Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have revolutionized indoor and outdoor lighting. The efficiency, controllability, color spectrum, thermal performance, and unique form factors of this solid-state lighting (SSL) technology have helped sideline the venerable Edison incandescent bulb (as well as the fluorescent, metal halide, or sodium vapor lamps). Now, for most indoor and outdoor new designs, as well as existing upgrades, LEDs are given first consideration. Still, designers need to be careful. Along with rapid innovation come pitfalls such as non-standard connections and mismatched end-user solutions, all contributing to a negative customer experience. It is not just the light source itself that is radically changing. For example, LED-based lighting is also changing the design and form factor of the connectors—a necessary part of any lighting system—as well as its fixtures (called luminaires). These connectors do not carry AC line voltage; instead, they carry lower voltage DC at currents typically in the 3 amperes (A) to 7 A range. Further, an LED-based lighting system is often part of a control network supporting the Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) and Zhaga industry standards, yielding
smart, energy-saving, high- performance lighting as part of an intelligent home or office. As a result, before proceeding with an LED-based lighting system design, it’s incumbent upon engineers to become familiar with the standards and how they’re reflected in real-world connectors as new designs are emerging rapidly. This article briefly reviews why LEDs have become so pervasive, and then introduces and describes the two connection standards that ensure interoperability, rapid development, and easy deployment of smart LED-based designs. Connectors from Amphenol ICC are introduced, and their use is outlined as real-world embodiments of the relevant standards and their application. Why LEDs are so pervasive The growth of LEDs as a lighting source is due to many factors: ■ Lower costs driving higher volumes, which in turn drives even lower costs and ever higher volumes ■ Enhancements in the basic reliability and longevity of LEDs as light sources ■ Improvements in the circuitry, primarily the power supplies that drive these LEDs
■ Improved ease of control of LEDs via smart controls and even networked I/O ■ Improvements in the quality of optical output as characterized by color temperature (Kelvin) and color rendering index (CRI) ■ Government incentives, standards, and mandates for higher efficiency lighting to save energy (estimates are that between 15% and 20% of total energy use is for lighting) ■ Development of industry and government standards that ensure both interoperability among LED-based light sources as well as compatibility with smart controllers The last point is especially important. One of the important attributes of the traditional incandescent bulb, which is being displaced by LEDs and fluorescent bulbs to a lesser extent, is the near-universal use of the “E26” 26 millimeter (mm) diameter screw- in Edison-base bulb in residential settings in the United States and many other countries (Figure 1). There are other sizes such as the E12 candelabra, but the E26 is by far the most widely used.
we get technical
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