Are LED Lights Good for Outdoor Use?

For homes, businesses, public places and other open places, outdoor lights are very important. Reasonable and correct installation of outdoor lamps can turn the terrace into an all-night entertainment venue. It can also prevent crime and provide light for pedestrians at night to avoid accidental injuries.

LED lighting technology has been greatly popularized in recent years, and the price has dropped to a range that most consumers can afford. Many companies, contractors, contractors and households have also begun to include LEDs in their outdoor lighting considerations. The question is, what can and cannot be done with LEDs? Many people are still confused about this, so we are here to clear it out once and for all: LED lights can be used outside?

Can LED lights be used outdoors?

The answer is yes! Most LED lights are waterproof and dustproof, and can be used safely outdoors without worrying about any risks.

After years of development, LED lights are playing an increasingly important role in almost all residential, urban public services, commercial and industrial outdoor lighting and other aspects.

LEDs are very suitable for outdoor use because they have all the same advantages as indoor LEDs. At the same time, compared to traditional lamps, LED lamps also reduce maintenance and replacement costs. Less heat is emitted, there is no heavy metal pollution such as mercury, and carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by at least 80%. Therefore, it has great advantages for environmental protection.

What Makes LED lights suitable for outdoor using?

Because of its own unparalleled advantages, LED lamps are replacing traditional lamps on a large scale around the world, becoming an emerging protagonist in the lighting market. Let’s take a look at the advantages of LED lights that make them a leader in outdoor lighting.

 

Various design styles

Because of the designer’s inspiration and the different needs of application places, LEDs have a variety of different shapes and forms, which can meet the needs of actual and decorative outdoor lighting to the greatest extent. In the follow-up, we will discuss some possibilities in this regard.

 

Reduce the cost

The luminous efficiency of LED lights is 3 times that of traditional energy-saving energy and 2 times that of fluorescent lights, which means that you can use less power (energy consumed) to produce the same amount of light (lumens). This means you can save a lot of electricity bills every month.

As mentioned earlier, LEDs generate very little heat, so they will not decay or even break down quickly, so switching to LED lights means that you do not need to maintain and replace frequently, which often incurs additional costs.

 

High energy efficiency

Incandescent lamps, high-pressure sodium lamps or metal halide lamps convert 80% of the electrical energy into heat (if you have tried to replace the bulb), and the heat will cause a huge waste of efficiency. The scorching light puts extra pressure on the filament and the grid, causing the filament to burn out. On the one hand, energy is wasted, and on the other hand, unnecessary replacement costs are generated.

LED semiconductor lighting technology directly converts most of the electrical energy into light, and only a small part of the electricity is converted into heat, and almost all the energy that enters the lamp is converted into light.

Bright light

Many traditional outdoor lighting equipment use metal halide or high-pressure sodium lamps. These bulbs will emit a clear white light at first, but they will burn into a visible orange or even pink as time goes by.

On the other hand, because LED has a wide CCT range, it can produce consistent, clear white light or warm white light, or cool white light. According to different design schemes of the diode, as long as it is energized, it will emit red, green, blue and white light.

Many LED lights can even adjust the color temperature manually to create a warmer atmosphere lighting or brighter safety lighting.

 

What are the commonly used outdoor LED lights?

With the continuous development of the global LED lighting industry, there are a large number of reliable and efficient outdoor LED lights on the market that can be used in shopping malls, residential applications, highways, gas stations and various sports venues. So what are the most popular lights?

Commercial outdoor LED lights

floodlight

The floodlight is a point light source that can evenly illuminate in all directions. Its illumination range can be adjusted arbitrarily, and it appears as a regular octahedron icon in the scene. Floodlights are the most widely used light source in the production of renderings. Standard floodlights are used to illuminate the entire scene. Multiple floodlights can be used in the scene. To produce better results. Floodlights can be powered by solar energy. According to different applications, they can be equipped with radar sensor, light sensor or human body sensor, so as to save energy to the greatest extent.

Wall light

LED wall lights are bright and compact, and are generally installed on the sides of buildings, such as houses, fences, factory buildings, and warehouses. When they may be applied above the door of a garage or loading dock, the wall pack is generally inclined downward. When used in a porch or entrance, the wall pack can also face outwards.

Shoe box light

The LED shoebox light is connected to the light pole or the side of the building to provide illumination for the road or square. Shoebox lights are usually used in parking lots, parks, stadiums and public places, not only to provide lighting for these places, but also to ensure the safety of personnel and vehicles.

Residential outdoor LED lights

light bulb

We need to add a suitable cover to the bulb to avoid direct exposure to changing weather conditions, and it can be used outdoors many times. If you have no plan to replace all the outdoor lights around the house, you can install LED bulbs in existing lamps like standard bulbs. LED bulbs are not only low cost, but also have a much longer service life than traditional fluorescent lamps.

Street lamp

Street lights or underground lights are very suitable to bring a noble appearance to your yard and improve safety without destroying the landscape of your yard. LED road lights are usually installed on light poles that are at least 6 meters high, while underground lights are usually installed on the ground or buried underground to ensure safe walking on lawns, outdoor roads, driveways, etc.

LED Strip light

1. It is soft and can curl at will.
2. It can be cut and extended.
3. The light bulb and the passage are completely covered in flexible plastic, which has good insulation and waterproof functions, and is safe and reliable.
4. Strong weather resistance.
5. It is not easy to crack and has a long service life.
6. It is easy to make shapes such as graphics and characters. It has been widely used for decoration and lighting of buildings, bridges, pathways, gardens, courtyards, strata, ceilings, furniture, buses, lakes, underwater, posters, pink cards, and signs.

What to pay attention to when buying outdoor lights

IP rating

IP is actually the code used to determine the protection level internationally, and its full name is: Ingress Protection. IP is composed of two numbers, such as IP65, IP66, IP67, etc. The first number means dustproof, and the second number means waterproof. The larger the number, the higher the level of protection.

If we want to study in detail, we have to analyze the role of each IP level. For example, the I just mentioned is dustproof and P is waterproof. The dustproof level 1 is to prevent the intrusion of objects larger than 50mm, 2 is to prevent the intrusion of objects larger than 12mm, 3 is to prevent the intrusion of objects larger than 2.5mm, 4 is to prevent the intrusion of objects larger than 1.0mm, and 5 is that dust can invade, but not It will affect the normal operation of the lamp. 6 is the highest dustproof level, which means that dust intrusion is completely prevented.

As for the waterproof level, we can also take a look: 1 is to prevent drips from entering, 2 is to prevent drips from entering when the lamp is tilted 15 degrees, 3 is to prevent sprayed water from entering, 4 is to prevent splashing water from entering, 5 is to prevent The entry of large waves of water, 6 is to prevent the entry of large waves of water, the lamp can still operate normally when entering a certain amount of water, and 7 is to completely prevent water from entering.

Day to night function

Even if we use LED lights, we still have to pay attention to saving energy. In addition, in order to ensure the longevity of the LED lamp as long as possible, it is necessary to avoid turning on the lamp when lighting is not needed.

The day-night switching function uses the photoelectric sensor performance of the LED lamp. When there is enough natural light, the photoelectric sensor reminds the LED lamp that it does not need to work. When the natural light is insufficient, the light sensor will remind the LED light to work.

Safety Certification

Safety certification actually includes product safety certification, electromagnetic compatibility EMC certification, environmental protection certification, energy certification and so on. It is a product certification based on the protection of users and environmental safety and quality.

Countries around the world have their own safety requirements, and many countries have also implemented compulsory certification, such as China’s CCC and EU’s CE. There are also some certification marks that have a good market reputation. Many manufacturers require their suppliers to carry out relevant safety certifications to enhance their market safety image, such as UL mark, VDE mark, Nemko mark, GS mark. These safety logos have a good market Word of mouth.

At the same time, as people’s consumption concepts become more rational, they no longer blindly pursue price benefits and powerful functions, but pay more attention to product safety issues. How to obtain products with complete quality and harmless to users has become an element that consumers gradually value. In order to make the world safer, product safety certification is bound to become more and more extensive and more popular.