gmccall
Member
Hi All
My solar passive house is under construction, I would like to use LED lighting but have been told that they could be damaged by power surges. Has anyone any knowledge of this? and how to prevent this alleged problem. I have a quote of around 3k for light fittings for the whole house which is about double CFL lights.
Lance
Key Master
Yep, and the risk is generally in the driver, not the LEDs themselves (what most people refer to as LEDs are in fact LED bulbs or light fittings, which incorporate the LEDs and a driver). If the driver is external then it's much easier to replace.
There are ways to set up LED fittings so that they are immune to surges. I have used 24 volt DC power supplies to drive strings of power LEDs which have their current limited by a simple robust linear LED driver. The only thing that can die in this setup is the power supply, which is a cheap off-the-shelf switchmode unit. Of course, this means you have to make the LED fittings yourself, but it isn't rocket science.
But really, any good quality LED bulb or fitting will have a reasonable degree of surge immunity built into it...
Lance
Key Master
Yes, can imagine there is, after all, it means they actually have to learn something new, and that might take a bit of time which they would rather use to make money. There are some slightly more flexible sparkies with a willingness to learn, but not many, the trick is to find one, such as http://www.greenelectrician.com.au
