Common Features of Led Driver Apply to Outdoor Light that You Must Know
Something you need to know about the LED driver for outdoor application.
As LED lighting been rapidly adopt in commercial and industrial application in the past 10 years. Based on our customer’s feedback and our own evaluation:
High efficiency
It is known by fact that lower LED temperature increase the luminous efficiency LED, therefore a good heat dissipation of LED is very important. When LED driver is installed in the light fixture’s structure. A higher efficiency LED driver consume less power for converting AC power into DC power. Therefore, it will emit less non-useful power inside the lighting fixture, thus reducing the temperature rise of lighting fixture. By doing this we can maintain the light output and reduce the negative impact because of higher temperature and extend LED light’s lifetime.
High reliability
especially like the led driver of LED Flood light, generally they are installed outside, of course, maybe separate from the light fixture as well. such as hidden in the light pole or installed on the fixed bracket. We must comprehensively think of its waterproof, aluminum housing and any other performances. High reliability led driver is not easy to break and help to reduce the cost of maintenance.
High power factor
For commercial and industrial outdoor lighting, it is very common for lighting manufacturer to registered product with Design Lights Consortium. One of the requirement for Lighting Fixture certified as DLC listed is power factor must large than 0.9. The power factor of an AC power system is defined as the ratio of the real power absorbed by the load to the apparent power flowing in the circuit, and is a dimensionless number in the closed interval of −1 to 1. In an electric power system, a load with a low power factor draws more current than a load with a high power factor for the same amount of useful power transferred. The higher currents increase the energy lost in the distribution system, and require larger wires and other equipment the power factor is the load requirement of the power grid and is an important technical data of power system. Therefore, we only use LED driver with power factor higher than 0.9.
Constant Current and Constant Voltage driving methods.
It is common to see there are two type of LED driving method, one is Constant current and the other one is Constant voltage, what make it difference is the way in which they deliver the power. LED drivers are the main driving force that provides and regulates the needed power to make sure the LEDs operate in a safe and consistent condition.
Constant current LED drivers are designed for a selected range of output voltages and a fixed output current. Constant current driver requires a designated supply of current usually specified in (mA) or (A). These drivers vary the voltage along an electronic circuit which allows current to remain constant throughout the LED system. Higher current ratings do make the LED brighter, but if not regulated, the LED will draw more current than it is rated for. Thermal Runaway refers to excess current beyond the LEDs maximum drive current which results in drastically lower LED life-spans and premature burn outs due to increased temperature. A constant current driver is the best solution to drive high power LEDs as it maintains a consistent brightness across all LEDs in-series.
Constant voltage drivers are designed for a single direct current (DC) output voltage. It is quite common to have an 24VDC or 36VDC. An LED light that is rated for constant voltage usually specifies the amount of input voltage which needs to operate correctly. A constant voltage power supply receives standard line voltage. For USA’s residential application, it is usually 120V AC to 277V AC. This is the type of power that is typically output from the wall outlets in the home. Constant Voltage Drivers switch this alternating current voltage (VAC) to a low direct current voltage (VDC). The driver will always maintain a constant voltage no matter what kind of current load is put on it. Most often, constant voltage drivers are implemented in under-cabinet lights and other LED flex strip applications but it is not limited to those categories.
It sometimes called as surge protector, it is an indispensable device for electronic equipment to protect against lightning or surges. The function of the surge protector is to use components such as gas discharge tubes or varistors to discharge the transient over voltages such as strong lightning or surge currents into the power or signal transmission lines into the earth, limiting the voltage range of the equipment or system within the range that can withstand, the protected equipment or system will not be damaged by the electric shock (voltage surge). It is very common for outdoor lighting driver to have build in minimum 4kV surge protection.
