With so many LED products on the market and wildly different prices and claims, the ecoPreserve Team thought you might appreciate the inside scoop on how to make the best LED choices.

Our goal as a consultant is to recommend LED products that will last and perform as intended.

To help us avoid LED pitfalls, I’ve asked long-time LED Expert, Rob Everhart, for his input:

Rob Everhart, Energy Tech Solutions, LLC

LED Purchasing Guidelines – from an expert

These are the key items to discuss with your customer when selecting an LED fixture:

Look for products that are made by reputable manufactures:

Only consider manufactures with a history in manufacturing LED products - Although the market is young, there are many companies with a long history in the production of LED products.

Use local manufactures when possible - There are many reputable, US-based LED manufactures. It may come as a surprise, but I have found that in many cases, U.S. made products are less expensive than their overseas competitors. Some products are manufactured overseas, but designed in the U.S. and built with careful oversight. This helps to maintain quality standards and product consistency. Remember, local technical support can be a big advantage.

Stay clear of importers - Some of the larger importers simply take orders in large volume and go overseas for the lowest bid on the order. This is risky business and can result in mass quantities of high failure, low quality products.

Look for highly technical firms – Some highly technical firms don’t do a good job of promoting and selling their products and we all know that the best brochures and marketing materials don’t always result in the best products. Look at independent lab test comparisons to verify performance.

Find out the history of the product installations – Choose a manufacturer that will provide reference projects for you to review before making a product selection.

Check lead times – Certain raw materials required for LED production are in high demand which can extend lead-times to weeks and months. Many customers won’t have the patience to wait for a 10-12 week delivery. If your products are coming from offshore, be sure to consider the lead-time of ocean freight and the cost of air freight. Find out what the manufacturer or supplier carries in stock and confirm their production capacity. If capacity is too low, they may not be able to keep up with your demand.

Ask about the LED binning – This process eliminates the common issue of color variance from order to order through a sorting (binning) process.

Look for products with IES files – these files allow for the use of a computer produced, photometric design of the proposed project which simulates the design and offers a light level reading per square foot.

Get over lumen output - LED products can’t be compared to other light sources simply based on lumen output.  The lumen output is typically much lower because LED products offer the benefit of directional light output. This means they can basically point the light to where it needs to go versus an HID or fluorescent product that bounces light and can lose up to 50% of the output before exiting the fixture.

Take advantage of dimming and occupancy based controls – Since some LEDs can dim and all have instant on/off capabilities, you can incorporate daylight harvesting or occupancy based lighting controls. This helps improve the bottom line ROI and payback.  There is no loss of life as a result of constantly turning them on and off.

Look for a 5 year warranty – Most LED products offer a five year warranty, but review the warranty details related to the use of the product. As an example, some PAR lamp manufactures suggest not using their product in recessed fixtures (cans) or others may have limitations on the amount of hours used per day. Some have a bond backing up their warranty which should give you a sense of confidence when promoting the product to your customers.

Look for a 50,000 hour life product – Many LED products still only offer 20,000 to 30,000 hours life expectancies. Pursue those who offer a full 50,000 hour as most reputable manufacturers do.

Reputable LED products will have the following testing:

LM79 – This is an independent report documenting the wattage used, output and general photometric performance. This is a basic test that all LED products should undergo after submitting their lamp or fixture for review.

LM80 – This is an independent report produced by the manufacturer that measures populations of LEDs. Data gathered includes luminous flux, color, dominant wavelength, chromaticity and correlated color temperature (CCT), controlled by a variety of currents and LED case temperatures. The test covers a minimum of 6,000 hours of testing and measurement every 1,000 hours. The results help determine how much the LED depreciates in output or color consistency over the test period.

Design Lights Consortium (DLC) – This is a group of utility companies and regional energy organizations that provide independent tests results. The product has to meet or exceed their standards to become certified. DLC Certification has become widely recognized and many utilities use it as a qualifier for rebates on LED products.

Energy Star – The EPA’s ENERGY STAR is also used as an independent lamp test criteria that most utilities will accept as a qualification to provide rebates for the product.