Practical advice

LED light sources have a longer life span, which reduces their maintenance and replacement costs . Since LED products need to be replaced less often, the user spends less time on buying new lamps and replacing them. LED light sources consume less energy than conventional light sources. Investment pays for itself quite quickly.

An increase in power in watts translates into a slight decrease in efficiency. A 3W LED light source will emit slightly less light than three 1W light sources. In general, the characteristics of components (e.g. optics, heat sink, chips, LED modules and driver) have a greater impact on the light output than the wattage output.

As commonly accepted, LED product lasts four times as long as a compact fluorescent lamp and 25 times as long as a conventional incandescent lamp that generates the same amount of light.

The use of professional LED lighting is means predominantly energy-costs saving, comfort of use and protection of the environment. Below is a short list of advantages of using LED lighting:

• Saving energy
• Durability - the lifespan of LEDs is can be 50,000 hours of continuous illumination, which means that at the same time you would have to use 50 ordinary incandescent bulbs. .
• Decorative lighting - thanks to the use of multicolor lighting and unique designs, it has never been so easy to obtain interesting illumination effects in the illumination of our spaces. Thanks to LED technology everyone can create individual decorative illuminations.
• Safety - professional LED light sources do not produce UV radiation which means that continued exposure to LED light sources is completely safe.
• Efficiency - LEDs are currently the most energy efficient source (using much less electricity) than traditional light sources.
• Impact resistance, temperature - in contrast to traditional lighting, the advantage of LED lighting is the fact that it does not contain fibres and glass elements that are very sensitive to impacts and shocks.
• Heat dissipation - LEDs, compared to traditional lighting, generate small amounts of heat energy due to their high efficiency. The energy produced is mostly converted into light (90%), which allows for prolonged periods of operation.

The best way to connect two sections is to solder them in a designated spot. An alternative is to use quick-mount connectors, suitably adapted to the type of LED strip to be soldered.

Each lighting system using LED strips requires a power supply with appropriate amount of power for proper functioning.
NOTE: In order to ensure durability of the LED lighting system, it is necessary to choose the wattage of the power supply which is at least 10% higher than the required power for the given section of LED strip. This guarantees that the PSU will not be overloaded, which translates into its durability and reliability.

The below tabel should help you to choose the appropriate PSU for your LED strip:

The above table takes into account the necessary power reserve of the PSU

Some types of lighting can cause tiredness, create a sense of relaxation or deliver a sense of energy. In order to describe the colour of light we shall focus on the colour temperature measured in Kelvin SI unit.

Here is a brakdown of LED lighting according to the color temperature scale (CCT):

• 2500 - 2900 K - Very warm light creates a mood of relaxation. Recommended for quiet and private spaces where a cozy and relaxing climate is to be created.
• 3000 - 3500 K - Warm light which adds coziness. Very popular range, willingly chosen for apartments and houses. It gives a pleasant, quite warm light. It adds coziness to the interior.
• 3600 - 4000 K - White, daylight, neutral light maximising concentration. This colour temperature is ideal for general applications. It can be used in offices, homes, kitchens and bathrooms. This colour is ideally suited for use in the workplace.
• 4100 - 5000 K – cool shades of white colour. Ideal for use in offices and public spaces. This LED light colour has a stimulating effect. Cool lighting is more formal and energetic. It improves concentration and boosts up energy.
• Above 5000 K - highly cool white temperature ideal for professional use. It is a great match for business purposes,  corridors, garages and parking lots. It can also be used as decorative lighting.

The flicker free label can be applied to a product on the basis of three separate measurements taken using GL Spectis 1.0 + flicker equipment supplied by the GL OPTIC brand.

Flicker index: its value shall be below 0,1

Flicker percent: it value shall be below 0,0333 x Hz (flicker frequency)

The above conditions to be satisfied are suggested by the IEEE organization , known as: "no observable effect level".

Example of how to calculate the flicker value based on a selected Flicker report

SVM (stroboscopic visibility measure) must below 1

If all three conditions are fully satisfied, the device is labelled “flicker free".