Simply put, LED retrofitting means to upgrade your existing light fittings from halogen, CFL and other older light bulb types to new LED alternatives.
In today’s energy conscious environment, LED retrofitting has become an increasingly popular option for commercial and industrial businesses throughout the world.
While the energy saving benefits of LEDs are obvious, there are several other benefits that business owners and building managers should consider when making the decision to retrofit their facilities to LED lighting.
These include dramatically improved lighting quality and significantly reduced maintenance costs.
When to, and when not to retrofit
LED retrofitting has many advantages, considering LED’s save energy and maintenance costs, while providing better light quality.
However with the latter in mind, LEDs don’t have the same light distribution as conventional fluorescents, halogens or HID (High Intensity Discharge) lamps, thus issues can arise from just converting an unsuitable fitting to LED tubes or lamps.
To explain:
Open channels, vapour proofs, prismatic and decorative fittings that do not have any reflectors are ideal for retrofit options and are easily converted to the LED option.
However, fittings that have reflectors, and have been specifically designed for either Fluorescent, HID, CFL or Halogen lamps do not perform well when retrofitted with LED lamps. These typically look like these below:
Due to the new lamp legislation however, halogen and CFLs fall short of the minimum performance requirement of 90 lumens per watt, and will no longer be on sale after 23 May 2025.
The above-mentioned fittings should be completely replaced with new LED fittings that are designed to fit the ceiling grid. Most common sizes are 600x600mm, 1200x600mm and 1200x300mm.
Complete solutions
If retrofitting is not an option, look for a complete solution that will provide quality light and energy savings, with a long service life.
3 CCT (3 Colour-changing) panels as an example, allow you to choose between cool white, daylight or warm white colour temperatures through an in-line switch. Ideal for multiple applications, from hospital waiting areas, where a friendly warm white might be suitable, to an office or factory environment where daylight or cool white applications will boost concentration levels and productivity.
Enquiries: www.radiant.co.za