Inter-Lux Factory Visit

Two of our team members recently visited the Inter-Lux facilities down in Baltimore with SDA Lighting. We were impressed with their range of product and had an excellent time with the presentation crew! Everyone in the office sector and the factory facility were working enthusiastically as a team and it seemed like a very supportive work culture. Here’s a brief look at what we learned about the many brands Inter-Lux has to offer!

WHITEGOODS LINEAR:

• Offered in 20(mm), 60, and 100 families.

• Quick ship products (noted on the website) have 2-3weeks max shipping;

• Projects needing a quick turnaround time are offered housings shipped to the site for installation ahead of finalizing the lengths. The housing is field-cuttable, (comes in 8ft sections), measurements taken onsite once installed, and then they send the gear tray (shipped in 3 to 4 weeks).

• Linear lights offer an easy to mount integral magnet system! Attaches to any magnetic surface, including the Whitegoods regressed housing spec. Makes for a quick installation and for easy maintenance.

• Louver options available for the flat lens options (not the grazer).

• The Opaque finish looked interesting! Softening the light without killing the output.

• Nice wallwasher, semi-recessed with the micro prismatic lens.

  • A fully recessed Wallwasher is also available but requires a deeper recessing depth of 1.25" aperture.

• Tunable is available with all linear 18K to 30K.

• Narrow spot optics offered with their perimeter lens, very nice light pushing 10 - 20FT up.

• 20 Series Linear Coves:

  • Cove family, either Box Cove or EdgeLess Cove. They have the same optic 120 degree distribution - the knife edge is slightly more quiet compared to the box cove installation.

  • The mini version cove is for the remote driver light.

• ProTools 60 Linears:

  • Larger size, 2.4” aperture linear family

  • Offers a regressed extrusion with linear light with micro-prismatic lens

  • They presented the quietest grazing fixture with shield and individual optic we have seen so far!

  • Perimeter light: The same extrusion of the grazer just changed the light engine inside

WHITEGOODS RECESSED:

• GDL 2.4” Downlight:

  • Interesting retrofit, not requiring j-box, flushed flat lens option - Round and square plaster ring (one plaster ring adaptable for both round and square)

• 3” ProTools Downlight:

  • Very interesting screw system for focusing - Zoom optic available as an option - Magnetic trim for easy back access.

LINEA LIGHT iLED:

• Quantum: A downlight, with a deep optics compartment with soft and refined lines.

• Orma Recessed: Coming on 2023 Q2 - lead time is reduced from 4-6 weeks to 3 weeks - will be manufactured here in the US

• Orma uplight and Orma downlight: 2 different housing for ceiling and ground - The ceiling version has mounting clips for easy installation.

• We looked at the 3-degree optic, 21-watt shooting light up to 30 meters!

• Eyelet: Comes in round and square. The tiniest, powerful indoor and outdoor light! Great for highlighting landscape features and small architectural details. Snoot, half shield. We looked at the 1W with 150 delivered lm.

• OUTDOOR Bollards:

  • Ryo: A quiet path light with downward distribution, washing the ground. Great for locations where light pollution is a concern. Available in 3 heights.

  • Peak: Suitable for urban public spaces. Also available with L shape bracket head for more district lighting. It has frosted glass, which makes it comfortable to look. Available in 14” and 30” height. There is a pole version also for parking and walkway lighting.

  • Apache: This was a different looking path lighting! A curvy design body with the LED located at the upper part, facing downwards to create an asymmetric distribution. Great glare control with a soft diffused distribution. Architects would like the look of this fixture!

  • Bob: The cylinder shape fixture with 360-degree distribution on top. Suitable for general illumination for landscapes and walkways. THis is also available in two heights.

We also looked at their decorative and architectural landscape light line, HABITAT, offering many battery-powered options!

JUNIPER LIGHTING

We closed the month of August with a great visit to the JUNIPER factory for a comprehensive tour and did a short presentation for their team about "the importance of lighting and who is a lighting designer" by our fab studio director, Kelly Roberts!

During the tour, we witnessed the complex up-to-date machinery and technology used in making their products.

They manufacture everything in-house, allowing flexibility for various modifications in length, shape, finish, custom corner, etc. The only thing that is outsourced is the LED board. We noticed that many of the production steps are done manually, from corner welding to unique patina finish baths to achieve various oxidation levels.

A couple of upcoming updates that we are excited about are the surface mounted MULTIVERSE track system and the new LED light and diffuser in their THIN linear family that would give a completely node-free look even when dimmed very low!

AND, the current lead time is about 2 weeks which is excellent!

In the end, many thanks to the whole team for the excellent presentations and warm welcome!

Montreal Factory Tour with SDA

Another great trip with Stan Deutsch Associates, this time up to Montreal to visit Luminis, Lumenpulse, and SACO. LUMINIS was our first stop. Their standard warranty is 5 years with an average LED life of 65-80,000 hours (until L70). They predominately use Bridgelux LED, but also are compatible with CREE. Their thermal properties are able to support at least two manufacturers in case of an LED shortage. I was also happy to hear that they purchase a percentage of each generation to store for any future needs (so that the 5yr warranty can actually be covered). 0-10V dimming to 10% is standard, and the LUTRON 3-wire can be offered to 1%.

Their products are technical looking, but have a consideration of design. The Aramis LED (above) highlights and celebrates the thermal heat sink - and the reflector can either be visible or hidden behind frosted glass. The aluminum pieces can typically be painted, but the heat sink must remain in its cast aluminum standard finish. There is a similar technical style in the Prisma LED pendants (below) with a visible heat sink, but also a nod to the well-loved factory light shape. The optics incorporate frosting into the acrylic to soften the LED.

LUMINIS also has a nice range of outdoor products - including an exciting tube family called Syrios (below). This family features an adjustable head (360deg rotation) within the tube structure - which is the first time I've seen this offered on an exterior product. The family includes a pendant, wall, and ceiling mounting - and a square shape is being presented at LightFair in early May.

A few other features LUMINIS offers is Amber LEDs for turtle lighting areas, a "wood" paint coating to help fixtures blend into the terrain, and low-copper cast aluminum components (to reduce rusting). They are working on the optics for their street lighting fixtures - looking into silicone (instead of acrylic) which is inherently dirt and UV resistant.

LUMENPULSE gave a nice presentation primarily highlighting their excellence in manufacturing, thermal management, and LED binning. Except for the LED itself, LUMENPULSE designs everything themselves (boards, optics, heat sinks, etc.). Most fixtures are offered with a 5yr warranty, but the Lumencove Nano is actually offered with a 10yr. They claim that their LEDs having a 120,000 life until reaching L70.

LUMENPULSE takes great care in the LEDs chosen for each fixture. They chose from 16 micro-bins, with each LED selected with 4 quadrants, always within the visual tolerance of the eye. They use this "recipe" to create the same color temperature over and over again - not relying on a specific manufacturer to reproduce the same quality.

Within each fixture, the DMXrd feature is a two-way communication that keeps track of the driver, heat, and LED output. This is a great component is perfect for bridges, building facades, etc. anywhere that is difficult to maintain. Another control option is Lumentalk, which is retro-fit smart control which turns existing wiring into a digital network.

We were able to take a quick peak at the new Lumenalpha products, in-grade linear grazer, and also hear about the advancement in the Lumenline optics. I'm excited to see more of this at LightFair in early May.

SACO has been around for over 20 years, developing LED lighting and media solutions for a variety of projects (including at least three installations that have made it into the Guinness Book of World Records!). They break down their service into a few devisions: Shockwave Video Lighting, Smartvision and SACO Design Lab, all offering impeccable service and integration with the design team and installers. They showed us a small representation of their control capabilities as well. The video sequencing is very easy and very intuitive, with more control than DMX.

One of my favorite projects that we were shown is the Maple Leaf Square Canopy in Toronto, CA, which was "inspired by the experience of walking through a forest’s dappled light." They integrated LED modules into repeating geometric cells (the abstract form of leaves) and utilized a computer controlled digital output to show a non-repeating pattern moving throughout the canopy. During the day, the cells allow for daylight to come partially through and activate the canopy continuously.

SACO offers only a small quantity of products, but stresses the options for installation and integration. They maintain only a 2% difference in color, brightness, and voltage from fixture to fixture and LED to LED. And all products are backwards compatible. All products have excellent thermal management, allowing for smaller platforms and fixture dimensions - they actually have an aversion to heat sinks, believing they are only a target for dust, which actually traps heat and makes the fixtures hotter. Their adaptive white products are a combination of 5500K and Amber LEDs, which they find produces a more halogen looking color.

Bartco Factory Trip

A quick trip to the Bartco Lighting factory in Huntington Beach, CA was greatly appreciated in the cold of early February NYC. Bartco is family owned and maintains a community spirit throughout the factory.

Bartco is working on a number of exciting new fixtures, as well as updating their current product with the newest and greatest LEDs and optics. Their typical linear fixtures use a Harvard Engineering board with multiple LEDs per inch, produced a node-free appearance on their typical frosted lens (see their BAM-XLS8290 bookcase light below). 0-10V dimming control will be provided as a standard as well.

Bartco has also been working on a new anodizing treatment that allows for any scanned image to be used as a finish. We've seen a few factories that are offering this type of finish, mostly as various wood options (Intense Lighting, Luminis, etc.) but Bartco is also offering to coordinate for custom designs. Any anodized finish you can scan - can be provided for their extruded aluminum fixtures.

Two exciting new products that Bartco is working on are an 5/8" deep edge-lit frosted lens fixture, designed to install within the gypsum only so that the studs behind are not affected. This allows the fixture to run in any imaginable designs without restriction. Typically, it can only be mounted in gypsum with a mud-in plate, but Bartco is also working on integration for mirrors.

The other new product is their BSS110, a new linear cove light. Using the new node-free LED boards with a frosted lens, this product produces a smooth band of light on the back and ceiling of the cove. It also has up to 15deg tool-less field adjustability.

It was interesting to discuss projects with the other designers on the trip. Many still use linear fluorescent lamps for commercial projects where dimming is not required. Since fluorescent lamps are now available with 50,000+ (or even 80,000+) lamp life hours, and the lumens/watts is still relatively similar, the payback for LED is not as great. Also, the consistency of using fluorescent lamps and ballasts, which can easily be changed out, is potentially more attractive to owners than relying on LED boards and drivers that are constantly changing.