LED Lighting: A Comprehensive Guide – Benefits, Facts, Uses

Whether your focus is on efficiency, return on investment (ROI), or sustainability, light emitting diode (LED) solutions have a lot to offer. This comprehensive guide will take a deeper look into LED lighting and its benefits over other lighting solutions. In addition, this article will address the various uses and applications of LED lighting and its importance in commercial markets.

Facts About LED Lights

LED lighting passes an electrical current through a microchip, which powers a light-emitting diode. An LED is a type of semiconductor which takes electrons from electrical current and recombines them with electron holes. This releases photons in a process known as electroluminescence.

The earliest practical use of LEDs was in 1962 in remote control devices, indicator lamps, and seven-segment displays (calculators, digital clocks, electronic meters, etc.). These early LEDs were limited to the color red, but later advancements began to produce a wider variety of colors by adjusting energy levels and bandgaps in the microchips.

Here are a few additional basic facts and attributes of LED lights:

• LEDs feature direct light production rather than indirect light production through heat
• The lifespan of an LED light is 25,000-100,000 hours, depending on its type
• LEDs emit monochromatic light and are available in nearly any color
• LED lights use 84% less energy than traditional lights

Benefits of LED Lights

The lifespan of LED bulbs and their lower energy usage are certainly major benefits of LED lights, but there is a much longer list of benefits derived from the use of LEDs in place of traditional lighting. These include:

• Safety. LEDs use 90% of the heat associated with light production, making them cooler and safer.
• Improved CRI. The color rendering index (CRI) of LEDs is better, which draws out the true color of an object. This can be especially useful in the design and manufacturing environments.
• Smaller. The smaller size of LEDs saves space.
• Design flexibility. Size, color, dimming, and other characteristics allow for greater flexibility in lighting designs.
• Directional emission. More efficient 180° lighting with no waste behind the fixture.
• Instant on. LEDs turn on and off instantly and do not degrade because of frequency.
• Dimming capacity. LEDs can be adjusted from 1%-100% of their capacity.
• Solid state component. LEDs do not need to be added to in order to function.
• Lower voltage. LEDs can operate at a much lower voltage than other lighting types.
• No UV emissions. The majority of emissions from LEDs occur in the visual spectrum, with a small amount of infrared spectrum, and no ultraviolet (UV) energy emission.
• Eco-friendly. LEDs do not use any environmentally negative gases such as mercury, making them more sustainable.
• Less affected by temperature. The thermal resistance properties of LEDs allow for a much broader range of temperature extremes without causing degradation.

These and other benefits of LEDs make them a viable alternative to other lighting solutions. Making comparisons between LEDs and competitive lighting types provides an even clearer picture of the advantages LED solutions provide. For an accurate comparison, note the difference in lifespan and lighting efficiency of LEDs in relation to traditional lighting types, as well as some of the other advantages and disadvantages of each.

LED vs. Incandescent Lighting

LED vs. Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL)

LED lighting outperforms the two most common traditional lighting types in lifespan, long-term costs, and functionality. Though the initial investment into LED lighting can be higher than competitive lighting types, its long-term cost-effectiveness balances out the higher initial investment with a significant amount of energy savings and substantially less frequent replacement needs.

LEDCONN’s Capabilities

LED lights are gaining in popularity due to the benefits listed above and the advantages they pose over competitive solutions. They provide lighting solutions for a wide range of applications. These applications include:

• Architectural lighting designs
• Signage
• Retail
• Product displays
• Restaurants

LEDCONN has a wide range of LED products available to provide tailored solutions for specific applications. The following  case studies reflect how LEDCONN uses their products to overcome lighting challenges for their clients.

Architecture

LED lighting provides architects and interior designers with a broad array of energy-saving lighting options. LEDs produce light similar to natural outdoor lighting, which helps regulate our circadian rhythms and creates a positive, comfortable, aesthetic design appeal. The improved CRI of LEDs also allows architects and designers to experiment with a broader palette of colors in architectural components and designs, such as ceilings, walls, pillars, artwork, and more.

Meanwhile, the small size of the diodes, low heat, and unidirectional light projection mean that LEDs can support a broad range of unique lighting fixtures ranging from standard to artistic. The following case studies showcase some of the more unique lighting applications LEDCONN has worked with.

Case Study: Commercial Architecture

A client asked LEDCONN to provide lighting solutions for a series of highly customized panels. The unique pattern of this client’s panel design mimicked the layout of a major L.A. freeway using perforated metal and complex wiring management. This project required sophisticated design versatility and advanced custom wiring design and management to produce the proper effect—all within a short timeline. LEDCONN’s Customer Success and Engineering teams worked together to customize 90+ LUXFIT light panels of varying sizes and coordinate the complicated logistics for a project of this scale. Since some of the lights would be used both indoors and outdoors, the team factored in damp location treatment to protect against moisture, which added another layer of complexity to the project.

When working with creative architectural designs, some level of customization is required to achieve the desired outcome, which will vary per application. LEDCONN offers a variety of customizable products that facilitate stunning and original lighting setups. Some of these include:

• LUXFIT LED Light Panels
• LUXLINEAR LED Light Tubes
• LUXLINE LED Light Strips
• LUXMESH LED Backlit Lattices
• Dimmers
• RGB

Case Study: Museum Exhibit

A 29-panel museum display of Japanese American soldiers in World War II required a unique and creative lighting solution that honored the subject while maintaining the aesthetic of the museum building—a 100-year-old Buddhist temple in the Arts District of Los Angeles.

LEDCONN provided backlighting for each panel, several of which required multiple light panels used in conjunction. In spite of the challenges posed by the usage of multiple panels, LEDCONN’s experience with Optimized Dot Pattern Technology led to a successful installation while maintaining even illumination across the panels.

This project demonstrated LEDCONN’s capabilities to handle highly customized projects for unique commercial applications using an expansive line of LED lighting products. The extensive design abilities of LEDCONN enable the handling of projects for a wide variety of applications

LED Lighting for Retail

Retail spaces often take advantage of LED lighting to optimize products and signage without exceeding their budget. Space on the retail shelf is at a premium, so it’s important to find lighting solutions that occupy a minimal area. LUXFIT and LUXFLEX solutions from LEDCONN are ideal for this purpose.

Lighting shelves in a retail space with LED lighting is simple because LED solutions:

• Feature dimming and brightening options
• Illuminate displays without adding heat
• Provide even illumination for products
• Offer a longer lifespan

Lighting every shelf and adding a significant amount of LED lighting to a retail space produces measurable results. Some applications have produced sales increases ranging from 2-12% in specific areas of the store. The overall effect of boosting LED lighting in a retail space increases the number of shoppers who enter the store or who gravitate toward the light-enhanced area.

Case Study: Retail

Cosmetics brand Sephora main focus was to lower their carbon footprint. Consequently, an updated 12V POP display solution was needed to meet green energy requirements for a 2019 display program that had already been developed with 24V LED light engines. The challenge, however, was that this had to be done without significantly reducing the existing brightness in the displays.

This project came with a list of complex challenges:

• The lighting engine switch had to be made without impacting the ROI or functionality of the current displays.
• The light engines needed to be redesigned to meet the stricter energy requirements.
• Display branding standards required a certain level brightness that would be harder to maintain in the 12V light engine.

The manufacturer of Sephora’s POP displays approached LEDCONN for assistance in developing a solution that could address these challenges and help Sephora meet their new sustainability goals. LEDCONN’s team immediately realized that swapping the 24V solution with a different 12V lighting product would be far too time-consuming and would threaten upcoming marketing initiatives. Instead, LEDCONN proposed reengineering the existing 24V LEDs into 12V versions, which would reduce voltage and wattage output.

The process required new PCB layouts, prototypes, and testing to ensure that brightness would not be affected. A solution was developed wherein electrical components were added to restrict energy consumption without impacting the functionality of the LUXLINE LED strips or LUXLINEAR light tubes.

Ultimately, the POP display manufacturer fulfilled Sephora’s new sustainability policies and the LEDCONN team demonstrated creativity and agility in developing a custom LED solution—from initial redesign through post-sales support—within a demanding timetable.

Premium LED Lighting Solutions from LEDCONN

Due to its longer life span and greater efficiency, a broad range of industries and applications are making use of LED lighting to provide aesthetically pleasing, affordable lighting solutions in everything from full-sized buildings to small retail shelves. Featuring low-cost, high-impact installation, LED lights allow for greater flexibility and creativity in lighting design.

LEDCONN produces lighting solutions for a broad range of applications spanning sectors such as architectural, signage, retail, and more. Contact us to learn more about our LED lighting products or request a quote from one of our experts.