Thread: LED LIGHT BARS
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Old 06-19-2012, 12:29 PM
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parkland
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One thing I can tell you guys.... I import a ton of LED lighting for my business, and I can tell you that not every LED product stands up to what you would expect from quality LED's.
You will notice that a lot are rated "100,000 hours" for example, little did I know, and learned the hard way, that they are allowed to produce 50% of the original light by that time... and many do a lot sooner.
Now, every time I consider buying a product in bulk, I get a sample, take it apart, contact the orignal LED maker, find out the current and voltage specs, and test the power supply used on the module. 90% of the time LED's are over-driven to get more light, but they will start fading quickly.

Also be very careful with LED inside cheap fixtures.... moisture will gather and it will be end of story. There are a lot of LED fixtures or complete units that claim to be waterproof, and within a year or so might have moisture in them.
The best design I've ever seen was the LED;s in an aluminum channel, filled with epoxy. Solid as a rock, and zero chances for water to get in.

All this being said, I don't have any recommendations, or bad companies or products to point out, just thought I'd share this.