The transition to LED brings many advantages of energy saving and efficiency, versatility and many other factors that imply lower costs of time, money and resources. However, it also means making a strong investment in the renewal of the team, so we must seek durable LED luminaires, which offer us that performance and versatility for a long period of time.
1. How efficient are they?
One of the great advantages of LED is the savings due to energy efficiency. Our equipment has to be designed to meet our creative needs while saving energy.
Not only because of energy savings, which is where the difference between premium and conventional LED luminaires is most noticeable, but because it will be a sign that it causes less heat. Heat is a loss of energy that affects the LED and the durability of electronic components.
On an LED chip, saturated color equals fewer lumens, and less saturated colors equal more lumens. Luminous efficacy helps ensure no lumens are wasted as the luminaire works to cast bright, saturated light.
2. How consistent is it?
LEDs are inconsistent by nature, no two LEDs are the same. To complicate matters, the intensity of each LED depends on the ambient temperature. Consistency is achieved through calibration and to this end, the engineering team at ETC has created a multiple management system.
They measure the intensity and spectral output of each individual color and record this information on a microchip that lives inside the luminaire. If one fixture has a brighter amber than the others, it knows this and makes internal adjustments to its outputs to keep it consistent with the others. Thus, uniform chromaticity is guaranteed automatically.
Although some luminaires have a calibration mode, it is necessary to know the loss of chromatic range that occurs in these modes, having much fewer calibrated colors. In the case of equipment such as ETC's Source Four LED Series 3, the fact that it is calibrated does not imply loss of color.
The final piece of the color integrity puzzle is thermal drop compensation. When an LED fixture is on for a period of time, it can heat up and produce a different color to the one it had when it was initially turned on.
ETC's Thermal Drop technology places multiple sensors around the LED array to measure temperature multiple times per second. The fixture then automatically adjusts the intensity of the LED emitters to maintain a constant output. The result is a stable output and color throughout the life of the luminaire..
3. What evidence is there for durable LED luminaires?
Most manufacturers use the L80 and L84 tests to analyze the durability of the luminaires. The L80 applies to individual LED emitters and the L84 to complete luminaires.
Due to the length and cost of these tests, many manufacturers use only the individual LED data from the L80 to calculate the data for the L70, that is, calculate how long it will take for the luminaire to lose luminosity until it reaches 70% of its original capacity.
This means that the L70 data does not define very well the operation of the complete luminaire when it reaches that point. Taking into account that some manufacturers may under-cool and over-power emitters to cut costs and appear brighter out of the box and brand new, making their stated L70 rating inaccurate.
ETC, however, fully develops the L84 tests of most of its products and collects information on their performance in spaces where the equipment suffers a very demanding and continuous use, such as television studios, and analyzes the information.
Thanks to that, ETC offers a 5-year warranty on most of its products and a 10-year warranty on the LED chip., guaranteeing that your investment not only meets all your creative needs, but also offers an adequate return and durability, thanks to its efficiency, guarantee and consistency.
Not all LEDs are the same, choose the smartest change
As we have seen, not all LEDs are the same and there are big differences in performance and durability. Switching from incandescent to cheap LED is not the same as making the smartest switch.
In the long run, the lower inefficiency and durability of cheap LEDs generates lower savings and return on investment than efficient LEDs, which will force us to renew equipment sooner and also have lower performance and quality.
Therefore, we must choose efficient LED equipment, such as those manufactured by ETC and distributed in Spain by Stonex, that also They offer a guarantee, quality and technical service that, together with their professional advice, guarantee the best possible transition to LED..