HK Lighting

HK Lighting is an exterior lighting with a strong emphasis on being able to customize their products. Almost half of their products have some type of customization.

• Standard product is aluminum but they can do brass and bronze as well
• developed a heatsink adapters that fit into the grooves of the Soraa lamps and extend the lamp life. With the MR16 version it allows you to use the 9watt in an enclosed fixture. Fits all of the lamps including the GU10, PAR, and AR111.
• Angled snoot can adjust to different lengths. The standard when it ships shows the grooves.
• Have two sizes of flood lights that use gobos.
• Slim path lights can be customized to be different heights
• Bollard light has a far distribution and can also be provided with a GFCI outlet integral to the fixture.
• Can make any of their fixtures turtle rated

Tegan Lighting

Tegan Lighting has officially released their exterior cable mounted light system that we first got a look at during the SDA showcase last fall. The suspension power cable can be run in lengths up to 110' using 24VDC. Each light point can be offered as a direct component or with a 1' pendant mount. The great thing about the system is the flexibility it offers. Each light point mounts to the cable where you locate it and connects to the power via sharp pins. The cable is self-healing so you can move the lights later on and it retains its IP67 listing.

They offer multiple standard options in terms of shades and accessories that can be combined in various arrangments. Tegan can also modify some of their shades as well including using colored glass for their shades with certain order quantities. Since the fixtures are designed for exterior applications, their woven shades they offer are IP67 listed as well.

ERCO

In February we had the opportunity to visit ERCO in New Jersey. Their showroom has many of their fixtures set up so you can see how they perform in person, with the capability to set up custom mock-ups on request. One of the helpful things we learned from our visit is to use the code .099 at the end of any specification to call attention when we want to modify the fixture from the standard offering. The first fixture we looked at was a tall skinny task light. It throws light horizontally and has an integral dimmer. We liked the fixture and think it would be even better as an exterior bollard because of the slim profile. As of now, Erco does not have any plans to make it rated for exteriors.

We looked at all of the track lights that ERCO has to offer. It was great to see them in action since we typically think of Erco for only exterior applications. Their track heads and flood lights use a collimator to create their varied optics. The fixtures are standard with 3k and 4k but can be provided with a lens that has a gel coating from Rosco to warm it up.

The Pollux is a small profile track head that is available in either 2 watts or 6 watts. The 2-watt version is a single diode and can have a 6° beam spread. The smallest beamspread the 6-watt version can accommodate is 14°.The Pollux is also available with a framing projector configuration. The 2W was impressive in the 6°, throwing a lot of bunch. The two wattages could work in a residence that does not have particularly high ceilings.

Similar 2W Parscan fixture shown below.

There is a potentiometer on most fixtures that allow you to dim them locally, and the driver itself is ELV to 1%. ERCO has worked to develop their own drivers so they can control how their fixtures perform.

The Pan Track is a wall wash track head that is available with either a dedicated wall wash design or a flood light with wall wash optics. The advantage of using the dedicated wall wash is that you are able to get a 2:1 spacing with an even illumination. The wall wash optic version, however, gets more light at the top of the wall since it is adjustable.

There is also a monopoint track adapter that ERCO offers and is compatible with most of their track heads.

The Lightgap is a new linear fixture designed for grazing in cove applications. The design of the fixture has a lens on the bottom and the side to allow for more light to be distributed out and making sure that the light can hit higher on the wall. The fixture comes in three sizes and can be mounted end-to-end for a continuous appearance. The downside to the Lightgap is that it requires one driver per module and they need to be remotely located.

We also got to see their exterior fixtures in action. It was nice to see them in the showroom because the space is large enough to have more than one fixture. That way we were able to visualize what the effect would be with different spacing. We also got to see the different bollards next to each other to get an idea of what the different light distributions look like. The Castor was able to project light with a wide distribution. The Kubis Midi has two distributions; a wide and a deep. The wide distribution did not project out very far compared to the Castor. The Castor can also go as low as 12".

 

The Kona XS is a new version of the regular Kona but in a smaller package. It uses the same LEDs as the small Pollux track head with the 2-watt and 6-watt versions. It produced a nice clean beam especially with the 6° from the 2-watt version.

Because ERCO is trying to get more projects in the US to use their track heads, they are working with SDA to come up with a special price for the Pollux for small quantities in small residential applications. They want to keep themselves in the game so they are focused more on exposure than for a profit at that point.

Alva Lighting

Alva might have a small list of fixtures that they offer, but what they do have are well thought out designs. They specialize in ADA compliant fixtures across the board. All of the fixtures are standard with 0-10V dimming or lumen select, which allows you to select the lumen output on the fixture in the field or in the factory. Two of the fixtures, Betty and Bob are available with an integral emergency battery option while still maintaining the ADA requirements of being under 4". They can also have an integral occupancy sensor added to the fixture.

Most of the fixtures are in stock but they also have a quick ship program. They list their current stock on their website to aid in the ordering process.

For the interior fixtures there are available with six variations of fabric encased resin shades are available as well as a white opal acrylic shade. The two exterior fixtures they offer, the Beau and the Tex are available with three standard finishes. On orders over 500 they are able to provide custom finishes.

These compact decorative fixtures are a great option for energy efficient corridor lighting. All of the fixtures are offered with a 10 year warranty.

Reggiani

Reggiani stopped by our office to introduce us to a new fixture they have designed in collaboration with Spiers + Major. Cells is a surface mounted fixture with 16 individual cells. The fixture can be configured multiple ways with a transparent or opal diffuser as well as optics for each cells. By using two rows of asymmetric optics facing away from each other, the fixture makes a good option for a double wall washer in a corridor. Various finish options are also available for the face plate as well as the body of the fixture. It comes standard in 3K or 4K with 0-10V dimming or phase-cut dimming and is IP66 rated.

Neri

Neri stopped by our office to give us a taste of some of their products as well as a bit of their history. The company started from restoring old post tops that were damaged during World War II. They now have a museum associated with their main headquarters highlighting the history of cast decorative pieces including light poles and furniture. They have expanded on their history of providing decorative classic exterior lighting and have added more modern styles. A majority of the fixtures they offer are manufactured at their facility in Italy and come with a 12 week lead time. However, they do have a US headquarters now that manufactures one of their lines and would offer a shorter lead time. Because they manufacture everything themselves, they are able to do more custom modifications to their fixtures than most other manufacturers can.

One of the key design elements that Neri offers is the implementation of either comfort optics or performance optics. The comfort one is useful for lower scale fixtures where glare is a concern, and the performance optic works best at higher mounting heights that need varied coverage and distributions.

Most of the light fixtures can be mounted on either a pole, a wall bracket, suspended or to a catenary system which provides a lot of flexibility.

Erco

Last week Erco stopped by to show us their Kona fixture now that it has been released. It was good to get another view at it up close in person. The internal snoot does a really good job of reducing the glare even up to a foot away from the fixture. The optics can be changed in the field. You can also add an oval lens that turns the spot into a linear line.

Erco also is now releasing their recessed lights called the Quintessnece for use in the U.S. The fixtures are both interior and exterior in round and square, although the exterior is only round. They have either round or square apertures that are available in an adjustable accent, a fixed downlight and a wall washer. Because you need to access the fixture to adjust it, the accent light does have a thicker trim than the downlight and wall washer in order to keep the wet location listing. The exterior lights are available in 3" and 5" apertures.

We also got a look at their new bollard, the Castor. It comes in two sizes. The fixture guides the light down onto the ground and eliminates any viewing angles of the LEDs which make it dark sky friendly. The sleek fixture can either have a 180° light or 360°.

The Cantax is an indoor track fixture Erco has developed. It is a square shape rather than round like their existing track light. It can be used with as a spot, a floodlight and a wall washer.

Vision 3 Lighting

Vision 3 Lighting showed us their steplights. The base fixture is a round fixture and can be square with a face plate that sits on the outside of the round housing. There are 8 different face plates for both the round and square. We also took a look at their LED pathlight. The LED uplights onto a cone that allows for a 360° distribution. The sample we saw did not produce a lot of light on the floor, but if you specify it with the clear lens instead of the diffused lens that we saw you will probably get more light. With the top shield of the fixture glare would not be an issue.

Vision 3 also briefly discussed their flood lights with us. Their 10 watt floodlight has some versatility since you can specify separate optics in each node. While their 12 watt flood light is more landscape architect friendly since you can change the output and single optic in the field.