-retrofit meeting yesterday, one question that was asked was about the 'housing' on these units. As you know, they are all yellow & fairly similar. My contact is pretty technical & understands that the housing is also a heat sink. He was curious if the housing/heat sink were all made by the same company and if the differences between the units were the LED & power supply?"
The Answer
Regarding the housing, your customer is correct that the housing is a heat sink, and that heat sinking is very important in regards to LED life. To answer the question, our die cast aluminum housing is unique, made from our own die cast tooling, and is not available from any other OEM.
There is a visually similar unit to ours on the market that goes out under several private label names. If you had them side by side on a table top, the differences would be crystal clear. Our die cast aluminum alloy housing is designed with more mass and more fin/surface area than the competing units, which is just one of the reasons why it runs substantially cooler junction temperatures and provides substantially longer life and lumen maintenance.
The prominent competing unit also has some plastic parts in the housing that reduce durability relative to ours.
Your customer is also correct that the combination of LED and driver further define performance. Drivers, chips and circuit boards will produce different performance depending on how they are used and integrated into the fixture. E.g., all drivers of the same brand and all chips of the same brand will have different performance depending on how they are populated onto the boards, how the board circuits are designed, and how they are mechanically mated to the heat sink.
Hope this helps and if we can be of further assistance, please let me know. Since your customer is fairly technical, he might appreciate the attached PDF document which addresses the issues above.
Thanks,
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Ray Pustinger
Vice President / General Manager
Precision-Paragon [P2]
 Download The PDF
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"LED-Powered Fluorescent Tube Replacements"
The Question
"I've seen several other lighting manufacturers marketing LED-tube lamps designed as a direct drop-in replacement for fluorescent lamps. Why has [P2] opted to not offer these products?"
The Answer
At Precision-Paragon [P2] we are certainly keeping a close eye on LED tube lamps as we expect they may show some promise in the next 5 years. At this time however, LED tube lamps designed to replace fluorescent fixtures do not yet hit the mark.
The Department of Energy has been evaluating these products on an on-going basis and have just released the results from Round 9 testing. Please find attached the latest Caliper summary report. Pages 11-18 outline the latest on linear replacement products with key conclusions at the end of the report.
Here are some of the key takeaways that end users should consider:
- Buyers should be wary that rewiring a troffer to bypass the ballast may jeopardize the UL certification (or other testing certification) of the troffer, requiring recertification which may be difficult to obtain.
- 4’ linear replacement lamps that have been tested do not meet the light output and efficacies seen in 4’ T8 fluorescent lamps, even when those products are tested in troffers to obtain overall luminaire performance.
- For office areas, they generally are too directed, delivering a limited 120° distribution range compared to fluorescent troffers that have a distribution range of around 150°.
There are also concerns regarding the sockets that LED tube lamps are used with and how/if they are appropriate for line voltage as opposed to the secondary voltages of ballasts. This is an industry concern as UL has not given approval or direction on this matter. For that matter, these products are not UL listed to my knowledge.
Voltage - Many of these replacement products are being designed for 120-240V. Unfortunately, this will not work with 277V applications which many end users have.
Life - Fluorescent products are continually being rated for longer and longer lifespans. Some lamp manufacturers are now rating T8 lamps at 36,000 hours, making it difficult to justify the incremental cost difference of a 50,000 hour product.
ANSI Standards - We have also seen that many of the lamp providers are not making product which meets the ANSI standards for T8 lamp lengths. Some are coming in too short and creating arcing, effectively damaging the onboard circuit board.
Cost - In addition to the freight costs, these products are typically FOB China and as such will be subject to importation duties which, for lighting products, runs about 9%. This would push the paybacks well beyond 7 years.
Risk - Even proven technologies can get a bad manufacturing batch and have some risk of failure during implementation. If an end user were to incur a mass failure with LED tube lamps, the availability of replacement units could impact their operations until replacements arrive from China. Additionally, the warranties offered on these types of products are generally of no value as they are not supported by manufacturers with strong balance sheets and the ability to immediately respond.
I think it is a great concept and may someday be ready technically. We are certainly keeping our eyes on them. However, I think they are far too risky at this point. Given the paybacks that many desire (2-3 years), the energy projects will have paid for themselves before these technologies are solid investments, both financially and technically.
I would be glad to address any additional concerns that might arise. Please let me know how we can help.
Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
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Joe Martin
Vice President of Engineering
Precision-Lighting
Download The PDF |
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Tuesday, June 02, 2009 |
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We surveyed over 1,300 lighting professionals in the 1st quarter of 2009, asking them to share their outlook on what the year held for the energy efficient lighting industry. Now, we're sharing their answers with you.
Overall, the results display confidence in our industry's growth, even during challenging economic times. At Precision-Paragon, we agree. The service our industry provides saves our customers money, and saving money is more important now than ever. We share the survey respondents' confidence that our industry will perform well in this economic climate.
Question 1
Q: What do you expect for your company’s revenues from energy efficient relighting projects in 2009, compared to 2008?
A: 71% of respondents are expecting their business to grow in 2009.
Question 2
Q: How do you see the overall market for energy efficient relighting projects in 2009, compared to 2008?
A: 60% of respondents are predicting growth throughout our industry in 2009.
Question 3
Q: What is your infrastructure strategy for 2009?
A: 47% of our customers are planning to invest for growth during 2009.
Question 4
Q: What do you predict will be your slowest quarter of 2009?
A: 83% of our customers are expecting Q1 to be their slowest of 2009.
Question 5
Q: What do you predict will be your busiest quarter of 2009?
A: 83% of our customers are expecting business to increase in the 2nd half of the year, following our industry's typical annual pattern.
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009 |
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Precision-Lighting has the opportunity to present at ThinkEquity's Think Green Conference in San Francisco today. The thesis of our presentation is that Energy Efficient Relighting projects are a perfect conduit for stimulus package funds. In short, energy efficient relighting projects:
- Create Jobs
- Stimulate The Economy
- Reduce CO2 Emissions
- And Increase Energy Independence
Basically, energy efficient relighting projects accomplish many of the goals of the stimulus package itself.
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Friday, October 17, 2008 |
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Every so often we get an "Ask an Engineer" question whose answer could benefit other Precision-Lighting customers. We've decided to start posting those answers here. Enjoy.
"Hot Shock"
The Question
"How robust are the [Precision-Lighting TMD Series LED] fixtures? [...] We are dealing with lots of "hot shock" now with current fixtures and they are having to replace those bulbs constantly?"
The Answer
Hot shocking is the result of an impact. For loading dock lights, this is usually the result of a forklift hitting the dock lights.
When an incandescent lamp is positioned close enough to direct impact, the filament will stretch, uncoil, tangle or break due to its inertia during impact. This condition is known as hot shock.
The TMD is a solid-state LED loading dock light which has no filament to burn out or break. This eliminates the frequent lamp replacement requirements of traditional dock lights. As engineers, we never like to see our creations get damaged in any way, but at the same time we understand the real world impacts that loading dock lights see.
The TMD Series of LED loading dock fixtures was designed to meet military shock and vibration standards. I am confident that it is sufficiently robust and will provide not only a great deal of energy savings but also a great deal of maintenance savings by eliminating the concerns of hot shock.
Thank you for thinking of Precision. We look forward to supporting you with your project endeavors.
Sincerely,
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Joe Martin
Vice President of Engineering
Precision-Lighting |
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"Pendant Mounting"
The Question
"Do you have a pendant mounting box option for a fluorescent high bay fixture?"
The Answer
Thank you for submitting your inquiry to Precision-Lighting.
Many contractors in the industry often want a pendant mounting box for fluorescent high bays, and if required we will supply a pendant style box. However, Precision recommends 2 point mounting in addition to the use of a pendant mount box.
The reason for Precision's recommendation lies in NEC Article 314. It states that a luminaire supported by a single conduit cannot exceed 12 inches in any direction, and as you know a 4' long fixture will certainly violate this. Additionally, Precision has had many customers over the years that have struggled to install the fixtures straight because if the pendant is at a slight angle. If this happens, the fixture will be crooked and the final result will be unsatisfactory.
We pride ourselves on craftsmanship and want to help our customers deliver the best result to end users. With all of that being said, Precision will provide a pendant box should you choose to continue to pursue this installation approach, but we would recommend alternate mounting options.
Thank you for your inquiry!
Sincerely,
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Joe Martin
Vice President of Engineering
Precision-Lighting |
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