FAQ - frequently asked questions

Your average 12v 50w halogen turns 90% of the electricity it uses into heat and only 10% into light. This means that halogen downlights are extremely inefficient. Halogens also use transformers which themselves use between 10w & 15w, so your standard halogen is using about 60 watts. Many people believe that Halogen lights are very energy efficient because they are often referred to as “low voltage lighting”. Although they are low voltage (12V) this doesn’t mean they consume less electricity. The coil inside the globe gets so hot that it glows, and that is what creates the light. Halogens can be a fire hazard because they get so hot, and they will also make your air conditioner work harder (which uses more electricity and costs you more). We have a range of LED Downlights to replace energy hungry halogens. LED Downlights last between 20 and 50 times longer than traditional halogens (LED's lasting for 50,000 hours would last for an amazing 24 years, if used for 6hrs/day 365 days a year). LED Downlights use only around 10% of the power of halogens and provide up to 85% of the light output.

Residential applications:
- decorative lights
- pendant lights
- under or inside cabinets
- kitchen splash back lighting
- recessed lighting
- feature wall lighting
- bedroom
- bathroom
- home theatre/ media room
- entertainment Area
- patio/ garden

Architectural/ Commercial:
- interior and exterior special effect lighting (eg. Hotel, restaurant, casino, water feature, landmark)
- landscape lighting for gardens, parks, pools and spas
- wall washers
- strip lighting
- accent lighting
- cove lighting
- small spot lighting
- path lights
- in-ground and underwater lights

Industrial:
- flood Lighting
- high Bay Replacement
- task Lighting
- street Lighting

Retail display:
- refrigerated display case lighting
- general merchandise lighting, eg, creating effects and moods based on warm/ cold colours
- display case lighting

Entertainment:
- concerts feature effect lighting
- concert hall and theatre lighting
- tv studios, stage lighting
- bars, clubs and restaurant

Safety and security:
- exit / entry signs
- emergency lighting
- outdoor areas:
- parking lots
- street and highway lights and signs

Many manufacturers claim that their LEDs will last you 100,000 hours or even longer before operating at half brightness. But how valid is this claim?

Quite simply, the LED industry is not yet old enough to validate this figure. LED manufacturers perform numerous accelerated degradation tests, during which they both over heat and overdrive the LEDs until they expire.
From these results, they then extrapolate the figures to find the expected life span under normal conditions. From these tests, many manufacturers concluded the 100,000 hour figure. There are also many LED manufacturers who give an expected lifespan of anywhere from 60,000 to 80,000 hours.

A major factor in the longevity of LEDs is in the way that they are used - in the output. Different colours consume various amounts of energy, thus changing their total lifespan. Furthermore, the expected lifespan also assumes that the LEDs are operating at full brightness, which, depending on the application, may or may not be true.

We can see from the above that there is really no way to exactly confirm the LED lifespan of 100,000 hours. In reality, they may last much longer than this, or perhaps expire earlier. In any case, their lifespan is far longer than any other lighting technology currently available.

The nature of LED Lighting Products lend themselves to applications with limited power availability. Living Energy Design Pty Ltd employs an electrical engineer that would be more than happy to discuss such applications with you.

IP (Ingress Protection) Rating for Equipment and Enclosures: A two-digit number (as specified in Australian Standards AS60529 and EN60529) is used to provide an IP Rating to a piece of electronic equipment or to an enclosure for electronic equipment.

The two digits represent three different forms of environmental influence:
- the first digit represents protection against ingress of solid objects
- the second digit represents protection against ingress of liquids

The larger the value of each digit, the greater the protection from that influence.As an example, a product rated as IP57 would be better protected against environmental factors than another similar product that was only rated as IP43.