LED lamps types and characteristics. LED lamps: types and technical characteristics

At first glance, it seems that an LED lamp is an ordinary light source. For it to work, just screw it into the socket and you're done. Actually this is not true. Such lamps have a complex structure and come in different types. In order for them to work smoothly, you need to know their technical characteristics and select the appropriate model based on them.

LED lamps are classified according to several criteria indicating their technical characteristics. In particular, this is its purpose, design and type of base. To have a better understanding of the varieties, let's look at each trait separately.

Purpose

According to their purpose, LED lamps can be divided into the following types:

• for lighting residential buildings. Often used at home with base E27, E14;
• models used in designer lighting;
• for arranging outdoor lighting. This could be illumination of architectural buildings or landscape design elements;
• for illumination of an area in an explosive environment;
• street lighting models;
• Many LED lamps are used in floodlights. They are used to illuminate industrial areas and buildings.

Design

Based on the type of design, LED lamps are divided into the following types:

• general purpose models are used for illumination of office and residential premises;
• LED lamp with directional light flow is installed in floodlights. They are used to highlight elements of architectural buildings and landscape lighting;
• Linear models are designed to replace fluorescent light sources. These LED lamps are made in the form of a tube and fit according to the type of base, which makes it possible to quickly replace one light source with another.

Base

LED lamps have different types of bases, depending on their purpose. The main types found are:

1. Standard sockets with the letter "E" indicate the threaded type. The numbers indicate the diameter of the base, for example, E27. The threaded base of LED lamps is identical to the base of traditional filament light sources. This makes it easy to replace them at home in chandeliers, tabletop models, as well as in street lighting fixtures mounted on poles. In home use, lamps with a standard base, designated E27 or E14, are common. Another name for E14 is minion. Street lighting from poles requires the use of more powerful LED lamps. A larger flask naturally has a larger base - E40.
2. The GU10 connector consists of 2 pins with thickening at the ends. The design of the base is identical to the starter connectors used in older daylight sources (gas discharge). An LED lamp with such a base has a rotating mounting type in the socket. The letter designation of the connector indicates that G is a pin type, U is the presence of thickened ends. The number indicates the distance between the pins. In this case it is 10 mm. The pin base is electrically safe and easy to install. The pin connector lamp is mainly designed for reflector ceiling lights.
3. The similar GU5.3 connector has the same pin type with a 5.3mm spacing. This type of connector for LED lamps was launched with an increase in demand for halogen light sources with the same connector installed in ceiling lighting fixtures. Models with this base are suitable for spot lighting installed in suspended ceilings. The base is easily inserted into the socket and is also electrically safe.
4. Linear tube-shaped LED products have a G13 base. This is the same pin type with 13mm spacing between elements. Such tubular models are used to replace fluorescent light sources. They are used to improve illumination of large areas, and are also installed in rooms with high, long ceilings.
5. The GX53 socket has a pin spacing of 53 mm. Lamps with this connector are used in overhead and recessed luminaires for furniture and ceilings.

Table of base types

Emitted light

The light that an LED lamp emits also refers to the classification of the product and indicates its technical characteristics.

Light flow

One of the important parameters that determines the technical characteristics of a light source is the luminous flux, that is, its emission power and efficiency. The unit of measurement for light flux is the lumen. The second parameter, efficiency, determines the ratio of the power of the first parameter to the power consumption of the light source Lm/W. In principle, this indicator reflects efficiency.

To compare the luminosity of LEDs with a conventional filament, it is necessary to take into account that a light source with a power of, for example, 40 W creates a luminous flux of about 400 Lm. There are tables for comparing the luminous flux of different light sources. From them you can find out that LED lamps have a luminous flux that is ten times more powerful than that of a conventional light source.

When buying a lamp for your home, you need to study the labeling. Conscientious manufacturers indicate luminous efficiency or luminous flux power. But, most often, the markings contain comparative characteristics of an LED light source in relation to an analogue with a filament. Especially such designations are most present on the packaging of Chinese products. In general, such marking can also be considered correct, although it is more of an advertising nature.

It should be summarized that over time, LEDs exhaust their service life, reducing the power of the luminous flux. This indicates their shortcomings, although nothing is eternal.

LED lamps differ from traditional filament light sources in their color rendering. The filament creates one warm color - yellow. LEDs are capable of emitting light over a wide range of colors, which is determined by the color temperature scale.

The color of hot metal is taken as the basis for constructing the scale. The unit of measurement is degrees Kelvin. For example, the yellow color of hot metal has a temperature of 2700 o K. The temperature of daylight ranges from 4500 to 6000 o K. Although white light at the lower limit has a yellowish tint. All colors with a temperature above 6500 o K belong to cold light with a blue tint. When choosing an LED light source for a room, you need to pay special attention to such characteristics. In addition to the fact that when a room is illuminated in different colors, the internal appearance of its decoration is shown, some shades can negatively affect a person’s vision. Eye fatigue highlights the shortcomings of LED lighting, but this can be easily corrected with the correct selection of color rendering.

Light distribution

If conventional light sources create maximum illumination of the space around them, then LEDs have a luminous flux direction in one direction. They emit light in front of them. This light distribution is suitable for a night light or other lighting device that requires a directed beam of light.

In order for the LEDs to produce uniform illumination of the space, they are equipped with a diffuser. Also, uniform distribution of light is achieved by installing LEDs on a plane at different angles. All these methods allow you to create a uniform distribution of light over a certain area. For example, LED lamps can have a luminous flux spread at an angle of 60 or 120 degrees.

Color rendition

There is a color rendering index, denoted Ra. The indicator is responsible for the natural color of an object falling into the illumination field of a certain light source. The index standard is sunlight, which is equal to an index of 100. LED lamps have an index of 80-90 Ra. For comparison, a regular incandescent lamp has a rating of at least 90 Ra. It is generally accepted that an index greater than 80 Ra is high.

Adjustable lamps

LED lamps, like filament light sources, can be dimmed. The lighting of the LEDs is controlled by a regulating device - a dimmer. This indicates the advantages of LED lamps, in contrast to their economical counterparts - fluorescent light sources. Using the regulator, you can achieve the room illumination that is most favorable for vision.

The regulator's job is to generate pulses. The brightness of the LED depends on their frequency. But not all LED lamps are dimmable. The adjustment can be limited by the LED driver built into the lamp, operating at a certain frequency. When choosing a light source for your home, you need to carefully read the technical specifications of the product, where the packaging will indicate whether the LED lamp is dimmable.

Power and operating voltage of lamps

When reading the technical specifications on the product packaging, many first of all pay attention to indicators such as power consumption and operating voltage. In other words, a person wants to know how much current the lamp needs for its normal operation and how much electricity it will consume.

The power consumption indicator plays an important role in calculating the total lighting consumption of a house or street. LED lamps produce different wattages, depending on their purpose. For example, for a home it will be enough to purchase products with a power of 3 to 20 W. To install street lighting, you will need more powerful lamps, for example, about 25 W. But the main thing is that it will not be possible to determine the brightness of the glow based on power consumption.

Data for replacing incandescent lamps with LED lamps

Another important indicator is the operating voltage. The current source can be constant or variable. LEDs require a constant voltage of 12 V. A driver is responsible for their operation, which converts the network voltage to the required standards. With their help, LED lamps can operate on alternating current with a voltage of 220 V. There are models operating on direct and alternating current with a voltage of 12–24 V. These indicators must be taken into account when choosing lamps. Otherwise, a product with inappropriate performance when connected to the network will refuse to work or simply burn out.

LED lamp marking

If you take the packaging of any product, there is a marking on it that reflects all its technical data. It is similar to housekeeper labeling and includes the following parameters:

An LED light source that is correctly selected in all respects and that meets all the requirements of the manufacturer is guaranteed to last for many years. Now the main disadvantages of the products are only their high cost, but over time they will become available to all consumers.

The decline in retail prices for LED lamps has led to a sharp increase in their sales. However, the situation with choosing a quality product still remains a dead end for many. If it was easy to buy an incandescent light bulb, with the advent of CFLs the task has not become much more complicated due to the wider range and shades of emitted light. The parameters of LED lamps have significantly more points than those of previous generations of light bulbs.

But don't be afraid. To buy a good LED lamp, you don’t need in-depth knowledge of the product. It is enough to understand the basic parameters once, so that you can easily navigate among the numbers indicated on the packaging. So what does a buyer need to know about LED lamps, and what technical characteristics should they pay attention to before purchasing?

Main characteristics

Following the proverb: “You are greeted by your clothes...” it is enough to pick up a box with a light bulb to get acquainted with its main technical characteristics. You should pay attention not to the large bright numbers, but to the description printed in small print with 10 or more items.

Light flow

At a time when the incandescent lamp was the No. 1 light source, the concept of luminous flux was of little interest to anyone. The brightness of the glow was determined by the rated power of the light bulb. With the advent of LEDs, the power consumption of light sources has decreased significantly, and the efficiency has increased. Due to this, savings appeared, which commercials so often remind us of.

Luminous flux (F, lm or lm) is a value that indicates the amount of light energy given off by a lighting device. Based on the luminous flux value, you can easily select a replacement for an existing bulb with a spiral. To do this, you can use the correspondence table below. Along with luminous flux, you can often come across the concept of “luminous efficiency”. It is defined as the ratio of luminous flux to power consumption and is measured in lm/W. This characteristic more fully reflects the efficiency of the radiation source. For example, a 10 W LED neutral light lamp emits a luminous flux of approximately 900-950 lm. This means that its light output will be 90-95 lm/W. This is approximately 7.5 times more than an analogue with a 75 W coil with the same luminous flux.

It happens that after replacing an incandescent lamp with an LED, its brightness turns out to be lower than declared. The first reason for this phenomenon is the installation of cheap Chinese LEDs. The second is reduced power consumption. Both of these reasons indicate a low quality product.

Also, the amount of luminous flux depends on the color temperature. In the case of LEDs, it is customary to indicate the luminous flux for neutral light (4500°K). The higher the color temperature, the greater the luminous flux and vice versa. The difference in light output between the same type of warm (2700°K) and cold (5300°K) LED lamps can reach 20%.

Power

Power consumption of an LED lamp (P, W) is the second most important technical characteristic, which shows how much electricity the LED lamp consumes in 1 hour. The total energy consumption consists of the power of the LEDs and the power of the driver. The most in demand nowadays are LED lighting devices with a power of 5-13 W, which corresponds to 40-100 watt filament lamps.

High-quality pulse-type drivers consume no more than 10% of the total power.

As advertising, manufacturers often use the concept of “Equivalent power”, which is expressed in the inscription on the packaging like 10 W = 75 W. This means that a 10 W LED lamp can be screwed in instead of a regular 75 W bulb without losing any brightness. A difference of 7-8 times can be trusted. But if there is an inscription on the box like 6 W = 60 W, then often this is nothing more than an advertising gimmick designed for the average buyer. This does not mean that the product is of poor quality, but the actual light output will most likely be the same as an incandescent lamp, not 60, but much less.

Supply voltage and frequency

The supply voltage (U, V) is usually indicated on the box as a range within which the manufacturer guarantees normal operation of the product. For example, parameter 176–264V indicates that the light bulb will confidently cope with any changes in mains voltage without a significant loss of brightness.

Typically, an LED lamp with a built-in current driver has a wide range of input voltages.

If the power source does not contain a high-quality stabilizer, then voltage drops in the power supply will greatly affect the light output and affect the quality of lighting. In Russia, the most common are LED lamps powered by 230V AC mains with a frequency of 50/60 Hz and 12V DC mains.

Base type

You need to know the size of the base in order to select a light bulb in accordance with the existing socket in the lamp. The bulk of LED lamps are produced with threaded sockets E14 and E27, which are the standard for Soviet-style wall, table and ceiling lamps. It is not uncommon to see LED lamps with GU4, GU5.3 bases, which have replaced halogen lamps installed in spotlights and Chinese chandeliers with a remote control.

Colorful temperature

(TC, °K) indicates the hue of the emitted light. In relation to white LED lamps, the entire scale is conventionally divided into three parts: with warm, neutral and cold light. When choosing, you should take into account that warm tones (2700-3500°K) soothe and make you feel comfortable, while cold tones (from 5300°K) invigorate and excite the nervous system.
In this regard, it is recommended to use a warm glow for the home, and a neutral glow in the kitchen, bathroom and work. LED luminaires with TC≥5300°K are only suitable for specific work and as emergency lighting.

Scattering angle

By the scattering angle one can judge the distribution of the light flux in space. This indicator depends on the design of the diffuser and the location of the LEDs. The norm for modern widely used lamps is a value of ≥210°. To effectively work with small details, it is better to buy a lamp with a scattering angle of 120° and install it in a table lamp.

Dimmable

The ability to dim (control the brightness of lighting) of an LED lamp implies its correct operation from a dimmer switch. Dimmable lamps are more expensive because their electronic unit is more complex. A regular LED light bulb, when connected to a dimmer, will not work or will blink.

Ripple factor

(Kp) is not always listed in the list of characteristics, despite the fact that it is of paramount importance and has an impact on health. The need to measure this parameter arose due to the presence of an electronic unit in the lamp and the high response of LEDs. Low-quality power supplies are not able to perfectly smooth out the ripple of the output signal, as a result of which the LEDs begin to flicker at some frequency.

The ripple factor of LED lamps powered by a stable DC network is zero.

LED lamps with a coefficient below 20% are considered to be of the highest quality. In models with a current driver, the ripple factor does not exceed 1%. It is easy to determine this parameter in practice using an oscilloscope. To do this, you need to measure the amplitude of the variable component of the signal on the LEDs and divide it by the voltage measured at the output of the power supply.

By the frequency of the alternating signal in the load, you can determine the type of driver used.

Operating temperature range

You should pay close attention to this characteristic if you intend to operate the LED light bulb in non-standard conditions: on the street, in production workshops. Some models are able to work correctly only in a narrow temperature range.

Color rendering index

Using the color rendering index (CRI or Ra), you can evaluate how natural the color of objects illuminated by an LED lamp is. Ra≥70 is considered good.

Degree of protection against moisture and dust

This parameter is expressed as IPXX, where XX are two digits indicating the degree of protection against solid objects and water. It may not be found in the list of characteristics if the lamp is intended exclusively for indoor use.

Extra options

Product service life

Service life is a very abstract characteristic of an LED lamp. The fact is that by service life the manufacturer understands the total operating time of the LEDs, not the lamp. At the same time, the mean time between failures of the remaining parts of the circuit remains in great doubt. In addition, the operating time is affected by the quality of the housing assembly and soldering of radio elements. In addition, more than one manufacturer, due to its long service life, does not conduct full tests on the degradation of LEDs in the lamp. So the declared 30 thousand hours or more is a theoretical indicator, and not a real parameter.

Flask type

Despite the fact that the type of flask is not a critical technical parameter for many, in many models it is indicated in the first line. Typically, the type and marking of the flask is expressed in a alphanumeric code.

Weight

Rarely is anyone interested in the weight of a product at the time of purchase, but for some lightweight lamps it matters.

Dimensions

There are as many cases as there are manufacturers, differing in appearance and dimensions. For example, 10 W LED lamps from different manufacturers may differ in length and width by more than 1 cm. When choosing a new LED lamp for lighting, do not forget that it must fit into an existing lamp.

The market for LED products continues to develop dynamically, as a result of which the characteristics of lamps change and improve. We hope that in the near future quality standards will be developed for LED lamps that will make it easier for the buyer to make a choice. In the meantime, your own knowledge is the main support when choosing and purchasing.

Read also

The choice of LED lamps for your home must be taken seriously. This light source may be similar in appearance only to a traditional incandescent lamp. All other characteristics are very different. The main mistake people make when buying lamps is choosing a product based on power. There are other, equally important indicators that require attention. To understand this issue, let's look at the main characteristics of LED lamps and find out how they affect the level of illumination.

Main characteristics of LED lamps

LED lamps differ from traditional models in the complexity of the device. If an incandescent lamp consists only of a tungsten filament connected by conductors to a base, then the LED analogue has a set of LEDs. For them to work, an electronic board is mounted inside the light bulb housing. It contains a stabilizer with diodes and a capacitor, called a driver. Some models are equipped with sensors for control. In general, the LED lamp is an electronic light source that can be repaired, which highlights its advantages.

Power is one of the important characteristics of the product

For an LED light source, power is not the main indicator of brightness, but it is still one of the important characteristics. Power by definition is a measure of the conversion or rate of energy consumption. That is, this indicator is needed only to account for electricity consumption.

When considering the technical characteristics of LED lamps, you need to pay attention to their advantages. The main one is efficiency. LED products consume negligible current compared to traditional incandescent lamps. On the packaging and case of each LED product there is a power marking, and it ranges from 3 to 25 W. This indicator is usually indicated by the letters “W” or “P”.

Everyone who is accustomed to ordinary light bulbs does not understand how it is possible to screw in 10 W instead of 100 W in a chandelier to illuminate the entire room. The fact is that with less voltage consumption, LEDs emit greater brightness. For example, a 10 W LED lamp corresponds in brightness to a classic 75 W light source. To compare the power of different lamps, there are special tables that allow you to choose the right product.

However, we must remember that Chinese LED lamps actually have less power than what is indicated on the package. A significant difference can be seen with a run-up of 5 W. Such shortcomings must be immediately identified and it is better not to purchase such a product.

Light temperature

LEDs have different glow colors. There are three main types:

• daylight white light, matching natural light;
• warm light similar to an incandescent lamp;
• cold light is characterized by white color, but it has a blue tint.

Color temperature is measured in degrees Kelvin. This parameter is marked on the product with the letter “K”. By the numbers opposite it, you can determine the color of the light emitted by the LEDs. There is a special scale that helps determine the shade of light.

The colder the shade, the higher the glow temperature. For example, LEDs with a light temperature of 4000 K emit an analogue of daylight. It will not replace the sun's rays, but in the dark the brightness of such a lamp will be strong. The bedroom needs a calm atmosphere, which can be provided by warm light with an indicator of 2700 K. LED lighting devices with the ability to adjust the light temperature are very convenient to use at home. They allow you to change the color of the glow as you wish.

What voltage are LED lamps designed for?

LEDs can only operate on 12 volt DC power. In order for an LED light bulb to operate on a 220-volt AC network, a driver is installed in its housing. This is a kind of voltage converter that passes 220 V through itself and produces a reduced voltage at the output.

However, there are light bulbs designed to operate on a 12 or 24 volt network. Most often they are used in cars. When purchasing a product, you need to pay attention to the voltage, otherwise an incorrectly selected light bulb may burn out.

Luminous flux indicator

When buying a light bulb, a person is primarily interested in its brightness. There is such a thing as luminous flux. It directly depends on the power of the product and is measured in Lumens. Light is obtained from voltage conversion. In this case, energy is wasted on heat. If you take a tungsten filament, then only 70% goes to glow, and the rest of the energy goes away with heat, which shows the great shortcomings of outdated light sources. LEDs do not emit heat and 100% of the energy is used to brighten the light.

Modern LED lamps can emit from 1 W to 80 Lm. There are developments of LEDs with a high indicator, but they are very expensive and are not used in everyday life. There are special tables to compare the luminous flux of different lamps.

High-quality LEDs are very expensive, which pushes many manufacturers to install cheap analogues. Naturally, the declared luminous flux of 80 Lm from 1 W cannot be obtained from such a product. In addition, you need to pay attention to the color of the flask. If it is matte, then the loss of luminous flux will be from 15 to 30%.

In many homes it is now customary to install dimmers to adjust the brightness of the light. You need to know that for LED lamps there are special dimmers that change the pulse, not the voltage. If you connect an LED lamp through a regular dimmer, when the voltage decreases, the luminous flux will not only decrease, but also be distorted. In addition to changing the shade of light, the efficiency of the LEDs themselves will also decrease.

Dimmable lamps

Since we are talking about dimmers, we must immediately say that not all LED light bulbs can be connected to a dimmer. It depends on the product driver which is or is not able to respond to the dimmer. Typically, the manufacturer indicates this parameter on the packaging of the LED product. If the marking does not contain information about dimming, it is better to refuse such a product.

Color rendition

Rarely does anyone pay attention to this indicator. The color rendering index allows you to perceive the color of an illuminated object close to reality. For example, a value of 70 on the packaging label indicates that the color of an object illuminated by LEDs will be 70% true to the real thing. That is, a white object will remain snow-white, a green surface will take on the color of meadow grass, etc. The color rendering index is determined for each lamp in the laboratory.

Types of socles

In addition to the main indicators, when purchasing an LED lamp, you must select the correct base, otherwise you simply won’t be able to screw it into the lighting fixture. The most common are threaded sockets E14 and E27. They are used in many home chandeliers. Although there are varieties of carob bases installed in different models of lamps, for example, spotlights. A description of all types of LED lamp bases can be found in the table.

Lamps with sockets, designated by the letter “G”, are usually designed for a voltage of 12 V. Outwardly, their pins are similar, but they still differ in thickness and distance from each other. Products with E27 and E14 sockets are used in a 220 V network, and light bulbs with an E14 socket have a maximum power of 6 W.

Working environment temperature

The manufacturer indicates the optimal operating temperature for LED lamps in the range from -40 to +40 o C. Although in reality, the products work well in the northern regions at -55 o C. When purchasing lamps for the home, you can skip this characteristic.

Classification by degree of protection

The classification of the degree of protection determines the conditions under which the light bulb can operate. If a traditional light bulb can withstand rain, then for an LED analogue moisture can be destructive if it gets on the electronic circuit. The degree of protection on the packaging is indicated by the letters “IP”. There are numbers next to them, and the larger they are, the better the product is protected from penetration of moisture, dirt and from mechanical impact on the body.

Flicker

LEDs tend to produce pulsating light. You won’t be able to see it with a normal glance, but if there is a lot of flickering, it will quickly affect eye fatigue. Flicker is very harmful to vision. For medical and children's institutions, this figure according to the norms should not exceed 20%. In cheap Chinese light bulbs, the ripple rate can be up to 60%.

You can determine the shimmer strength yourself with a simple pencil. They need to sharply hold it in front of the glowing light bulb and look at the remaining trace. Smooth solid stripes indicate normality. If, after swinging a pencil, an intermittent trace remains, such a lamp should be discarded. Its pulsation level is very high.

Light scattering angle

An incandescent lamp emits light in all directions of a transparent bulb. Sometimes this is good, but for targeted lighting such radiation is characterized by large losses. LEDs emit light in a beam. That is, there are no losses, all the light is purposefully used to illuminate a specific object. In order for the light bulb to illuminate a large area, the LEDs under the bulb are placed at different angles.

For a night light or spotlight, light bulbs with a small scattering angle are suitable. In the home, the ideal choice would be products with a dispersion angle of 180 o. If you need to provide general lighting for a large area, you should pay attention to light bulbs with a scattering angle of 360 o.

Flask size

The size of the product is not very relevant to the characteristics, but it still requires due attention. Many chandeliers and other similar lighting fixtures have shades of limited size. This must be taken into account when choosing a light bulb, since it may stick out unattractively from the lampshade or sink deep inside, which will take away some of the light. It’s worse if the light bulb doesn’t fit into the lampshade at all.

Based on the dimensions, we can say that the greater the power, the naturally larger the size of the product body. The shape of the bulb can also be different, in the form of a candle, a pear, etc. Recently, models with a power of 15 W have appeared on the market with a small body, similar to less powerful lamps from 7 to 8 W. However, they do not overheat due to the special materials used.

Lifetime

Manufacturers guarantee the performance of LED products for up to 30 thousand hours. If you recalculate this in days, assuming a constant glow, you get more than three years. However, no one has lights on at home for days. The light bulb shines no more than 8 hours a day. When used this way, LEDs will last up to 10 years.

Home light bulbs with E27 socket

An LED light source with an E27 threaded base is ideal for home use. This is due to its interchangeability with traditional incandescent lamps. It is enough to unscrew one lamp from the socket and replace it with another. If we talk about the technical characteristics of the E27 LED lamp, then all the parameters are identical to those discussed above.

Whatever the types of LED lamps, they all have the characteristics discussed above. This must be taken into account when choosing a product in order to select a suitable light source.

LED lamps in many cases have advantages over traditional incandescent lamps. We will discuss how to make the right choice depending on the characteristics and type of base, consider the main manufacturers and compare the prices of lamps on the market.

LED lamps for home lighting only became widespread at the end of the 20th century, when the first cheap blue light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, appeared. Since then, interest in such lamps has been constantly increasing, which is due to the excess of their advantages over their disadvantages and a wide range of applications. So why are they good, and how to choose the right models for your home?

Advantages and disadvantages of LED lamps

It is common to compare LED devices with traditional incandescent lamps, although even when compared with energy-saving, more modern and technologically advanced ones, they have advantages in several areas.

Among the advantages of LED lamps are:

• energy efficiency;
• low heat generation;
• extremely long service life;
• the ability to choose light - warm, cold, daylight;
• environmental friendliness (in products from responsible manufacturers);
• strength;
• easy installation;
• possibility of recycling.

Due to the low temperature on the base, such lamps can be installed in places where an incandescent lamp could cause a fire. If necessary, LED lamps can have small bulb sizes and be built into furniture, decorative panels, and serve as spotlights.

It should be borne in mind that LED lamps still emit quite a lot of heat, however, unlike their predecessors, the heat is not emitted along with the light, but is directed in the opposite direction, through the LED substrate to the mounting plate. In order for the device to work for a long time and not reduce its characteristics, it is important to provide a heat sink. High-quality lamps use an aluminum finned radiator located between the bulb and the base.

1. Base. 2. LED driver. 3. Flask body. 4. Radiator. 5. LED block

LED lamps have few disadvantages, and the main one is the cost, which exceeds the price of incandescent lamps, but is already comparable to energy-saving ones. However, considering that an LED lamp can work 50 times more, this cost no longer seems exorbitant.

Other disadvantages are not so noticeable:

• supplying light in one direction (not always a disadvantage);
• decrease in brightness as a result of LED burnout over time;
• in low-quality lamps, “flickering” may be observed, not visible to the eye, but harmful to vision;
• There are products on the market produced using outdated technologies - with a spectrum harmful to the retina.

In this regard, you should not purchase products with vague labeling, without indicating technical characteristics, from unknown manufacturers.

Criteria for choosing LED lamps

When choosing LED lamps for home lighting, we consider several main characteristics, which determine not only the amount of the electricity bill, but also the compatibility of electrical network elements, design possibilities, and even people’s mood.

What characteristics should you pay special attention to when purchasing? Let's list the main ones.

Power and payback

A person who is accustomed to relying on the Watts indicated on the glass of a traditional lamp needs to look for information on the packaging about which incandescent lamp is being replaced by an LED. Sometimes this value is indicated directly - in Watts, sometimes as a percentage. In such devices, the light power can exceed the consumed power by 3.5-12 times, but more often the coefficient is 5-5.5.

By replacing all the lamps in an apartment, you can get significant savings. To illustrate such savings, we made a calculation for a conditional example and compared the energy consumption for one apartment of incandescent and LED lamps. Let’s assume that each lamp is used for 5 hours per day, i.e. 150 hours per month, the average luminosity power conversion factor is 5. The calculation result is summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. Comparison of energy costs when using LED lamps and traditional incandescent lamps.

	Quantity, pcs	Power, W	Electricity, kWh
Incandescent lamps
40 W	4	160	24
60 W	6	360	54
100 W	1	100	15
Total:			93
8 W	4	32	4,8
12 W	6	72	10,8
20 W	1	20	3,0
Total:			18,6
Saving			74,4

With the average cost of electricity in Russia being 4.12 rubles/kWh, the savings will be about 3,700 rubles per year. If we add to the energy efficiency the long service life of LED lamps, which, unlike traditional ones, do not require frequent replacement, then the savings over time will further exceed the initially high cost, and the purchase will fully justify itself.

Luminous flux as a method for determining manufacturer reliability

Luminous flux is the amount of radiation perceived by the human eye. For gradation, flux is measured by photometers, the unit of measurement is Lumen. When replacing traditional lamps with LEDs, look for information on luminous flux, luminous power and power consumption and check the accuracy of the data in Table 2.

Table 2. The ratio of luminous flux and luminous power.

If the packaging says that a 7.5 W lamp corresponds to a light power of 60 W, and its flux is 400 lm, this is a reason to think about the reliability of the manufacturer. When buying a lamp, you imagine how bright it should be when a 60-watt incandescent light bulb is turned on. If the flux is specified at 400 lm, you will get the luminosity of a 40-watt incandescent lamp. Don't let them fool you.

Color temperature of light

LED lamps can emit light corresponding to a certain temperature, measured in Kelvin (K). They are conventionally divided into:

• warm - 2700 K
• neutral - 4000 K;
• cold - 6500 K.

In addition to the main shades of light, depending on the color temperature, halftones, shades of yellow and daylight are distinguished. Moreover, the recommendations of both doctors and designers are largely similar: you need to select the color temperature of the light depending on the purpose. So, mobilizing cold light is suitable for an office, warm light is suitable for a bedroom, lamps in a child’s room should not be sharply white, yellowish soft shades are better suited. The hallway and sanitary rooms benefit from neutral lighting, and the light in the kitchen is selected individually, depending on whether this is a place exclusively for cooking or a group of friends constantly hangs out there or someone reads or studies in the evening.

Base type

The type of base is important if you are replacing only a lamp and not a chandelier, sconce or floor lamp. In this case, the base of the new lamp must match the existing lamp socket. In addition, the shape depends on the purpose of the lighting device and its location. There are quite a few types of bases, but for home lamps, as a rule, only a few are used:

• E27 - threaded, familiar, like most incandescent lamps;
• E14 - thin or minion, popularly called a small base, threaded;
• T8 - base for a bulb in the form of a tube, installed instead of fluorescent ones in table and ceiling lamps;
• GU10, GU5.3, G9 - bases for spotlights in stretch and suspended ceilings, they differ in the installation method (with rotation, without rotation) and the shape of the contacts.

Popular base types for LED lamps

additional characteristics

From the point of view of the aesthetics of the room and design, the shape of the bulb and the angle of light dispersion are important, which for LED lamps is almost always fixed. The most common forms are:

• pear (traditional);
• candle;
• "candle in the wind";
• a tube;
• “corn” (multiple LEDs on the side surfaces of an elongated bulb).

The scattering angle of such a bulb as “corn” is comparable to traditional lamps - the light is directed in all directions. Most other bases can illuminate a space in a cone with an apex angle of up to 120°. Some narrow-beam LED lamps cover an angle of 90°, 60° and even 30°, which is especially interesting when installing street lighting. The illuminated area, in addition to the scattering angle, also depends on the installation height of the lamp.

If you want to be able to smoothly change the lighting in a room using a dimmer, you need dimmable lamps. Visually, they are no different, so when purchasing, look for the corresponding sign or inscription.

When purchasing lamps and a dimmer, make sure that the regulator matches the total power of all lamps included in the lamp. This is especially important to remember if your chandelier is multi-armed.

An important factor when choosing is the resource, but this parameter is stated in different ways. Chinese manufacturers, as a rule, indicate the full theoretical resource - until the lamp goes out completely, eminent ones declare an effective resource - the duration of the lamp operation without loss of brightness. In addition, serious companies provide 3-5 years of warranty on LED lamps, which indirectly confirms the declared effective resource. If there is no warranty or not long enough (1 year), there is reason to doubt the quality of the LED lamp.

The better the heat sink is provided in the lamp, the longer the life of the semiconductor

Lamps with a radiator, a ribbed aluminum “cup” that removes heat from the LEDs, last longer. When purchasing lamps with transparent glass, you can make sure that the radiator removes heat from the LEDs. If the diffuser is plastic, matte, you just have to take the seller’s word for it.

Also extending the service life is installing several less powerful LEDs in one lamp instead of one more powerful one.

Manufacturers and prices

Manufacturers who do not indicate their name on the packaging most likely do not care about the compliance of the declared parameters and the safety of use of their product. Certified products from well-known manufacturers are certainly more expensive, but in this case you are paying for the environmental friendliness of your home, for a long service life, and for light that is safe for eyesight.

Among European manufacturers the leaders are:

• Philips, the Netherlands, is an international corporation that has been producing LED lamps since 2008. Factories are located in many countries, including China and Malaysia. Health programs. The cost of lamps is 500-2000 rubles.
• Osram, Germany - until 2013 a subsidiary of Siemens, more than 100 years of history. Prices: 400-1600 rub.
• Foton Lighting, UK - products certified in Russia at a price of 700-1700 rubles.

The time of nameless Chinese manufacturers distributing products of dubious quality through small online stores is almost gone. “Factory” China is represented on the LED lamp market in Russia by the following companies:

• Camelion - the declared characteristics correspond to the real ones, there are certificates of conformity, a guarantee of 3 years. Price of the lamps: 100-450 rubles.
• Selecta - large assortment, acceptable quality. The cost of ceiling lamps (assembled) is 1200-1300 rubles.
• Estares - TM MaySun. A well-known company that sells lamps for 200-500 rubles.

Russian manufacturers of LED lamps:

• Gauss - strict quality control and sales not only in the Russian Federation, but also for export. Cost: 400 - 2000 rubles.
• "Optogan" - full production cycle, own research. Price: 500-700 rub.
• JSC "Svetlana-Optoelectronics" - provide mainly industrial and street lighting. Only a few models are produced for household use, including SvetaLED® 11 W (bulb - “pear”), price - 700 rubles, and LED lamps with autonomous control, price 2000 - 2100 rubles.

In the current situation, all people are trying to save on electricity in some way. Previously, energy-saving mercury lamps were used for these purposes. But they did not justify themselves: they burned out relatively quickly and did not recoup the costs, despite the fact that the price of such a product was by no means 5 rubles.

Today, people everywhere buy their technical characteristics such that with a very low power consumption, these products are capable of shining brightly. This is a good opportunity to save money. That's why they became so popular. But not all of them are equally good. To choose the right light bulb, you need to know and take into account some points.

By the way, among the advantages of these products are not only high efficiency and long service life, but also various design options and different glow colors. All this allows you to use them as one of the elements of interior design.

The benefits are in the details

220v have replaced traditional incandescent analogues and demonstrate excellent characteristics for the average consumer. Among their advantages are a lot of things. This means significantly lower energy consumption, higher quality and service life. These products are also completely safe for humans and pets. It is worth considering all these advantages in more detail.

The best way to save

What are the savings? LED lamps, whose technical characteristics are similar to incandescent and fluorescent products, consume significantly less energy.

Take, for example, an ordinary 65-watt incandescent light bulb. A luminescent element with the same capabilities (which means creating a luminous flux of 600 Lm) has a power of 14 W. A LED light with the same characteristics will consume only 7 W. Here the result is obvious. So, you can save 10 times if you replace old light bulbs with these new LEDs. In different cases, the level of efficiency may be higher.

Lifetime

The best ones can work approximately 30 to 100 thousand hours. An ordinary light bulb, even if it was also made by a well-known brand, will work only 4000 hours, and even then only in an ideal situation. It follows that during the period while the LED product is shining, it will be necessary to purchase and replace about 40 pieces. traditional analogues. If we take into account the price ratio of 1/25 only for the purchase of one LED part, then instead of 40 the savings will be as much as 15%. This is a good number. In addition to the amount, the time it takes to replace products is also saved.

Guarantee

These unique and economical lamps also come with a manufacturer's warranty. Thus, domestic brands guarantee a service life of 2 to 3 years for their products. Foreign manufacturers require 5 years of continuous operation. If for some reason it burns out before the warranty period, the company undertakes to repair it or replace it free of charge.

If we take into account that most standard ones are used for about 6 hours per day, then even the most inexpensive of all existing ones with a stated life of 30,000 hours will work for about 13 years. This is a serious time. Moreover, the cost of such a unique acquisition will pay off in approximately 2.5 years. It turns out that the rest of the time the light from the LED product will be almost free.

Besides all this there are other advantages:

Important Specifications

These lighting devices have become extremely popular recently. Therefore, it is necessary to know what technical characteristics a particular lamp should have. This will greatly facilitate the selection of these products for home use.

Power

This is probably the most important thing. For domestic use, a lamp with a power of 1 to 25 W is sufficient. This figure is equivalent to 20-150 W for an incandescent element.

But there are also more powerful LED lamps on sale. Their technical characteristics, or rather their power, can be up to 100 W. For home use, the capabilities of these products are excessive - they are used to organize street lighting.

Light flow

In order to find out how bright a particular product will be, you should usually pay attention to the luminous flux values. Manufacturers characterize the brightness of the glow with this parameter. It is these data that must be remembered in order to select a complete replacement for a burnt-out incandescent lamp.

Many domestic manufacturers, as well as friends from the Middle Kingdom, indicate on the packaging which light bulb the LED can replace. But this option is not always correct. There are cases where Chinese manufacturers have doubled this figure. For a luminous flux of 50 lm, you need to purchase a 1 W LED lamp. For a flux of 600 lm, a 7 W LED part is required, which is equivalent to a 65 W incandescent lamp.

Additional technical specifications

Another important parameter is the divergence angle. Those bulbs with this angle of 90° will be the most optimal solution for main lighting. If the light dispersion angle is 20-30°, then the product is best used for spot lighting.

Don't forget about color temperature. For example, 2700 K is a cozy and pleasant yellow color, somewhat reminiscent of Soviet lamps. 3500 K is a whiter and brighter glow, but still a little yellowish. 5000-6000 K is already neutral white. Anything higher than these numbers is intended for street lighting.

Another thing is service life. It’s worth looking at, but professionals don’t recommend completely trusting the indicator. Often, everything that is sold in the markets of our country is made in China, and perhaps the quality is much higher than before, but you can buy a defective product everywhere.

LED lamp sockets

On the modern lighting market you can find products with 11 bases of various types. The differences between them are in shape and size, as well as in contact planes. Each base has its own number according to the standard. Just by looking at the lamp, you can understand where the device fits.

E27 is the most common base for home use. This is what is used in most household chandeliers, and there are corresponding LED lamps for it. Lamps, sconces, table lamps are also equipped with such a base. E14 is considered an analogue of this base. It is also intended for home use. This is a candle lamp.

In modern chandeliers and lamps, products with bases are used, the marking of which begins with the letter G. There are a huge number of modifications of these parts. When purchasing devices, it is very important to fully know the markings, even though the base is equipped with pin contact surfaces.

Manufacturers

As noted earlier, the bulk of all lamps presented on our market are Chinese products. But recently, a domestic manufacturer has also become more active, producing LED lamps whose technical characteristics even exceed those of products from the Middle Kingdom. Often large enterprises are located in the European part of the country. These products are great for use at home. Online publications dedicated to information technology conducted tests of the domestic product and were very pleased with the results.

Among the manufacturers of high-quality and reliable lamps are:

• Feron.
• Jazzway.
• Camelon.
• Gauss.
• Navigator.
• "Era".

The cost of light bulbs can vary greatly depending on the region and ranges from 200 to 1300 rubles. There is no point in purchasing an inexpensive solution.

New - LED lamp with remote control

Among the advantages of such devices are high efficiency. The lamps are equipped with a battery. Therefore, there will always be light in the apartment. The remote control allows you to conveniently control the lamp from a distance. This product is convenient as a mobile lamp.