Winner Of The 2012 LEDko Challenge – Cincinnati Shakespeare Company

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The winner of the 2012 LEDko Challenge, sponsored by LED Source and Coemar, is Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (CSC).

The LEDko Challenge, which launched in October 2011, was created by LED Source in celebration of the launch of the new Reflection LEDko series by Italy-based Coemar—a world leader in lighting for the entertainment industry. As the exclusive distributor of Coemar LED products in North America, LED Source wanted to get the word out about the launch and award a deserving organization with the latest in LED profile technology.

CSC was chosen as the winner among the top five finalists for their submission of a creative and humorous video demonstrating their “ancient” lighting system, which theater employees said often caused blackouts and delays during rehearsals and performances.

Finalists were selected by a panel of experts made up of both LED Source and Coemar senior management, and the grand prize winner was chosen by fans on the Reflection LEDko Facebook page through a voting process. As the contest winner, power outages and outdated stage lighting will be a thing of the past for CSC, which has been producing classic Shakespeare performances since 1993 and educates more than 20,000 theater students annually through its educational outreach programs. LED lighting will allow CSC, which produces classic multi-scene adventure plays, to seamlessly transition from a battle scene to a banquet in the blink of an eye.

To quote Brian Isaac Phillips, Producing Artist Director for CSC, “This is life changing for us.”

To read more and download the press release, visit the LED Source website.

Watch the winning entry - Cincinnati Shakespeare Company LEDko Challenge Submission Video

Switch Your T12 Fluorescents To LEDs Before It’s Too Late

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We get tons of inquiries here about people looking to replace their old, worn out or dead lights with the new, latest and greatest LEDs.  Sometimes it’s for cosmetic reasons, sometimes it’s to save money, and sometimes it’s to go green.  If you currently have T12 fluorescent fixtures in your space, you can accomplish all 3 goals in one fell swoop.

LED Source® carries multiple lines of 1×4, 2×2 and 2×4 LED fluorescent fixture replacements.  We have several excellent options from Cree.  They are the CR14, CR22 and CR24 respectively.  They come in a very attractive package and at a very attractive price.  Check out the picture, look how sharp that fixture looks.  Go one, check it out, I’ll wait.  Not only is it a looker but lasts longer and that saves you money.  The LED lamp will last over 13 years if you use it 12 hours a day.  T12 lamps claim to last almost 3 years at that amount of usage, but we all know that they’re very dim if they make it that long and usually burn out well before that from the on/off cycling they undergo.  That doesn’t even take into account replacing the ballasts in your system every few years.  Add up the costs of the parts and labor to do that and you’re looking at a significant maintenance cost.  Plus, T12 lamps are going to be phased out as early as late 2012 and won’t even be available!

Not only do you save on lamp and ballast replacement costs, but you will also save on your electrical bill every month.  The typical T12, 4 lamp fixture uses 172 Watts of power between the lamps and ballast.  The Cree CR24 equivalent uses only 50 Watts.  So, not only are you saving money and time not having to replace components, but you are also using 71% less energy per fixture.  That’s significant savings on just a few fixtures; imagine if you have hundreds or thousands of these in your facility what the savings would be.

And finally, if you’re looking to go green, LED is the lighting solution for you.  They are mercury free (all fluorescent lamps have mercury in them and must be specially disposed of), recyclable and don’t contain the dangerous chemicals that are in other types of lighting. With the combination of easy maintenance, cost savings and excellent good looks, there is no better solution on the planet than to replace your fluorescent lighting with LED fixtures from LED Source®.

Give LED Source® a call today at 866.900.4533 and speak with one of our LED lighting experts.

LED Lighting for Museums and Galleries

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As a fellow LED Source® employee, some of my favorite clients to retrofit to LED are museums and galleries. The difference with what we do is that we continually strive to work with manufacturers and products that achieve the highest standards for color temperature, which is very important to the art world.

People who spend a lot of time in museums and galleries have become very accustomed to viewing art under halogen lights. Halogen has a color temperature somewhere between 2700K and 3000K, but it definitely adds warmth (yellow) to the light. Particularly as it is used with a dimmer, halogen light turns more amber and orange (warmer) as it is dimmed. With LED, control over the color temperature of the light becomes much more precise. LEDs hold its color temperature even though lamps can be dimmed to around 5% of their light output. Finally, low light does not mean orange light!

Because people are “used to” the warmth of halogen, they sometimes don’t initially react well to the CRI accuracy of a true 3000K minus the yellow/orange of the halogen. However, particularly in a setting where bases, walls and cases are white and crisp, such as in a modern art setting, the 3000K look stunning. It isn’t usually a goal here to make the walls and bases look yellow, after all, they are white and should look white even when lit. 3000K are just warm enough, but just white enough to keep whites crisp and make colors vivid and true.

However, for more traditional museums where walls are colored and there is a lot of wood and gold (on frames, accents, etc.), staying closer to the 2700K temperature helps to retain the warmth and the traditional appearance that we love.

With traditional lighting, galleries have often appeared rather dim because of the need to reduce the damage to the art over time owing to the UV and heat generated by halogen. To counter the damage from simply lighting the art, museums have had to use UV filters and very low light settings on their antiquities, to prevent fading and heat damage, especially to fragile pieces such as papers and textiles. With LED it is now possible to light such fragile art a bit brighter than the traditional standards owing to the fact that LEDs do not emit UV and will not cause heat damage to the art. With LED, UV and heat concerns are a thing of the past, allowing art to be well lit without risking damage.

The most important thing about correctly lighting art spaces is to test a variety of LED lamps in the setting itself. Seeing is believing. When the color temperatures and beam angles are compared side-by-side on the actual art, it usually becomes very clear what looks best. Avoiding “hot spots,” glare, and light that is too white or intense is crucial. Because LEDs appear brighter to our eyes — even though the foot-candle readings on the light meter are the same or less — it may take a bit of testing to settle on exactly the right lamps (wattage, lumens, colors, beam angles, etc.) for any given setting. Don’t give up, though. LED is definitely the best choice for the art world. This is where a consulting someone who is really well versed with how to work with LED products can be invaluable as you make the switch.

So — let there be LIGHT!! Thanks to beautiful LEDs, art can be seen as it was truly intended to be! Please feel free to contact me if I can help you light the art in your world!

Leigh Ann Fulkerson is the Senior Sales Consultant at LED Source® in Lawrence, Kansas. She can be reached by calling 866.900.4533

For more information contact the LED lighting experts at LED Source®.

High-Rise Condos and LEDs – Part 2

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In a previous blog, I discussed the use of LED lighting in the high-rise condo market, mainly focusing on the interior portions of the high-rise and the property manager’s responsibility to their tenants.  I will be focusing on another section of the typical high-rise condo, parking garages and site lighting.

Parking garage and site lighting are some of the highest energy consumption light fixtures on the property.

The majority of the parking garage fixtures are typically on 24/7 by code requirements.  Usually these fixtures are at least 250 Watt Metal Halide and are on 6-8 ft. centers.  In the instance of a 5-story parking garage, there could be upwards of 300 lighting fixtures.  It is pretty easy to see, just how fast the energy costs can become substantial!

The numerous LED replacement fixtures on the market for this application fall in the 70-80 Watt range. In most applications, a one-for-one replacement can be done and an immediate energy savings are achieved.  Once the installation is done, there will be NO maintenance required –  NO lamp replacement and NO ballast replacement.  When all of these elements add up, energy savings and no maintenance, the Return On Investment is typically 2-3 years.  After the ROI is achieved, the installation becomes a positive cash flow generator due to the energy and maintenance costs savings. Last but certainly not least, the quality of lighting is much higher with LED lighting.

Another popular LED retrofit among property managers is site lighting.  Site lighting is defined just as it sounds – any type of lighting fixture that illuminates the site.  These fixtures could be wall packs, floodlights, parking lot fixtures, etc.   The site lighting is essential to safety of the tenants and the overall perception of the property. Most of these current fixtures are in the 200 to 400 Watt range.

An LED retrofit  for these fixtures are typically in the 40 to 90 Watt range.  As you can see, the energy savings, again, add up pretty quickly.  Since retrofitting with LED lamps means NO lamp replacements and NO ballast replacements, the ROI typically less than 2 years.

The biggest impact fixtures in this category have are parking lot fixtures on site.  These existing fixtures are typically High Pressure Sodium fixtures that will output a “yellowish” light, a very warm output. This is typically around a 2700-Kelvin temperature.

With an LED Retrofit, the output can not only be a specific color temperature, but it can also be focused on a particular area, without the “hot spots” associated with High Pressure Sodium fixtures.  These fixtures also have the ability to dim to a specified level when needed, such as after heavy traffic times.  Once again, another energy savings feature, which translates into money savings.

In a high-rise condo the property management firm is responsible for operating the building on a budget, and saving money is at the top of their list of priorities.  Money saved from the use of LEDs can go a long way in helping other areas of expenditures.

For more information on LED lighting, contact the LED lighting experts at LED Source®.

Wet Location LED Lighting

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I’m sure you have all seen the green bullet landscape fixture. You may even have a few in your yard right now. Whether it’s in your neighbor’s yard or the golf course around the corner, these fixtures are the most common landscape fixtures used on the market today. They are inexpensive and available at your local home improvement centers.

For the longest time, it has been a hassle to retrofit an LED lamp into these fixtures because there were no wet location PAR38 lamps available. The other problem was that if you used an LED lamp in wet location application and it wasn’t rated for wet location, the warranty was voided.

Finally Philips Lighting has a new true wet location PAR38 lamp. It is part of the EnduraLED 1200 Series and uses only 18-Watts, is dimmable and can replace a 90-Watt halogen PAR38 bulb. Rated for 50,000 hours, which when compared to a halogen only lasting 2,500 hours on average, it comes with a five-year warranty from Philips Lighting and is the perfect LED lamp for outdoor or wet location applications.

With LED lamps, your fixtures will last longer since the LEDs produce virtually no heat. With a halogen bulb inside the fixture, it gets extremely hot and expands the fixture. Overtime, the heat and expansion breaks down the rubber seals on the fixture, causing them to leak. When water gets in the bottom of the fixture, it corrodes the metal parts of the socket and most likely will seize the lamp to the socket. In most cases when this happens, you need to buy a new fixture. With LEDs producing no heat and not expanding the metal, the fixture seals will last longer.

This is just another great development in the world of LED lighting and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

For more information on LED lighting, contact the LED lighting experts at LED Source® at 866.900.4533 or sales@ledsource.com

Parking Garages and LEDs – A Match Made in Heaven

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If you own, run or work for a parking garage, you know the challenges inherent in lighting it.  The lights you have now are expensive to run.  They’re energy hogs.  You’re swapping lamps out because they burn out all the time. During the lamp replacement, you have to hire a maintenance person to replace the bulbs and not to mention that drivers are trying to kill you as they fly through the parking garage to get in and out.  When these bulbs burn out, they cause dangerous black holes in your space.  These lamps must be on 24/7 with no downtime.

All of these challenges lead to one solution, LED lighting.  Generally, you’re talking about a 200-Watt fixture being used to light the various areas of your garage.  What if I told you that we could replace that fixture with a 60-Watt LED fixture?  Not only does it use 65% less energy than what you’re currently using, but it will last nearly 7 years if you ran it for 24/7 and it requires no maintenance.  There is really no downside to replacing what you have now with new LED fixtures except is one thing… the price.

People perceive LED lighting as being expensive and if you look at it purely from the perspective of the initial cost, you’re absolutely correct.  They’re more expensive than what a typical legacy lighting solution would cost.  When you look at the Return On Investment (ROI) and factor in lamp replacement costs, energy savings and the time wasted replacing lamps, you’re looking at the MOST inexpensive solution available.  How can you beat that?  LEDs will save you the most money, time and headaches. Make the switch today.


For more information on LED lighting, contact the LED lighting experts at LED Source – 866.900.4533.