Universal Fiber Optics

We got an introduction to Universal Fiber Optics, which was a refresher in fiber optics to some of us and a general introduction to fiber optics as a whole to others. UFO showed us several versions of their LED illuminators as well as a metal halide illuminator to compare. Within their LED products, they offer both white and RGBW illuminators. They had a high output white LED illuminator prototype that should be available in another 6 weeks. UFO has a wide variety of fittings for varied installation types including pavers, downlight, decorative sparkle, crystal, hermatic and lenses. They offer both glass and plastic fiber, with glass available in shorter maximum run than the plastic.

We also got to see some of their products designed for cabinet and display lighting including their light tube and MetroLED which incorporates individual spotlights as well as linear strips into a track system that works well for customizable display lighting.

Their cutsheets are not as detailed as we would like, because each project and its requirements are so unique. They will, however, provide installation instructions as well as advise on any customization the project might require.

Spot On

Spot On stopped by to talk about where the company is going and to showcase some improvements they have been working on. They continue to be able to provide most customizations that we come up with, but they are working on getting a standard specification prepared since they have so many options available. They have a new aluminum construction with a shorter reflector. Spot On has many reflector options to choose from. Looking through all of the samples, we found that we like the 60° diffractive optics reflector the best. All reflectors are field changeable. Another thing Spot On has developed is a fixture using the Luminetix color changing LED chip, with tuneable white also available. It is controlled through a remote by the user but can also be programmed through a control system.

Spot On is also making a large fixture that can go up to 1300lm a standard option. We used this fixture on West Seattle.

Zaneen

Zaneen stopped by the office so we could see some of their new fixtures. They have recently updated their website to make navigation easier. They included search categories to help as well. Zaneen boasts a 6-8 week lead time even for custom fixtures. We took a look at their recessed downlight family the Invader. A key feature that they highlighted from this family is the color options for the reflector. They have 25 colors standard and can do others as a custom for a small adder fee. The standard options for the Invader is 27K, 3K and 4K. Lumen outputs can be 800-1100. Also available with 24°, 32° and 50° beam spreads. Having the reflector be a color, did not affect the quality of the light. Because these fixtures have a class 2 rating, they do not require a large housing. Dimming with 0-10V to 1% is standard.

We also took a look at a fixture called T3. It's a recessed clear linear fixture with an IP 68 and walk over rating. It has the ability to have a seamless installation.

The Frame fixture was another one we liked. It is a recessed linear steplight. We saw it with a clear lens but they can do a frosted lens or a half frosted half clear lens. It had a nice forward throw. They said that they might be able to do a custom length for us if we needed it to be smaller than the 1' sample or larger.

LEDucation 2014

3G Lighting has a semi-recessed linear fixture that is coming out soon. It is 2 1/2" wide and should be available in June. They glue their endcaps in place so while it is a separate piece, at least there aren't any gaps at the end.

Aion LED seems to have sorted out their dimming issues that we saw last time. They now offer DC MLV diming to almost 0% and ELV to 5% is still available. We didn't see any flashing at the end like last time. They also have color tuning available with DMX controls to 0.1%. We also took a look at their RGBA LED strip. The amber part of the LEDs gets to 22K and makes nice warm colors.

Bartco Lighting has a new semi-recessed Linear fixture called the Bulletproof, with a fully extruded acrylic lens in one piece. Most semi-recessed fixtures we have seen from other companies have separate endcaps so this is a nice clean option without any gaps.

Coronet is a good mid-level linear LED company for commercial fixtures that we got introduced to.

ETC has a new Source Four Mini fixture that is pretty powerful for such a small housing.

Forum Lighting have a nice edge-lit pendant that incorporates the connection into the suspension cables.

Intense Lighting has a new finish called Surface. It is a simulated natural finish technique.

Kurt Versen has a multiple fixture that we took a look at. It was nice, but it has a very large housing as a lot of their fixtures do. They did come out with a fixed downlight with a shallow housing that is only 6" with the gypsum thickness included.

Leucos has a finish technique that applies a mirrored finish to both the inside and the outside of the glass surface of the pendant. This technique makes the fixture appear to be a polished chrome like surface when it is off and when it is on, the surface is translucent.

Lucent Lighting are in the process of making their fixtures available in the US. It's still a work-in-progress, but they have made the majority of their products available.

MP Lighting have some new puck lights we took a look at. They have a glass surface that is similar to an iphone. It comes in either 12° or 30° beamspreads. They also have a new undercabinet fixture which also comes with a closet rating. We can see the nodes when looking directly at the fixture but the lens they have helps reduce the imaging on surfaces.

N° Eight Lighting have updated their LED modules providing more powerful fixtures with an even higher efficacy than before.

Nulux is venturing into the LED world. We got to see two versions of their Swidlux, one with dedicated Xicato LED modules and the other used retro-fit Soraa MR16 LED lamps. Nulux is still developing the fixtures and working the kinks out but it was good to see the progress they have made.

Q-Tran has a new tape light with a high CRI. We aren't sure how we feel about them venturing into the fixture manufacturing world.

SPI Lighting have developed a new 1 1/2" sconce that is ADA compliant. It can be customized to be any aluminum or acrylic shape. They manufacture everything themselves in the factory so they are heavy on customization.

Tivoli have updated their linear LED strips. They have made adjustments to their tunable white LED fixture. Previously they had two different LED node color temperatures to achieve this, but now they are able to use one type to accomplish it.

Traxon Technologies has some new linear RGB fixtures we got to take a look at. The thing we were most excited to see was their new app that gives full control to the end user.

USAI Lighting has a new multiple recessed fixture that looks good. It can have the warm glow dimming added. Both trimmed and trimless versions are available.

Whitegoods are releasing a Mini Z Cove that is great for small cove details because of space restrictions. It should be available mid-summer.

We also got the chance to sit in on a lecture going over code updates and more specifically how they apply to LEDs. We were able to pull some good resources to reference. A few notable code requirements we heard: the Life Safety Code requires 10FC min in all occupied spaces, a local NYC code for pools at a high levels. New commercial codes will start to be implemented this summer, but it is recommended to use Ashrae 90.1 2010 until then if the project is not being submitted yet. A major code change that affects a lot of our projects is the new residential code of 75% high efficacy lamps with an exemption for low voltage.

Lighting Services Inc

Lighting Services Inc. stopped by to show us a few fixtures. We got to take a look at two different versions of the LumeLEX 2060 series. The regular version uses a standard Xicato module and is available with either 27K or 3K and in both 80+ CRI as well as 97 CRI. The other version we looked at was the Vibrant series. This fixture uses a new module Xicato has developed called the vibrant series module. The vibrant module is only available in 3K shifts the white off of the normal black body curve. We tested the two fixtures out side by side and noticed that even though the vibrant version has a lower CRI to the standard fixture, the colors popped more than the 97 CRI allowed.

LSI has another fixture in the works. It's a larger version of both the LumeLEX 2030 and 2045 fixtures. The fixture will be able to go down to a 15° beam spread. It will have two different lumen package options; 2000 lumens and 3000 lumens. They are hoping to release it later in the 1st quarter.

Ecosense

Stan Deutsch Associates stopped by with Ecosense to showcase the next evolution of their fixtures. All of their fixtures are now available with line voltage and ELV standard dimming to 1%. They implement a soft start that produces a nice gradual initial dimming. For the Linear INT as well as the Linear HP INT, they offer a frosted lens option that cuts off 25% of the light, but does a nice job of smoothing the light for a more even distribution. With the lens we were able to get the fixture about 1 1/2 inches away from the surface and not see the nodes. Louvers are not available for the INT and HP INT series because of the spacing of the LEDs on the boards.

A new dimming module is available that converts their standard ELV to 0-10V, for projects that require more coordination with other fixtures in terms of dimming.

All of their fixtures come with 80+ CRI, but a higher CRI is available. Although, with the higher CRI there is a longer lead time as well as a price increase. Another new feature Ecosense has added is a colored lens that turns 27K into 23K, and is available for all three fixture series.

Ecosense has a new fixture in the works which is a cove/under cabinet fixture designed primarily as a retrofit installation application. Like all of their other linear products, it is line voltage, but it will not be dimmable. It will be available in 6", 1' and 4' sections. They are hoping to have it out in the next 3 to 6 months.

They are using a new company to build their fixtures and it looks like some of the issues that we have seen in the past, especially with quality control in terms of construction and color temperature consistency seems to be resolved.

Louis Poulsen

Louis Poulsen stopped by with Light Abilities to show us the LP Circle which is a new LED fixture we were excited to see in person. The LP is a round area light that comes in surface, recessed, semi-recessed and pendant versions. It is available in two sizes, 10” and 18”; with the smaller version currently only available in the recessed and semi-recessed. Standard color temperatures are 3K and 4K, but 27K is also available as a custom. The LP has a nice even illumination with no lamp imaging on the lens.

Targetti

Targetti showed us a few fixtures they have been developing. The first fixture was the Decanter, which is a suspended fixture with a unique thin profile. The LEDs are a little glary so they recommend mounting the fixture low enough that the source is not visible. The Decanter is available in three sizes. One thing we noted is the size of the canopy. It’s a surface canopy and is quite noticeable.We also took a look at the Ercole, a suspended fixture they are now making available in LED. Targetti also introduced their new family of downlight fixtures to us; CCTLed. The CCTLed provides one platform that can be customized with different reflectors and lens options. Two reflector options we really liked were the matte reflector and the FEEL, which offers an option with very little glare. The downlights are available in trimmed and trimless versions with the use of a mud ring for trimless installations. A deeper version is also available which allows for a tighter beam spread for spaces with high ceilings.

Erco

ERCO stopped by with Stan Deutsch and Associates last week. We got a look at their new fixture called the Lightscan. The Lightscan is a large exterior rated flood light with a slim profile that is available internationally as well as in the US. It comes in 5 different sizes ranging from 18 to 96 watts and offers various beam spreads; narrow spot, spot, flood, wide flood, oval flood and wallwash. The Lightscan has a high cutoff angle which makes it comfortable to look at.

The lens technology ERCO has developed for the Lightscan as well as several of their other fixtures takes multiple diodes and with the use of a lens, they are able to smooth out the light to create one beam spread.

We also took a look at the Tesis which is an inground adjustable uplight. The Tesis comes with a double housing collar made out of fiberglass which helps to keep water out of the fixture. The fixture is adjustable with 360° horizontal rotation and 30° vertical tilt and comes with either round or square trims, both flush and overlapping. The interior of the fixture is black so the fixture blends in when it is not turned on unlike other fixtures which can appear glary. This fixture is very customizable and there are 96 different combinations, one of them includes a wall wash reflector.

We briefly took a look at some downlights, both interior and exterior. The exterior downlight uses the same technology as the Lightscan with the individual diodes having the ability to control the beam spread then use a lens to create uniformity. We looked at the interior wall wash fixture for the international market which produced a nice even wash with a high cut off angle. They also have a double wall wash version that would work great in long corridors to evenly light both sides, but it also is only available in the international market.

Lucifer Lighting

Lucifer Lighting

Lucifer stopped by to show us some improvements they have made recently. One thing that we went over with them was the different housing options. Lucifer provides their typical housing for IC rated installations, however for non-IC installations, the LED components are able to be exposed in the plenum due to the cool temperatures from their heat sync. They also told us about their ability to modify the heat sync if we have plenum issues. With combining different options, the shortest they are able to provide as a modification is 4”.

We took a look at their new wall wash fixture. They are switching over from glass lenses to an acrylic film which will be part of a roll out in April. The previous wall washers have a suggested 32” on center installation and the new ones are 48” to 51” on center. They have added a kicker reflector to allow for a more efficient fixture. The kicker reflector seems to come below the ceiling slightly and it was not great. We will have to check on this once the real models are produced.

We also took another look at their adjustable surface cylinder we got a glimpse of last time while it was in development. It is scheduled to be released by the end of the first quarter. It will have three lumen packages available: 1000lm, 1300lm and 3000lm. For the smaller lumen package, they are able to provide a smaller housing than the largest package, however they can provide the small lumen package in the large housing if we need it. The fixture is not lockable, but they have provided it with a hinge that can handle 70lbs of pressure so they are confident that the fixture will stay in place once it is adjusted. They are hoping to add a straight down light, a wall washer as well as a pendant version sometime in the future.

They also now have a sample kit showing all of their finish options which is available to loan when it's needed.

Intra Lighting

Intra Lighting

Intra Lighting stopped by to introduce us to their fixtures which are produced in Slovenia and Italy. Most of their products are UL listed but not identified in the book, so we would have to confirm with them directly before specifying. The first fixture we took a look at was their Deux Pieces which is an adjustable rectangular fixture with Citizen LEDs. The fixture can be surface, pendant, track and recessed mounted.

We also looked at their linear fixture the Kalis. It’s a small profile of 1-1/2”. With their recessed mounting extrusion, spacers can be added for a semi-recessed application. With their small profile, they offer the standard end cap with an inch overlap on the lens as well as a fully extruded lens with acrylic end caps. The Minus S comes in regular fluorescent, seamless fluorescent and LED options. They have designed their lens to accommodate expansion from heat by shaving a part of each lens and overlapping them at the junction. This creates a continuous line of lens with no gap (a gap is typical in other manufacturers when lenses are butted end-to-end).

Intra also has a larger profile of the linear fixture that we took a look at called the Gyon. The larger profile can have track within the same extrusion allowing for the ability to have track fixtures along the same line as the linear components. The larger profile has the same standard overlap end cap. There is a possibility of doing an acrylic end cap but only for the LED version.

Intra puts a lot of effort into the efficiency of their products. They have their own spectrometer so they can test the fixtures themselves. They also make their own reflectors and blades themselves which are silver coated aluminum for a higher efficiency. The lenses Intra uses are also very high quality. With a laser, they were able to show us how their microprism lens perfectly directs the light, while a lower quality competitor’s scatters the light in various directions.

Kurt Versen

Kurt Versen

We got a chance to take a look at the new LED pinspot Kurt Versen is providing that comes with a xicato module. The fixture has an interior reflector with an approximate 40° beam spread. With the trim almost half of the light is cut off. The standard color temperatures, 27K, 3K, 35K and 4K are all available in two lumen packages. Currently they only offer the round option but might consider looking into a square aperture.

We proposed the suggestion of making the aperture slightly larger to allow more light out. Also the possibility of a downlight and a wall washer was suggested because right now just having the pinspot adjustable makes the fixture a little too limited.

We also had the opportunity to look closer at the surface downlights that we have previously looked at in their developmental stages. They have both a round and a square version. Dimming is standard 0-10V, however Lutron drivers are available but require a taller body to accommodate them.

The last fixture we looked at is their open wall washer-downlight which comes with a Fortimo LED module. Comparing the open fixture to their lensed wall washer we were able to see the advantages of the open version. Having the downlight component combined with the wall washer allows for more light to be thrown back down instead of concentrated solely on the wall. The open fixture also allowed the light to reach higher on the wall than the lensed version allows.

Kurt Versen told us that their next round of fixtures they are working on will be a family of chip-on-board fixtures and will hopefully be made available in 3-4 months.

Aion LED

Aion LED

O’Blaney Rinker Associates stopped by to introduce Aion LED to us and see some of the products they have to offer. Aion is a linear LED company that titles themselves as a custom company. Each product is made to order and can be provided up to 1/8” in custom lengths. Aion does not recommend field cutting their product because they want to be able to verify the quality and provide a five year warranty.

Aion has four different color temperatures that they currently offer: 22K, 26K, 3K and 43K. The 22K comes with a 92CRI, the 26K comes with a 97CRI and both the 3K and 43K have an 83CRI.

All of their linear strips come in a single or double row. Aion currently offers an extruded housing that is an inch wide but will soon offer a smaller housing that fits better with the single row strips.

We also took a look at their RGBW which combines an RGB LED strip as well as a 22K strip which allows you to create any tone of white. The RGBW is ideal for indirect applications because pixilation is evident when it is in the channel with a lens. Aion is currently working on this technology to be able to provide dim to warm applications.

One thing we noted after looking at their fixtures is that you should not use the strips with wall box dimmer because they flash at the end as you are dimming to off. Aion’s fixtures are closet rated.

WaveStream Expo

Last week we stopped by the Pennsylvania Hotel to see the Enterprise Lighting Showcase for Cooper Lighting’s newest innovation; WaveStream LED. WaveStream is a technology that incorporates LED strips to edgelight panels with microscopic optics designed for optimum illumination. Cooper has implemented this technology throughout their lines and some of the manufacturers introduced those fixtures at the showcase. Most of the products will be available later in the year. The great thing about the WaveStream technology is that it allows the fixtures to have a slim profile. Corelite had both a recessed and a pendant to show us. The pendant has a 25-75 ratio for a nice batwing distribution.

Halo has a surface mounted downlight that utilizes the new technology called SLD. Because of the slim profile from the edgelighting, the fixture has a relatively small profile as well and mounts to a j-box. The SLD comes in three sizes; 4”, 5” and 6” and will be offered in only 3K. This fixture would work great for spaces that have minimal recessing depth.

iO Lighting has a tile fixture that can be surface mounted or recessed called tile Gen II. The tile comes in increments of 6” and has a profile of ¾”. iO also offers the tile with custom colors from Lee or Rosco.

Neo-Ray is offering a direct indirect pendant fixture with adjustable wings in 1 and 2 foot increments. The fixture has a nice look, and when it is powered off it has a nice architectural aesthetic that masks the fact that it is a light fixture.

Metalux is offering recessed troffers called the Encounter and is available in 2’ x 2’ and 4’ x 4’ versions with a 1’ x 4’ coming early 2014. The Encounter comes standard with 5 lumen packages with 11 more available with an extra lead time.

There has been a lot of progress made since the WaveStream was introduced to us a year ago and we look forward to seeing where it goes from here. It is always good to have options for fixtures with slim profiles that can adapt to spaces with tight restrictions while still providing a high performance.

Lite Control

Lite Control

LiteControl stopped by with International Lights to introduce their LED fixtures to us. We took a look at the LED cove fixture first. The Cove comes with an integral driver and uses Cree LEDs. The LED version has as smaller profile than the T5 version they still offer.

We also looked at their 4” LED strip that comes in both recessed and surface mounting options. With the lens they offer, there was no lamp image.

All of their LEDs fixtures come in three output options: low at 4w/ft, medium at 8w/ft and high at 16w/ft. The medium output is the closest to the output of a T5. LiteControl also offers their products in color temperatures from 27K to 4K. Their fixtures use boards in 12” increments and dimming is standard for all of them.