The recent recall of Cree Lighting’s overheating LED retrofit tubes (listed this week on the Consumer Product Safety Commission website) could likely have been avoided if the LED manufacturer had employed a hardwired retrofit solution for standard 2X2 and 2X4 fluorescent retrofit applications. In an effort to assist endusers affected by this enormous recall, Deco Lighting has chosen to offer discounts on its Linea retrofit kits to endusers who have purchased any of the “quick-fix” LED lamp products designed to fit into existing fluorescent sockets and use existing fluorescent ballasts.
“The fact that the LED tube overheats is not a surprise to us at Deco Lighting,” says Deco Lighting President Ben Pouladian. “In our opinion, only a hard-wired solution can safely retrofit a fluorescent fixture to LED.”
The problem with using an LED tube is that most of the original fixtures used T12 lamps and magnetic ballasts (an analog system), but were retrofitted to T8 using an upgraded electronic ballast. If the retrofitter did not upgrade or replace the existing T8 tombstones then a small amount of leakage current is emitted. T8 lamps can tolerate this leakage. Yet, with solid state LED lamps, this current affects the LEDs and the power supply, causing the sockets to overheat and melt. Deco Lighting does not use the tube technology for this very reason.
“Thomas Edison didn’t invent the socket for the LED lamp,” says Pouladian. “We’ve seen other large LED tube manufacturers have this type of issue. The LED board should be hard-wired directly to the LED driver and not diverted through the socket simply because it’s convenient to do so. The socket is a technology that has no place in the LED world and it presents too many risk variables for the retrofit. You should not have to wonder if the original retrofitter wired the ballast and sockets correctly. That question should be taken out of the equation.”
The Deco Lighting Linea LED retrofit kits include an LED driver to replace the original fluorescent ballast. The LEDs are manufactured by Nichia, the largest LED manufacturer in the world, with the highest quality-control standards available. Additionally, Deco Lighting underdrives all their LEDs to ensure the minimum amount of heat produced.
“The fact that the LED tubes are burning in the fixtures is a tragedy,” says Deco Lighting CEO Sam Sinai. “We respect Cree for getting out ahead of this problem immediately and supporting the recall. It shows that they are a company that cares about their customers. We at Deco Lighting looked at this situation and decided to offer a discount on all of our Linea 2X2 and 2X4 retrofit kits to any of the customers who have been affected by this recall, or who now feel uncomfortable using tube technology as a retrofit option. Simply contact our factory and provide a receipt for the tube product you installed. We will provide a discounted Linea solution and send each customer a free sample to install.”
Click on the below link to learn more about the Deco Lighting Linea retrofit kits, their features and benefits, and how easily they install.
YouTube Install video Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21ba_Qw9_Sg
Linea 2×2 and 2×4 Spec sheet:
https://www.getdeco.com/wp-content/themes/deco-digital/pdf/LINEA_spec.pdf