Halogen vs. LED, the choice is yours...
You may have noticed but over the last few
years, garden lighting has changed beyond all recognition. Why? Because there
is a new kid on the block – LED lighting.
Halogen lamps have been used in garden
lighting for a number of years and they replaced, to a large extent, the
old-fashioned mains voltage lighting such as the PAR38. It's true that there
are other lamps around such as compact fluorescent and cold cathode but for
this article, I’m focusing on the most important lamps in our industry, the
ones that do the lions share of the work.
Anyone who has used halogen lamps will know that
although it is a predictable light source, it is by no means perfect. For
example, halogen lamps produce a tremendous amount of heat (so the light
fittings can become very hot to touch), the lamp life is not great and running
halogen lamps uses a lot of energy – just try multiplying the number of
fittings in a garden by the wattage of the lamps and you’ll begin to understand
the running costs.
More recently though, LED has come onto the
market and it’s arrival seemed to counter all the issues of the halogen lamp ie
LED lamps generate little heat, they have a very long lamp life and use a
fraction of the energy to run. LED also has other benefits such as colour; any
colour in the rainbow, which can either be held on a tone of your choice or,
can colour change imperceptibly throughout the whole spectrum.
So, LED is the answer, yes?
So, LED is the answer, yes?
Well not quite, until now there have been two problems with LED:
1. As a
new technology, manufacturers have been developing their own ranges of LED
fittings, in isolation, which has led to confusion and product incompatibility
issues between different manufacturers and sometimes even between ranges from
the same manufacturer! The reason that this has occurred is that LED fittings
must be correctly matched to the right driver (the electrical device that
regulates the power to the fittings) for them to work and because the
manufacturers had been doing their own thing, it had got to the stage where no
one really knew which drivers would work with which fittings.At last though, this issue has now been resolved and
by using the Standard Power LED driver or the High Power LED driver you can, to
a large extent, mix and match your fittings without the risks of
incompatibility.
2. The
other issue that has dogged LED lighting is that of understanding the light
output of an LED lamp compared to that of the more familiar halogen fitting and
it is this issue that has often discouraged Designers and Landscapers from
taking the plunge and moving from halogen to LED. For example, when confronted
with a 1w, 3w or even a 9w LED how might it compare with a 20w, 35w or 50w
halogen, can I be certain of the light output and am I sure enough to recommend
it to my client?
Well to help you on your way, you can see the Landscapeplus.com lighting comparison images which will help you compare and contrast the
different lamps that are available and give you a real sense of the light
output you might expect.
So at long last, LED lighting, which everyone
thinks of as simple and straightforward, is now just that, simple and
straightforward.
