5 Mistakes to Avoid When Switching to LED Lighting

Becoming more energy-efficient is crucial for any business. Not only does it enable your company to cut overhead expenditure, but this environment-conscious approach to energy usage also appeals to eco-savvy clientele.

And one of the most efficient ways to reduce energy consumption across your business is to upgrade to LED lighting. As the leading LED lights supplier in Dubai, let us show you how to successfully make the beneficial switch to LED lighting.

The LED light advantage

As a commercial or industrial business, not only do your lights operate during business hours, but they also burn the midnight oil. Interior lighting is a necessity for aesthetic appeal, workplace safety and security, as well as overall mood and ambiance of the space.

This is where LED lighting comes in.

Lighting is in constant demand in any commercial space. This puts a lot of strain on both your company’s overhead costs and on your light fixtures themselves.

LED lights solutions are at the peak of durability and reliability. Against other conventional lighting options such as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) or incandescent bulbs, LED lights have both beat by a few thousand hours.

In fact, LED lights are estimated to produce a minimum of 25,000 hours of illumination. Some can even last up to 50,000 hours. Incandescent bulbs are only rated up to 1,000 hours, while the typical lamp lifespan for CFLs is roughly 10,000 hours.

LED bulbs also help improve your company’s safety rating, as LED bulbs pose no risk of overheating. While LED bulbs do get hot, that heat is immediately dissipated by metal heat sinks.

Unlike burning-hot incandescent bulbs, this won’t wreck havoc on your facility’s heating and cooling.

This, coupled with its longevity, will help save your company money in the long run.

Are you a business looking to make the switch to LED or a contractor working on a building retrofit? Here are the most common mistakes that occur when upgrading to LED lighting and how you can best avoid falling for the same pitfalls.

1. Not considering color performance

Not all lights are made equal. In fact, light sources all emit a specific color tone, determined by a correlated color temperature (CCT), which is expressed in units known as Kelvin (K). CCT varies on a scale from 1,000K all the way to 10,000K.

The color temperatures on the Kelvin scale can be broken down into five types of light appearance. These are categorized as:

• Extra Warm: 2,000-2,500K
• Warm White: 2,700-3,000K
• Mid Range: 3500-4000K
• Cool White: 4,000-5,000K
• Daylight White: 5,000K +

The type of color temperature you use can have a dramatic effect on its surrounding space.

Warmer tone light sources can create a cozy, warm, and inviting environment. This will have limited usability in a commercial or industrial work environment. Cool White and Daylight White tones are more vibrant and invigorating, and are great for commercial and industrial applications.

2. Using the wrong units of measurements for brightness

While the brightness of an incandescent light bulb can be determined by its watts rating, the same can’t be said for LEDs. Watts are simply a measurement of energy. Because LEDs are made to be energy-efficient, a watts rating is not an effective way to determine brightness.

Replacing a 100-watt incandescent bulb with a 100-watt LED fixture can create an unpleasant work environment and lead to blinding results.

Rather than relying on wattage to compare lighting intensity, match your LED lights lumens output to that of their previous counterparts. The luminous output of your previous lighting sources will determine what lumen rating your LED lights will need to be.

3. Not checking fixture compatibility

While some LED upgrades only require the light source to be replaced, rather than the whole fixture, not all upgrades go this smoothly. Before doing an LED upgrade, it is highly recommended that you confirm that existing light fixtures are compatible with your new LED bulbs.

Not doing adequate testing beforehand to confirm fixture and bulb compatibility can lead to permanent damage to both the replacement lamp and lampholder base. This will result in wasted time and resources.

If a direct replacement is not possible, there are retrofit kits available to enable existing fixtures to accept LED bulbs.

4. Not finding rebates or incentives for LED upgrades

As previously mentioned, there are many advantages of LED lighting, but any major energy upgrade, such as making the switch to LEDs, comes with serious costs. For some businesses, this is reason enough to not consider upgrading their lighting system.

If receiving positive ROI from upgrading your lighting system is of concern, consider using incentive programs and rebates to fund your desired upgrade.

Both governments and utility companies provide initiatives that make lighting upgrades more palatable for any business. However, there are certain requirements administered to determine eligibility.

Confirm what technical requirements must be met when upgrading to LED lighting.

5. Not doing your research

With demand for LED lighting solutions on the rise, competition is fierce. There are many light providers and manufacturers out there all vying for your business. But not all of them are cut from the same cloth or are of the same quality.

The wrong provider will not have your interests in mind. They will be more concerned with their bottom line than with providing a complete turnkey solution for your lighting upgrade project.

This can lead to significant issues that can result in poor customer support, endless delays and hidden costs.

Avoid this potential frustration by performing your due diligence. A company with a proven history and a strong reputation is one that you can confidently build a professional relationship with.

Making an informed decision

Making the switch to LED lighting is a smart move for any business, but there are right and wrong ways to upgrade your facility’s lighting system. Performing LED upgrades without professional advice can quickly lead to diminished returns on your investment.

At Nakashi, we have years of experience and the industry know-how to ensure your LED lighting upgrade project avoids all these common mistakes and more.

Ready to make the switch? Contact us today to request a demo or to speak with a member of our team of lighting experts.