LED lighting lamp bulbs look much the same however there is a difference and if you are thinking of changing to LED lighting it is worth thinking about this. You will hear tales of clever people buying their LED lights from reliable sources for very reasonable prices and will wonder why they cost so much from local suppliers.

The number of buyers of LED chips is limited so anyone selling rubbish at high prices would soon run out of customers. So it is a reasonable assumption that the higher the price the better the quality. It is worth bearing in mind that the lower end products are produced for the local market in China and are not supposed to be exported.

Perhaps the most critical part of the LED lighting lamp system is the driver. The driver has the job of converting the 230 Volt Alternating Current into Direct Current flowing at a constant number of Amps through the chip.

The Alternating Current reverses direction 50 times a second so the first job for the driver is to reverse one cycle so that there are two pulses of electricity flowing in the one direction. The difficult job is to smooth these pulses into an even current flow and this is where there is an enormous difference in the quality of the drivers.

The best will have about a 3% ripple in the power each cycle while the cheap models can have a ripple of up to 45%. The percentage is of the value of the maximum current.

The ripple will cause the light to flicker but because it does so at 100 cycles per second it is not visible to the naked eye. However the effect can be felt and people can suffer headaches, eye strain, or migraines. This actually was the problem with the old style fluorescent lights.

If the driver is supplying say 700 milliAmps to the LED, the ripple as it passes will supply a higher and lower current with the average being 700 mA. The higher current produces more heat which is not completely dissipated during the lower current supply. The heat accumulates and stabilises at a higher temperature, how much higher depends on the percentage of the ripple. This will shorten the life of the LED – dramatically with the larger ripples.

Probably 90% of the failures of LED light systems are caused by the driver.

There is also the other areas where cost savings are made is by scrimping on the heat sink, wiring and connectors.

Often by looking at the finish and wiring it is obvious, but not always. A foolproof way is to use your phone camera to look at the light operating. Any flicker will show up even though it is not visible.

Before you buy a LED downlight bulb system look at it operating through your phone camera. If it flickers strongly or bands move across the screen do not buy it even if it is half the price of the competition.

For more information on Ai LED lights, pls visit LED lights.

For more information on Ai LED lights, pls go to http://www.ai-ledlight.com and http://www.ai-m.net/LED%20Light.pdf

Author Bio: For more information on Ai LED lights, pls visit LED lights.

Category: Home Management
Keywords: AI LED lights, LED lights