In 2011, the National Development and Reform Commission announced that the ban on the sales of 100W and above incandescent bulbs would take effect in October 1, 2012. As the enforcement day is drawing near, LEDinside believes that now it has become the critical stage for the transition from conventional lighting to LED lighting. As the incandescent products are gradually phasing out and supportive policies of the SSL lighting industry are further introduced and implemented, LED lighting is faced up with a faster development than ever before.

Over these years, with the rising living standards and growing concerns over energy and environment, consumers have been raising their expectations for energy-saving and environment-friendliness as well as a healthy and comfortable life. In the aspect of lighting, green, energy-saving and healthy products are gradually turning into the mainstream. With excellent performance in energy saving, environment protection, efficiency and use life, it is inevitable that LED will be widely used. 

LEDinside observes that during the incandescent phase-out period, customers are rather reluctant to accept than entirely resistant to LED products. On the other hand, currently LED product identification is either unclear or indefinite due to the lack of unified standards. Faced up with uneven product quality on the market, partly due to the high price, general consumers who know nothing about LED technology even usage often have doubts when choosing LED luminaires and make wrong choices. Here are top 3 LED myths everyone should know.    

Myth 1   LED bulb watts equal to incandescent bulb watts

Truth: Incandescent bulbs usually stress watts instead of lumens thus consumers’ buying habits have been affected as time passes. Unlike incandescent bulbs, since LED luminous efficacy is still growing, watt does not represent its lumen. Some manufacturers put labels on their product packages such as “40W incandescent replacement bulbs” to help consumers to make the purchase decision.

Myth 2   The higher power，the brighter LED

Truth: LED brightness is generally measured with lumen. For LED luminaires of different powers, the higher lumen output it has the more energy it saves. E.g.5W LED bulbs compared with 6W ones, if the former have higher lumen output, then the former is actually more energy saving than the latter one. 

Myth 3 The more LED lamp beads, the higher brightness and price

Truth: The luminous efficacy of a single LED chip varies with different LED technologies. In the current mainstream market, there are various forms of LED chips including high power, medium power, low power, COB chips. E.g. A medium power LED chip has approximately 45lm flux output while a high power one reaches 120 lm above. It is probable that the luminous effect of 1 LED equals to that of 3 ones. In terms of the cost, the high power chip is priced higher than the medium power chip. Therefore, the cost performance ratio of the LED luminaire mainly depends on the components adopted.

How to choose the right LED product?

1、Double Pack Check
（1）Find the product trademark and certification marks such as 3C, CE, UL, GS certifications. In addition, good quality products also have good trademark printing, clear and indelible when wiped with a soft and damp cloth.   
（2）Check whether items like rated voltage, voltage range, color temperature, product notes, safety tips and applicable environment are clearly marked.

2、Price Comparison
Due to the specialty of LED luminaire production, its price is relatively high. China-made products are priced from RMB 40 while price of imported ones starts higher.

3、Exterior Examination
First examine if the product has a rough exterior. Is there any glue not yet cleaned up? Any screw protruding on the fixed plane? Is the screw color consistent with the exterior house color?

4、Lighting Test
The color change of a LED bulb must be carefully observed after it is lit up. If it changes from yellow into white or white into bluish white in short time, it is not a good buying choice because there are two explanations for the case: 1. power supply problem; 2. LED light source selection mistake. Moreover, the light color should confirm to standard in uniformity, i.e. without flicker. After the LED luminaire is turned on, its heat dissipation can be measured with surface temperature through direct touch. If the product surface temperature keeps rising for an hour instead of stabilizing in as long as 30 minutes, do not choose the product. The reason is that its use life will be shortened because of heat dissipation difficulty.