1.
Electrical Contractor's Guide to
LED Lighting
Lumight.com
The Contractors Guide to LED
Lighting part 1

2.
• The electrical lighting industry has changed and now LED light
sources are king. To be successful many electrical contractors need
to further their lighting education. This Guide to LED Lighting will be
an excellent first step.
• The electrician's skills and lighting toolbox have both grown steadily
in the past century, and with advancing technology and government
pressures to be more “green,” the 21st century promises that
electricians and electrical contractors will continue to offer newer,
even more efficient lighting options. Yesterday's technology lit up
homes and offices for the first time, but today we're able to offer
our customers the biggest improvement in lighting since Edison's
bulb—the light-emitting diode, or LED. This guide to LED lighting
will provide you with the basics of LED lighting and will benefit any
electrical contractors furthering their level of lighting education or
seeking to buy LED products.

3.
LED Basics
• A light-emitting diode, or LED for short, is a semiconductor
device that produces visible light when the appropriate
voltage is applied to the leads. They have low resistance to
current in one direction but very high resistance in the other
(current may only go in one direction). Unlike typical diodes,
LED’s release energy in the form of photons (light) when the
voltage is applied to their pn-junction. They are a form of
solid-state lighting (SSL) that functions without using electrical
filaments, plasma, or gas. This allows the fixture to require
much less energy input while also losing less energy as heat
compared to traditional lighting methods. LED Lighting
fixtures also need less frequent maintenance and
replacement due to the lack of breakable glass bulbs and their
inherent long life.

4.
LED Lighting Today
• Electrical contractors who are not aware of current LED lighting
performance are losing business every day. The reasons are simple – this
light source has excellent color quality, CRI (color rendering index) control,
and superior efficiency. LED Lighting fixtures today regularly produce over
100 Lumens Per Watt (LPW) and may soon produce up to triple this
amount. Compare this to your old 100W incandescent bulb, rated at less
than 15 LPW—LED fixtures already produce the same amount of light at
1/8th its energy consumption, will soon do so for only 1/20th as much.
With these numbers, it’s not surprising so many specifiers and end-users
are demanding LED lighting. The superior efficiency isn't the only
advantage to using LED lighting. It is typically a smaller, more compact
light source, meaning electrical contractors can quickly and easily install
smaller fixtures. The life is outstanding, with many companies quoting
50,000-100,000+ hours of usable life - up to 100 times the life of an
incandescent light bulb. The technology produces very little forward
through heat (IR), making it an ideal choice in heat sensitive applications.
If you want to buy LED fixtures, the cost has come down enough to
become a competitive option compared to older technologies and the
Return On Investment (ROI) is often measured in months or days—not
years.

5.
LED Lighting Education for Electrical Contractors
• As a guide to LED Lighting for electrical contractors we intend
to make you well aware that not all LED lighting is created
equal! It is not necessarily true that the most expensive
product is the best (smart contractors can almost always find
economical alternatives to what is specified when they buy
LED lamps or fixtures). The key to this is knowing the
terminology—understanding what all the LED Lighting
specifications actually mean. Does it make a difference if the
LED Lighting is 4,000 degrees Kelvin or is 3,000 degrees
Kelvin? Is the different between LED Wattage and System
Wattage really important?

6.
As you learn LED technology your will find the answer is YES! It is
important. Please see the next section on LED Lighting terms and
expressions. After that you will know all the LED basics to
confidently buy LED lighting.
For more information visit Lumight.com for all your LED
lighting needs.