The new LED Arrays for easy integration in light fixtures

We have expanded our offer of LED arrays in two different product lines: linear LED Arrays (L) and square LED Arrays (Q).

Smart Array are a high density row or cluster of high performance Nichia 757 LEDs placed on a PCB for easy installation. Luminous flux is up to 4000 lumens and the warranty is 3 years.

You can purchase them here:

Square LED Arrays
Linear LED Arrays

The sizes are the following:

Cheap LED lamps (spot lights or bulbs): what is under the hood

 Dangerous GU10 LED Spot Light is Cheap and Bright but could Kill You - Seriously

A very interesting video about a low cost GU10 LED bulb, a very common occurance on website like e-bay or alibaba.

Beyond the well known low lifetime or lumen loss, cheap LED lamps can be very dangerous for people or property:




This is why at LedRise.com you find only LED lamps from well known manufacturers like Osram, Philips, Toshiba, Samsung and so on.

LED Strip Buying Guide

This is a brief LED Strip Buying Guide.  For assistance in choosing the best LED strip please contact us.


LED strips are most commonly used to create lines of light, a very modern approach to lighting.  From the living room, to shops, office spaces, entire building facades or bridges, all can be lit with lines of light.

Having such a wide application range, LED strips are available in hundreds of configurations, with large differences in basic attributes as light produced, wattage, color temperature, lifetime, light quality, IP rating, flexibility of the LED line and much more. This confuses confuses most buyers.

A brief buying guide for LED Strips:

When you want to purchase a LED strip you first should think about the type of lighting you desire.  The most common types are:

• ambient light (self light, cove light, tv back light on the wall and so on)
• intense ambient light ( as above but with increased intensity for some common tasks as navigating a space, eating, conversation)
• general light (the light we need for most task in our home, shop or office)
• intense general light (also called task light, for reading, writing, office work, cooking or to draw attention to a certain area, object or architectural characteristic) 

After you decide on the type of lighting you need, when you search for LED strips you should look at the following three characteristics:

•  brightness per meter (luminous flux, measured in lumens)
•  actual LED lifetime (as opposed to claimed manufacturer lifetime. In brief, if the LED is not a known brand, actual lifetime is in the 1000-5000 hours range)  
• light quality, also called color rendering index, CRI or Ra in short

 Based on the type of lighting (ambient light, intense ambient light, general light, task light) the minimum values for the above three characteristics are:

LED Strips for ambient light 

Minimum Values of LED Strip for ambient light
Brightness per meter	100 lm/m
CRI (light quality)	60
Lifetime for infrequent use	1000 hours
Lifetime for daily use in the home	10.000 hours
Lifetime for daily use, commercial or business	30.000 hours

LED Strips for intense ambient light 

Minimum Values of LED Strip for intense ambient light
Brightness per meter	600 lm/m
CRI (light quality)	70
Lifetime for infrequent use	1000 hours
Lifetime for daily use in the home	10.000 hours
Lifetime for daily use, commercial or business	30.000 hours

LED Strips for general light

 

Minimum Values of LED Strip used for general light
Brightness per meter	1000 lm/m
CRI (light quality)	80
Lifetime for infrequent use	10.000 hours
Lifetime for daily use in the home	15.000 hours
Lifetime for daily use, commercial or business	30.000 hours

LED Strips for intense general light (task light)

Minimum Values of LED Strip used for intense general light
Brightness per meter	1500 lm/m
CRI (light quality)	80
Lifetime for infrequent use	10.000 hours
Lifetime for daily use in the home	15.000 hours
Lifetime for daily use, commercial or business	40.000 hours

You can find in our online shop strips for all of the above types of lighting.

The LED branding game, LED chip vs LED light source

The LED branding game,  LED chip vs LED light source

The brands in the LED market are:

1. Nichia
2. Cree
3. Lumileds
4. Samsung
5. Osram
6. Citizen
7. Bridgelux
8. Seoul Semiconductor

And if a product uses LEDs from one of these brands it has a certain quality guarantee. Therefore, one of the most common questions buyers of LED light ask is:

"What LEDs are used in your product?"

If the answer is for example "We use Cree" then the buyer assumes the product is of very good quality from the point of view of the LED used.  Wrong.

Such an answer is vague and it does not ensure the buyer of anything because a producer of LED lamps or fixtures might be using Cree Chips or actual Cree LEDs.

If we uses Cree Chips (see below where the Chip is inside the LED) it means he buys these chips from Cree and builds an LED with them at a 3-rd party.  In such case, from our experience the quality of the LED light source is most likely substandard.

 

 Only if the producer uses actual Cree LEDs, which we can find on the manufacturer website we can be sure about the high quality of the LED light source. Below, a picture of Cree XP-G 2.

New LedRise VIP Club, up to 30% discount for members

NEW!
Reach 200€* with all your orders at LedRise.com and you automatically enter our VIP Club.
VIP Club advantages:

• 5% discount on all products in your order, including items on sale
• Exclusive access to promotions for VIP Club members: up to 30% discount from the prices in our shop, on selected items, even if they are on sale on the website
• VIP Club Promotions are limited by time and are announced regularly on our Facebook Page or via Newsletter. Be sure to follow both!
• 15% discount on all products in your order for any purchase of at least 2000€

To take advantage of the 5% discount or any exclusive promotion a VIP Club member must fill the Order Form below when making a new order and email it to orders@LedRise.com . No discounts apply to orders made via directly via our Online shop!

For more details visit our website

How to take advantage of the VIP Club promotions

1. Have at least one delivered order from LedRise

2. Reach 200€* with all the orders. If this is reached with a new order, promotions apply for this order too!

2.Check our Facebook Page or follow our Newsletter to see the current promotions

3. Make your shopping list and fill the Order Form with your order

4. E-mail the Order Form to orders@ledrise.com

5. We will add the order with the promotional terms in your account and send you payment instructions. Payment methods accepted: Paypal, Visa, Master Card, Wire Transfer

* Special offer, in effect until 01.10.2014, after that the level to join the VIP Club will change to 400€.

LED Lamp buying guide

For consumers in the European Union the purchase of LED Lamps, also known as LED bulbs, spots or tubes has recently got easier because of the European Directives 1194 from 2012 and 244 from 2009.

According to these directives, for any LED lamp put on the market the provided product
information must make an informed purchase possible.

The Product Information Requirements are:

On the Package:

• Nominal luminous flux of the lamp 
• Energy Label
• Nominal life time of the lamp in hours (not higher than the rated life time);
• Number of switching cycles before premature lamp failure;
• Colour temperature (also expressed as a value in Kelvins);
• Warm-up time up to 60 % of the full light output (may be indicated as ‘instant full light’ if less than 1 second);
• A warning if the lamp cannot be dimmed or can be dimmed only on specific dimmers;
• If designed for optimal use in non-standard conditions (such as ambient temperature Ta ≠ 25 °C), information on those conditions;
• Lamp dimensions in millimeters (length and diameter);
• Equivalence with an incandescent lamp (optional).

 On the Internet:

• The information specified On the Package:
• Rated power (0,1 W precision);
• Rated useful luminous flux;
• Rated lamp life time;
• Lamp power factor;(Lumen maintenance factor at the end of the nominal life (except for filament lamps);
• Starting time (as X,X seconds);
• Colour rendering;
• Colour consistency (only for LEDs);
• Rated peak intensity in candela (cd);
• Rated beam angle;
• If intended for use in outdoor or industrial applications, an indication to this effect;

LedRise recommends to purchase only LED lamps that have the product information mentioned above.

TM-21, the right way to calculate LED lifetime

In the article LED Lifetime - how to calculate it? 
we have explained that the proper way to calculate the lifetime of an LED is with a pair of two standards LM-80 and TM-21.

 LM-80 (explained here) sets the standard of the actual testing while TM-21 specifies how to extrapolate the LM-80 results to times beyond the LM-80 test time.

Now we will briefly explain how the TM-21 extrapolation method can be used to predict LED lifetime and obtain a graph that looks like this:

From the LM-80 report, spreadsheets with a lot of detailed raw data obtained from testing:

We take the following:

• lumen maintenance data recorded at maximum 1000 hour intervals, over a period of at least 6000 hours for the three Case Temperatures (55°C, 85°C and manufacturer chosen)
• sample size where 10 samples is minimum and 20 samples is the optimum for each of the three data sets
• Test duration (hours)
• Tested drive current (mA)
• Number of failures

...and use the calculation method detailed in the TM-21 to predict the lifetime of an LED up to a maximum of 6 times the measured interval.

One can use the following calculator which has all the formulas hardwired.

In conclusion, the industry has moved to set standards which lead to clear rules in the race to acquire customers with lifetime and performance claims. Now it is up to the customers too become informed and ask for supporting data when faced with a lifetime graph like this one:



For 75000 hours at L70 the manufacturer must provide: LM-80 raw test data for 12.500 hours and extrapolation based on the TM-21. Without them the lifetime claim can simply be ignored when making a purchase...