LED LAMPS ARE NOT ALL EQUAL

Buying “the Wrong” LED Tube Lamps can be Expensive

Electrical Systems and Services, Inc is always concerned that our customers are well educated on what's new as well as comparing products. Many times when we get asked to bid on a project, we go over and above the demand by offering the customer several different options.One of the more common recent lighting upgrades ESS has done has been the T12 to T8 or T5. With a little more dollars up front, we can usually show the customer how money will be saved in the long haul, using LED's 

When making purchasing decision on energy efficient lighting, it is not uncommon for people to choose LED tubes lights on price alone. With conventional lamps where all things are equal, per-lamp price is a reasonable yardstick. However, with LED T8 lamps all things are everything but equal. Per-lamp price alone is inadequate to reflect the real cost of a retrofit project. Experienced lighting professionals are now considering  these factors when calculating the true cost of a retrofit project:

• ·         Per-lamp price
• ·         Per-lamp installation labor cost (50% labor saving is a lot)
• ·         Per-lamp accessories cost (for new tombstones, wirings, or an external driver)
• ·         Per-lamp rebate (available only for qualified LED products listed with LDL or DCL)
• ·         Per-lamp incentive (for it has strict requirements and expiration date)
• ·         Per-lamp energy difference (18W LED T8 saves 18% more energy comparing to 22W LED T8.)
• ·         Warranty (Rebate lists routinely call for 5-year warranty, thus a 3-year warranty is no longer acceptable.)
• ·         UL label (IFAR 1598C will be the standard in Feb, 2013, and many LED T8’s will lose their listing.)

With this holistic view for your retrofit project, buying a “lesser” LED T8 may be the wrong choice. Saving money by using a single-end lamp that only carries a 3-year warranty won’t get you the rebates. Also, you will need to use non-shunted tombstones, which your fixture may not have. Lastly, change-out time is greater since the fixture will require the electrician more labor time.  Now, how much did you really save with the “lesser” LED tube with that 3-year warranty, additional 4-watt higher on power consumption and without any rebate qualification, no UL1598C classification and requiring 50% more labor time on replacing fixture tombstone? You actually end up paying a lot more on a project basis with this “lesser” LED tube even though its per-lamp cost is cheaper.