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Product Configurator Control Systems Spec Sheets NanoOptic™ Technology Testing & Reports ColorFast DeltaGuard Technology Total Systems Approach Lighting Design & Simulation Tools Service & Support As dazzling as Cree© LED Lighting is, the back story will leave you feeling even more warm fuzzy. Get it here. Sales Terms & Conditions Warranty LED FAQ Lighting Calculation Form Customer Service & Support Communication Cree is obsessed with driving change, creating the highest performing solutions, unlocking new possibilities. Learn here all about it. Literature Document Library Video Center Press Review Newsletter Sign-up Corporate News Tours & Events There’s nothing like experiencing Cree© LED Lighting with your own eyes. Here’s where to find the joy. Tours & Events Close Contact Why Cree LED Search the site for LED Frequently Asked Questions Home Resources LED Frequently Asked Questions General What are the advantages to using LED luminaires? LEDs bring several advantages to the lighting industry, including high efficacy and durability, and, with superior life over other lamp sources, their required maintenance is greatly reduced. This translates into energy savings, maintenance savings, and environmental sustainability. There is also the potential for greater optical control (more controllable source), dimming, instant on/off, and reduced rate of lumen depreciation (potential for long application life). Are Cree LED lights ultra-efficient? Compared to conventional technologies, Cree LED Lighting products can deliver the same amount of light using as little as 10 to 15% of the power. This huge reduction in energy consumption can enable consumers to save hundreds of dollars over the life of each light. The Value of Cree LED Lighting A Cree LED Lighting product, like the CR100-680L downlight, can replace a 65 watt light while using only 11 watts. In its 50,000 hour lifetime it will consume about 550 kilowatt-hours and during that time, it will never need to be replaced. The Cost of Incandescent Lamps A typical 65 watt light lasts for 2,000 hours. To match the light output and longevity of a Cree LED Lighting downlight, traditional lighting would consume 3,250 kilowatt-hours, and need to be replaced about 25 times. Can LED lights make my life easier? Cree LED Lighting products are designed to last as long as 50,000 hours. Incredible longevity means that you might never change another light again. A Generation of Light What is 50,000 hours? It is 50 times the life of a typical incandescent bulb and 5 times the lifetime of an average compact fluorescent lamp (CFL). In fact, if you ran one Cree lamp for 6 hours per day every day, it would last for nearly 23 years. Reduce Maintenance and Labor We all have at least one fixture that is hard to reach and needs a ladder or a pole to replace it. For a home owner, fifty times longer life than incandescent source means 50 fewer chances to fall off a ladder. For a business owner, it means significantly lower maintenance and labor expenses. Reduce Your Waste Stream The production and use of LEDs requires significantly less energy than incandescents or CFLs. With Cree LED Lighting products, you'll throw away fewer lamps and stop worrying about their mercury content. All Cree LED Lighting products are free of mercury and other toxic materials, a clear win for the environment. Can your products be used in damp/wet locations such as showers, soffits, etc? Wet locations are defined as being exposed to non-climate controlled environments, wind driven rain and/or pressurized water, and condensing moisture. Damp locations are defined as being exposed to non-climate controlled environments, minimal water exposure (few droplets), and being at least 17,8 cm from any potential standing water. Dry locations are defined as less than 75% humidity and no water exposure. Please refer to the specific Product Spec Sheet to determine suitable operating environments. What's the difference between efficiency and efficacy? Lighting fixture efficiency is the ratio of the total lumens exiting the fixture to the total lumens initially produced by the light source. For example, if a bare 100W incandescent lamp (light bulb) produces 1,000 lumens, and it is put into a lamp fixture that delivers 700 lumens, this would be an example of a 70% efficient fixture. Efficacy is a term normally used in cases where the input and output units differ. In lighting, we are concerned with the amount of light (in lumens) produced by a certain amount of electricity (in watts). Efficacy = Lumens Per Watt Do I have to replace LEDs? An LED does not burn out like a standard lamp, so individual diodes do not need to be replaced. Instead, the diodes gradually produce lower output levels over a very long period of time. If one LED fails, it does not produce a complete fixture outage. Do you have .ies files for your products? .ies files of our products can be found at our resources section. Do your products have excessive RFI emissions? All of our products meet european standards concerning immunity radiated and conducted emissions. Does turning LED lighting on and off reduce lifetime? No. Unlike incandescent and fluorescent lighting which will fail sooner when switched on and off more often, LED lighting is unaffected by how often it is switched on and off. How do you evaluate LED products? Lumen output is only part of the story and can be misleading. To fully evaluate an LED product one needs to review the overall system efficiency, optical control, thermal management of the LEDs, and know at what point in time the fixture will reach 30 percent lumen depreciation. Products with good optical efficiency and thermal management will be able to deliver more lumens, on average, than traditional HID products. As the US Department of Energy concluded in its Solid-State Lighting Commercial Product Testing Program: "Until the field of SSL technologies and supporting knowledge matures, any claims regarding performance of SSL luminaires should be based on overall luminaire efficacy (i.e., from testing of the entire luminaire, including LEDs, drivers, heat sinks, optical lenses and housing), to avoid misleading buyers and causing long-term damage to the SSL market." How do you verify the performance of your products? The performance of all of our products is verified by accredited independent 3rd party laboratories How does ambient temperature affect LED efficiency? LED fixtures must be designed with junction temperature thermal management as a key component and use the correct LEDs. These products will then be robust enough to operate in most ambient temperature applications. Unlike fluorescent sources, cold temperatures do not impact the performance of LEDs. If an LED fixture has lower initial lumen output than a traditional HID light, how can LED claim to deliver lumens more efficiently than HID? When you average delivered lumens over the course of 60,000 hours, you'll see that LED outperforms a 400-watt MH lamp operated in a horizontal position. (60,000 hours is used for this comparison to show three full life cycles of the HID.) The MH's lumen depreciation, as well as optical and ballast losses, quickly reduce output of the HID system. Note that there are three relamps over 60,000 hours. Conversely, LED has significantly better lumen maintenance and a more efficient driver. Also note that the LED fixture typically doesn't need relamping from zero to 60,000 hours. Combine this with Cree's exclusive NanoOptic and LED outperforms MH over the course of the life of the fixture. Result: the LED's average delivered lumens is 74% higher than HID over 60,000 hours. How long is 100,000 hours? Based on how long a fixture is illuminated per day, here's what 100,000 works out to: Hours of Operation: 24 hours a day 18 hours per day 12 hours per day 8 hours per day 100,000 hours is: 11.4 years 14.8 years 22.8 years 34.2 years How many LED fixtures do I need compared to other sources, i.e. incandescent, CFL, etc.? There are many different types of lighting, housings, trims and accessories, and lamp types available. Please refer to the Product Spec Sheet for photometry information. How much are your products? Cree LED Lighting products are sold through distribution. The following link will help you to locate your closest Cree LED Lighting distributor for pricing requests. Is each Cree LED Lighting product tested before it is shipped? Yes, each Cree LED Lighting product is individually tested and tuned to the optimal color point before shipment. Isn’t a lumen, a lumen (spec sheet comparisons)? The Illumination Engineering Society (IES) classifies varying light distribution patterns into different categories or "types" (i.e. Type II, Type III, etc.), but within these classifications are a fair amount of variation. For example, two manufacturers may both have products that are classified as a "Type III" distribution, but from a light distribution standpoint both products could vary greatly. Therefore, assuming any two products with the same IES classification will provide identical or even a similar light distribution pattern is a mistake. Only by looking at each product separately at the application level can such comparisons be made. Why does the identical LED chip package lumen depreciate at different rates from manufacturer to manufacturer? Unlike previous technologies, LED manufacturers have a much greater impact on the rate of lumen depreciation based on their luminaire designs. Thermal design plays a critical role in the rate of lumen depreciation. Therefore you should see variation in lumen depreciation from manufacturer to manufacturer, as well as within different product families offered by the same manufacturer. Where have LEDs been used in the lighting industry? LEDs began to be used in the lighting industry in the late 1990’s typically in aesthetic, effect, or specialty lighting applications, including architectural highlighting. The use of LED luminaires in applications such as street lighting, area lighting, parking structures, security lighting, and even general lighting for interior spaces is viable today both economically and from an illumination performance standpoint. Are your products compatible with emergency backup systems? Yes, with inverter style battery backup systems that produce true sinewave outputs. When sizing Emergency Backup Systems, multiply the nominal power load by 2.5x to determine the size of system needed. Are your products consistent in color and/or intensity? Our products are all designed to meet European regulations for color consistency, meaning they typically are all within 4 equivalent MacAdam ellipses Do your products shift color and/or intensity over time? How much? Our products are all designed to meet European regulations for lifetime color maintenance, meaning they typically stay within 7 equivalent MacAdam ellipses over their lifetime. Lifetime, given as L70, is the number of operating hours until the light intensity is reduced to 70% of original. Refer to the Product Spec Sheet for the L70 of a specific product. Can you tell us about the LED chips inside the lighting fixtures? Our lighting fixtures include Cree LED chips. The precise nature of the LED chips are confidential and proprietary aspects of Cree’s TrueWhite® Technology. UV and/or IR emissions? Unlike incandescent and fluorescent light sources, Cree LED Lighting Products produce virtually no light in the Ultraviolet (UV) or Infrared (IR) spectrums. What does LED Light look like? Gorgeous lighting from LEDs? It's true – an innovation that illuminates people and surroundings in color-rich light. Experience all the benefits of incandescent lighting, without high energy costs or environmental impact. Colors Fully Revealed It's not your imagination – it's science. Cree lights do look more natural than CFLs. Cree lights have a higher color rendering, so everything under them looks more vibrant and lifelike. Choose warm or cool lighting. Warm lighting gives a traditional and luxurious feeling that homeowners have come to expect. Cool lighting creates an effective work environment or brings a contemporary look to a home. Hotspots, No Glare Cree lights are designed to blend seamlessly with any architecture. The proprietary diffusing lens and reflector system deliver an optimal light distribution that softly washes walls and sufficiently illuminates work surfaces. LEDs are not visible, so you won't be distracted by hotspots or glare. The only thing you'll experience is life under beautiful, glowing light. What does "Lifetime 50,000 hours" mean? Useful life has been defined as the number of hours an LED device can operate until it emits only a certain percentage of its original lumen output. For general illumination applications, vision research suggests that 70 percent of original lumen output is the level where end users begin to notice a drop in light levels. This metric is indicated as L70. The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) published LM-80-08, IES Approved Method for Measuring Lumen Maintenance of LED Light Sources. Cree tested our LED lamps for long-term lumen maintenance consistent with LM-80 methods to demonstrate L70 life after more than 6000 hours of testing and got the number 50,000 hours under normal operating conditions. Also the performance of all of our products is verified by accredited independent 3rd party laboratories. Please note, any initial condition or parameter change will affect the useful life of LEDs in different ways. What is an LED? Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are solid-state lighting components. Each LED consists of a semiconductor diode that emits light when a voltage is applied to it. They have no moving, fragile parts and can last for decades. LEDs can be many times more energy-efficient than light bulbs, depending on the application. LED lighting can save up to 85 percent of the electricity used by incandescent bulbs and up to 50 percent of electricity used by fluorescents. The electronics industry has used LED technology for several decades as indicator lights for various electronic devices. In more recent years, LED technology has progressed to the point where it is viable for general lighting applications. Most of the energy emitted from incandescent bulbs is converted to heat instead of light. That’s why you’ll burn yourself if you try to touch an incandescent bulb once it’s turned on. Since LEDs consume significantly less energy, they don’t emit as much heat. That’s why you typically won’t burn yourself if you try to touch an LED light once it’s turned on. LED lights are also designed to last about 50 times longer, which means less ladder-climbing maintenance and less waste. What is CRI, and why is it important? Color Rendering Index (CRI) is defined as a light sources ability to render color. The higher the CRI, the better the light source renders every color in the visible spectrum. To have what is generally considered good color rendering, a source must be >90 CRI. What is junction temperature? Junction temperature is the temperature at the point where an individual diode connects to its base. Maintaining a low junction temperature increases output and slows LED lumen depreciation. Junction temperature is a key metric for evaluating an LED product's quality and ability to deliver long life. The three things affecting junction temperature are: drive current, thermal path, and ambient temperature. In general, the higher the drive current, the greater the heat generated at the die. Heat must be moved away from the die in order to maintain expected light output, life, and color. The amount of heat that can be removed depends upon the ambient temperature and the design of the thermal path from the die to the surroundings. (Source: US Department of Energy) The Department of Energy advises: "Heat management and an awareness of the operating environment are critical considerations to the design and application of LED luminaires for general illumination. Successful products will use superior heat sink designs to dissipate heat, and minimize junction temperature. Keeping the junction temperature as low as possible and within manufacturer specifications is necessary in order to maximize the performance potential of LEDs." What is TrueWhite® Technology? Cree TrueWhite Technology is elegantly simple, yet incredibly effective. It delivers high efficacy light with beautiful, warm color characteristics by mixing the light from yellow and red LEDs. This approach enables active color management to maintain tight color consistency over the life of the product. Here are the competitive advantages of Cree TrueWhite technology: A better way to generate white light that utilizes a patented mixture of unsaturated yellow and saturated red LEDs. Proprietary optical system utilizes a unique combination of reflective and refractive optical components to achieve a uniform, comfortable appearance. Pixelation and direct view of LEDs is eliminated. High CRI and high efficacy allows customers to avoid having to make tradeoffs between energy efficiency and light quality as compared to other lighting alternatives. Our products combine Cree TrueWhite Technology with numerous technical innovations, including breakthroughs in optical design, electronics design, mechanical design, and thermal management to develop market-leading LED lighting products. These products are changing the way we look at light. What's the difference between 2700K and 3500K? Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) is defined as the color of light given off by a particular light source that most closely represents the light emitted from a perfect blackbody radiator when heated to a certain temperature. Incandescent lamps have a typical CCT of 2700K (warm white light). Fluorescent lamps can have CCT's varying from 3000K to 5000K (cool white light). 3500K is generally considered "neutral" white light. Where can I see Cree LED Lighting products? Please visit the following link to find the lighting events we are attending this year. We hope to see you there. Please do not hesitate to contact us anytime with any feedback or questions about our products. Why are LEDs considered a GREEN technology? LEDs are environmentally friendly on many fronts. First, unlike HID (High Intensity Discharge) lamps LEDs contain NO mercury. In addition, some LED luminaires are RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) compliant and have been designed to provide more than a decade of near maintenance-free service. That means no re-lamping which means no waste. Assuming an HID fixture is re-lamped every two years, that’s five re-lamping cycles over a 10 year period. Just imagine the benefits of choosing LED: No concern over proper disposal (hopefully not simply thrown in a landfill) of old HID lamps containing harmful mercury. No fuel used and the accompanying pollution to service those fixtures. Greatly reduced potential for lane closures and other productivity and inconvenience-related costs associated with maintaining an HID system. No natural resources lost to produce the replacement lamps that contain mercury. No fuel used to move old-technology lamps from the factory (most likely overseas), to the distributor, to the contractor, to the job site. It’s important to keep in mind all the positive and powerful ripple effects that using LED technology can have on the environment. Why is the life span of an LED measured as lumen depreciation? The life span of an LED is vastly longer than that of incandescent, fluorescent or HID lamp sources, generally lasting 50,000 hours or longer. Although the LED never really burns out, product life span is measured by lumen depreciation. The Illuminating Engineering Society's (IES) current standard for calculating the life of an LED as the point at which the LED reaches 30 percent lumen depreciation. Remember, a 100,000-hour rating is not equivalent to lamp life rating. LED life is rated where it has reached 30 percent lumen depreciation. At 100,000 hours an LED would still be operating, but at a decreased lumen output. Indoor Are your fixtures grounded? Our downlight and troffer products are attached directly to earth ground at installation. Our lamp products are not. Are your fixtures/housings fire rated? Fire Rating depends on the housing, and currently none of our housings are fire rated. Our downlight products are designed for fire rated housings. Are your products difficult to install? Do I need special wiring, dimmers, etc.? Our products are designed to be easy to install with no special tools or experience needed, using conventional dimmers and wiring. Please reference our installation information for detailed documentation. Are your products CE certified? All Cree Europe LED products are CE certified. Can any part of your products or trims be painted? Painting, staining, or otherwise altering our products voids the warranty. The surfaces of the products themselves should not be painted, as they act as heat radiators and painting can reduce the products' ability to dissipate heat. Can I use higher gauge (smaller) wiring since your products draw much less current? Although Cree LED Lighting Products run at much lower current levels than typical lighting, wiring size is determined by local regulations. What is the ceiling hole size required for your housings? Refer to the Product Spec Sheet or Installation Instructions for the specific products. Do your products change light color when dimmed? No. All of our current products are designed to maintain light color consistent through the dimming range. Does installing your product in a housing make it airtight? The airtightness is dependent on the housing, and not the lighting fixture installed in it. Can your products be mounted upside down, sideways, etc.? The downlight and troffer families of products are designed to be mounted vertically, either straight up or straight down. The lamp family of products can be mounted in any orientation. Are power and light output linear and/or proportional when dimming? When dimming Cree LED Lighting products, power vs. light output are not linear. Efficacy is reduced as the light is dimmed, meaning Lumens Per Watt goes down approximately 30% from full brightness to the bottom of the dimming range. Are your products rated for IC and/or airtight housings? Our downlight products are rated for use in IC and airtight housings. What are the beam angles of your products? Our downlights are designed to deliver an optimal distribution of light that balances the amount of light delivered to the horizontal surfaces and vertical surfaces. The distribution is more sophisticated than what may be defined by a simple beam angle. It is a general illuminator that delivers an optimal amount of light when utilized on typical downlight spacing. Why should I buy your products vs incandescent or CFL? Cree LED Lighting products provide high light quality (>90 CRI), long life (L70 >50,000 hours), high efficacy (up to 100 Lumens Per Watt), produce very little heat, and require virtually no maintenance. Neither incandescent nor CFLs can provide all of those features. Why Does Thermal Management Matter? Thermal Management of White LEDs (Source: US Department of Energy) Why is the wattage requirement higher when using dimmers? This is due to inrush current and the capability of inverter based systems to handle it. Can your products and other products be mixed on the same circuit? Generally yes, as long as the other lighting product does not cause excessive line noise. When dimming it is not recommended to put Cree Lighting Products on the same dimming circuit as other light sources, with the exception of an incandescent light. Outdoor How are LEDs able to outperform HID? Super-bright white LEDs have the advantage of minimal lumen depreciation, better optical efficiency and high lumens per watt. LEDs also have a vastly longer life span than traditional lamp sources. The luminaire must be designed to leverage these inherent advantages of LEDs. A Total Systems Approach is needed for an LED product to bring all these features together. Cree luminaires also have an environmental advantage in that they contain no mercury, are RoHS compliant, last longer and produce less waste. In fact, 20 to 25% (by weight) of the product is made using post-consumer recycled materials (aluminum castings and extrusions). Furthermore, 70% (by weight) of BetaLED fixtures are readily recyclable. The remaining LED circuit boards, drivers, wires and connectors are all non-hazardous, mercury-free, and RoHS compliant. Dimming General Guidance for Dimming Incandescent dimmers are designed for "resistive" loads, and typically rated for at least 600 watts. They have a requirement called "minimum holding current", which is the minimum amount of electrical current flowing through them to keep the dimmer firing properly. Cree LED Lighting downlight and lamp products have electronic drivers that are "reactive" (capacitive and/or inductive) and draw very little power (10-11 watts). These two factors result in electrical current that is just barely above the minimum holding current for most dimmers, and below it for others. There are other factors specific to the installation site, such as neutral-to-ground integrity, power line noise coming from the utility or other loads, and source impedance. With the minimum holding current requirement barely being met, these other factors can cause the current to dip below that threshold, resulting in occasional dimmer mis-firing which can result in a faint flickering coming from the lights. Cree LED Lighting tests its products with a variety of dimmers, and makes recommendations regarding compatibility based on those results, but cannot guarantee performance. The LR4™ and LR6™ product families are designed to dim down to ~25% of full brightness, then turn off when dimmed below that. Due to the nature of LED light, this can appear more like 40%-45% when looking directly at the fixture. Examining the room being illuminated will give a more accurate perception of actual brightness. Contact Us PRIVACY AND CONDITIONS Copyright © 2020 Cree Europe S.r.l a S.U. All rights reserved Cree Europe - Off Canvas Navigation Products [Custom] Applications [Custom] Resources [Custom] Contact Why Cree LED