Not all landscape lighting LED’s are created equal not by a long shot

Not all landscape lighting LED’s are created equal not by a long shot

By Mike Gambino

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I’ve written about this topic before but I think it needs to be written about again. At a recent scheduled maintenance service for a client, whose system we installed about 8 years ago, upon arrival we were given a box of LED’s and told to install these. Usually we will not use materials supplied by the client for a number of reason. Primary reason is that usually they are almost always inferior in quality and don’t perform well or last. We cannot guarantee them for the client because obviously we don’t make any money on these products and that is an important revenue stream for us. However since we had already made the trip and I didn’t desire to burn our relationship I agreed to install these LED’s. After examining these LED’s this is what we discovered.

 

#1- The box said not to be used in moist locations or outdoors.

#2- There was a 30,000 hour lamp life estimate

#3- LED is not dimmable

#4- Not to be used in enclosed fixtures

#5- Rated at 6 watts

#6- 220 lumens

#7- 3,000 kelvin color temperature

#8- CRI (Color rendering index) 75

#9- 3 year warranty based upon 4 hours of usage per day ( huh?)

#10- Body of LED was made from plastic

In short this was a very poor quality LED when compared to our own product. Here is how the Gambino high performance LED compares for the same 20 watt halogen replacement LED.

#1- Gambino LED’s are manufactured and proven for performance and longevity in our fixtures which are moisture free and installed outdoors.

#2- 50,000 hour estimated lamp life

#3- LED is dimmable over the full range

#4- Used in our enclosed fixtures with no issue

#5- Rated at 3 watts

#6- 250 lumens

#7- 2900 kelvin color range

#8- CRI 95 (better more natural color light source)

#9- 3 year warranty (no per day limited usage)

#10- Body of LED made from aluminum to better dissipate heat

 

This plastic high wattage LED (Not a Gambino product) melted when placed in an enclosed landscape fixture due to it being unable to disapate the heat

This plastic high wattage LED (Not a Gambino product) melted when placed in an enclosed landscape fixture due to it being unable to dissipate the heat

In regards to choosing the right LED for its application the old “Watts per subject” rule can no longer be used when it comes to choosing lamps for your landscape lighting, particularly large trees and plants, which require higher intensity lighting.

Watts are a measure of energy consumed by a lamp, not the light quantity that is produced.  Using a rule based on watts is flawed from the get go, because it doesn’t consider all of the aspects that contribute to light output of the lamp bulb.  I understand where the problem comes from.  Back in the day, when halogen technology dinosaurs roamed, there were few options for lighting your landscaping.  For the most part systems were limited to standard halogen lamps, all of a similar lumen per watt output, so there was a direct relationship for watts and lumen output for most lighting options.  That could not be further from the truth when it comes to modern LED lamps available for today’s landscape lighting systems.  LED bulbs are wildly different in their efficiency, and they make any sort of rule based purely on watts obsolete.  All watts are not created equal.

The lumen (symbol: lm) is a measure of the power of light perceived by the human eye. The efficiency of a light bulb can then be looked at as Lumens produced per watt of energy consumed.  When looking at lumens per watt, the different bulbs types available today show just how difficult a question this can become. It is possible to have a high wattage bulb, with low lumen values.  Modern LED bulbs are much more efficient than older technology. LED bulbs are much more efficient that most all other types of light sources, and the LED’s in particular produce much less wasted energy by way of heat as well.

Plant characteristics and size play a huge role in how much light can penetrate the leaves of a tree.  Species of Trees of similar size, can have very different lighting requirements.  Denser larger and dark colored leaved trees will require more lumens than open form trees with translucent or light colored leaves.  Light energy is quickly absorbed by plants, with only blue wavelengths of light being able to penetrate deeply into the canopy.

This Gambino landscape lighting project contains multiple LED fixtures none with lamps exceeding 7 watts in energy consumption

This Gambino landscape lighting project contains multiple LED fixtures none with lamps exceeding 7 watts in energy consumption

So how does it all relate to your landscape lighting? Nowadays, when considering what lights to use on your landscape lighting, you must consider bulb efficiency (lumens per watt), light quality for color rendition, and tank depth to make an informed decision, depending on what you’re trying to illuminate. Unfortunately, most of these things are not readily available on packaging and it can take much experimentation and knowledge to calculate which lights will suit your architectural, plant or tree requirements. That is why hiring an experienced designer is so important even more so now than ever before.

So the old watts per subject rule, it needs to go.  Every situation is different, and no one rule can apply to all application.  Not all watts are created equal.

This landscape lighting blog is published by Mike Gambino of Gambino landscape lighting inc. all rights reserved. Mike is a professional landscape lighting system designer/ builder and has been designing, installing and maintaining landscape lighting systems for more than 20 years. Mike resides in the Los Angeles area with his wife and 2 sons. To visit his website go to www.gambinolighting.com . To inquire about hiring Mike please click here .

Blog articles may be published with permission on other websites without editing or removing links.

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