In recent years, the value received by installing LED lighting products has sparked tremendous growth in the industry. Unfortunately, with this boom in growth, I have also seen poor quality products making it to the marketplace. In my experience, purchasers often require more in-depth knowledge when choosing the product that best suits their needs.
The first mistake many buyers make is having unrealistic expectations regarding the service life of an LED light. If a manufacturer estimates the service life of an LED at 100,000 hours, this does not mean that the light will shine brightly for that period of time. A process known as lumen decrease occurs over time and is influenced by such factors as humidity, temperature, ventilation, thermal management, electrical design and control.
A second common mistake is focusing on effective angle when the beam angle of an LED is being analyzed. Calculations for the effective angle do not include the beam angle that is beyond half of axial direction and intensity. For an accurate calculation, the actual beam angle should be used.
Mistake number three is made when purchasers believe that more power is equivalent to higher brightness. The luminous intensity–also known as axial direction brightness–of a light is the true measure of LED brightness. If two separate lights are compared side-by-side and one of those lights uses more power but their axial direction brightness is the same, they will both produce the same amount of brightness.
