Are LED Replacement Lamps Ready?

摘要

Back in August, this column offered some CALiPER quick facts from recent testing of commercially available LED T8 replacement lamps. CALiPER results showed that the LED products tested did not achieve the lumen output or efficacy levels of the linear fluorescent lamps they claim to replace. Market interest in replacement lamps is high, as many users look for LED products that they can simply plug into existing fixtures. In reality, it is often not that simple. A number of LED replacement products aim to take advantage of the directional nature of LEDs by packaging them in reflector lamp configurations (and some do it better than others). Some applications, like linear fluorescent lighting, traditionally use non-directional sources that emit light in all directions and rely, in part, on the fixture to redirect the light in a useful direction. Many users look to LEDs for a superior solution in such applications, but in the case of the LED T8 products tested, results indicate that most buyers today would be disappointed.