LED Lighting Facts
Buyer Beware: There is a price-quality trade-off with LED lighting products
Posted in General by Net Zero USA
What is the distinction between different priced LED lighting products?
LED products can be made with quality components and/or cheap components. Since it’s difficult for a consumer to tell the difference, we will take a few minutes to discuss some important points that can be used to help you make better purchasing decisions.
Diodes & Internal LED Components
The first factor to consider is the product components of the LED light itself. Many of these components are not visible and thus cannot be determined as to what level of quality is behind the product. LEDs are manufactured in bins that have varying degrees of tolerance in lumen and color output. They are usually categorized and grouped by bin codes. The lower performing and lower quality diodes are grouped and sold at a lesser price than the higher quality bins. Using lower quality, lower temperature C caps is another failure component that can show up a few years down the road. These are all places for a company to take short cuts and decrease cost of their product.
Connectors
The next place to cut corners is on the internal connector components. If a connector doesn’t have the ability to last or create proper connection, a short can cause a failure. If that is on any part of the internal components, it cannot be repaired economically. A consumer cannot see inside a driver, and has no idea if the driver has less expensive, lower temperature caps. These compromises can cause premature failure and shorten the life of a driver compared to the expectation.
The Price-Quality Trade-Off & LED Lighting Warranties
Products do not have to be expensive to be good, however, if a product is cheap then there is a reason. Even though it is hard to fully understand the make-up of products, digging into the technical side can help you make a better decision. The warranty has to be more than a piece of paper, and understanding the company’s limitations and history behind the warranty as well as their replacement process on any warranty issues can save you time and money down the road.
Questions to ask: What does the warranty say about replacing the product? What is the customer’s responsibility in a warranty scenario? What is the company’s ability to service the warranty?
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