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February 2018

GoLED, an easy LED retrofit for fluorescent luminaires

GoLED is Stanpro’s most exciting new initiative in our environmentally conscious push to encourage the market to embrace the benefits of an LED retrofit rather than completely replacing lighting units.

We have decided to approach this subject as one would a set of traffic lights. Stop to consider the situation, get ready to go with an LED retrofit, and then enjoy the many benefits along the journey and well into the future.

OK, buckle up and let’s get going…

GoLED – The LED retrofit challenge

The terms LED retrofit lighting, retrofit kits, and the related are highly important to anyone who is trying to upgrade their lighting system at their facility. In short, it is the process of upgrading your existing lighting fixtures with a new light source (typically of higher quality and efficiency) while maintaining the integrity of the fixture itself.

Qualifying whether you should retrofit your lighting system or not really all depends on your facility’s situation. If your entire fixture is in bad condition, then a new unit is probably the only option. However, when a fixture’s exterior housing hasn’t been compromised, further consideration should be given to this solution, and a cost analysis might sway your opinion to a more environmental solution… an LED retrofit.

Undeniably the best technology for any business is an LED retrofit for many reasons:

  • It decreases lighting energy usage by up to 75% – in other words, you get bottom-line savings
  • It increases the quality of light – therefore, no more buzzing or flickering, and it improves your light uniformity
  • It has environmental benefits – you get less wastage, less landfill, less energy and/or packaging than buying new
  • It has a longer lifespan by 2-3 times – you get savings in time, money and maintenance
  • It performs and lasts just as well and as long as new fixtures – what’s not to like!

More and more buildings are getting their lighting upgraded with LED retrofits. Companies want to get rid of technology like metal halide, HPS, and fluorescents in their facility for all of the benefits LED products bring. The benefits of LED over these other technologies are undeniably better in virtually every single aspect of quality lighting.

The Solution

LED retrofitting an existing fixture can easily save 70% to 80% installation time when compared to installing a new LED fixture. Obviously, this depends on the type of mounting and application environment. Nevertheless, it should normally only take 5 minutes to install!

Customers must not only consider installation time of a new fixture but also removal time required of an existing fixture. That means it will easily take 45 to 60 minutes per fixture if not more to remove, and then re-install the new fixture.

Installing an LED retrofit kit is fairly simple. The process involves removing the existing gear tray that includes lamps, ballast, and sockets, and replacing them. All retrofit kits come with a comprehensive set of installation instructions. Minimal wiring alterations are required, however we recommend bringing in a licensed electrician if you are not familiar with the safety requirements of electrical wiring.

Here are the steps for installing an LED retrofit kit:

  1. Remove the lens
  2. Remove the fluorescent tubes
  3. Remove the fluorescent gear tray and existing wiring connections
  4. Make the wiring connections and install LED gear tray
  5. Re-install the lens

Simple enough!

The nitty-gritty:

  • The RKTVT vapour tight LED retrofit kit delivers approximately 5000 lumens, while achieving over 120lm/W. (Condition of lenses on existing fluorescent luminaires may have varying impacts on delivered lumen levels.)
  • This series is available in neutral 4000K temperatures with 0-10V dimming wires inside the fixture ready to be connected.
  • White post painted UV stabilized steel flat gear tray
  • 80+ CRI
  • Compatible with STANPRO, AIMLITE, STANDARD, RAB, LITELINE, BEGHELLI, THOMAS and BETTS, EMERGI-LITE, LUMACELL, READYLITE fluorescent vapour tights. Refer to compatibility charts found on the catalogue pages for more details to choose option 1 or option 2.
  • The RKTVT comes with frosted lenses over LED strips creating diffused uniform lighting, mimicking the look of fluorescent tubes and avoiding glare from LED.
  • Easy installation in around 5 minutes
  • Ambient temperature: -20°C to +35°C
  • Colour consistency (SDCM) is 3-step MacAdam ellipse
  • Meets requirements of ICES-005 issue 4 for class A products

The Pay-off

We believe the argument for retrofitting are very compelling, and have created this simple acronym to remember the benefits… LED!

L – Lifespan and

E – Energy savings

D – Delivering less waste and more cost savings

Lifespan

You are essentially resetting the life of your luminaire with new components and warranty on your retrofit kit. This is a superior choice to LED tubes as this method of retrofitting does not reset the life of your ballast nor sockets (potentially adding additional component and labor costs).

Energy Savings

Consider this example:

40W LED Watts replacing 2 lamp T8 FLUO 32Watts, 12 hours/day, 365 days/year

Cost / kw/h Savings per year/fixture

$0.06 $4.47

$0.08 $5.96

$0.10 $7.45

$0.12 $8.94

$0.14 $10.42

$0.16 $11.91

$0.18 $13.40

$0.20 $14.89

Deliver less waste and more cost savings

Can you imagine the environmental impact of disposing of all perfectly functional fixtures in landfill sites? Along with reducing your environmental footprint, a retrofit is substantially more cost effective than a complete new fixture, including a reduced manufacturing process, less packaging costs and avoiding potential additional disposal fees and the energy wasted therein.

We hope we have convinced you that retrofitting is a journey worth taking for a multitude of reasons. We at Stanpro are highly committed to our GoLED program, and we look forward to discussing your needs with you at the earliest possible opportunity.

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