ALW

ALW have been developing their product Moonring further since its initial release. Using the same profile of the LP1 fixture, the Moonring. The Moonring can be in rings or customized into multiple configurations using standard curved pieces that have radius' of 4', 5', 6', or 8'. It can also be combined with straight LP1 lengths as well. They do not recommend 1% dimming when using the smaller extrusions such as the Moonring.

Claribella is another new fixture that we were introduced to. It uses edgelighting to light a clear or semi-frosted acrylic shell. The fixture is both suspended and surface mounted including vertically for a wall sconce. They are currently seeing if they can make it ADA compliant. We preferred the fixture as a sconce so it would be great if they can. The Claribella has not been released yet but they hope to have it shipping soon.

Birchwood

Birchwood have been in the process of updating their existing fixtures and as well as adding to the family lines. They stopped by the office to give us a preview of what is to come. We took a look at the Vanessa which is a surface wet location fixture that has been updated to also include a wall graze or wall wash optic. Because of the need for an additional lens in order to have the 1P65 rating, we did notice a second line on the wall.

The Charlotte is a new fixture for Birchwood that has a slight curve with a 40' diameter. The longest continuous run is 12'.

All of the the fixtures that can dim to 1% as a standard.

Sternberg

We took a look at the new post top offered by Sternberg called the Rialta. It comes in three variations, a three legged open cage, a 2' luminous cylinder, and a 4' luminous cylinder. With the open cage version, you are able to specify types 5, 4, 3, 3R, and 2 distrubutions, and the luminous cylinders are only offered in a type V distribution.

As with the other Sternberg fixtures that we have seen in the past, an attention to detail and robust construction is evident. A variety of color temperatures and powder coat finishes are available to choose from.

Nordeon

Nordeon is a Dutch company that stopped by our office the other day to introduce us to their company and show us a little bit of what they can do. We were introduced to the Baldur fixture. It is a linear system that consists of pre-wired extrusions with connecting points every 2'. The extrusions can be fitted with linear LED strips, adjustable spots, or blank sections. They can also accommodate sections of global track which can be used with any manufacturer's track head with a global adapter. Dimming is standard with either 0-10V or Dali.

Nordeon uses CREE chips on their spot lights and come in a 2' unit, while the linear LED strips come in either 4' or 6' lengths. There are a wide range of optics for the linear sections that allow for a variety of applications. The Baldur system requires mounting points every 4' if you are suspending it, and it can also be surface mounted or recessed.

Typical lead times are 3 weeks. The housings are made in Germany and everything else is made and assembled at their facility in South Carolina. The best thing about the Baldur fixture is how easy it is to change the components around in the field without requiring an electrician. The system offers up a lot of flexibility in terms of configuration and is a good option for flexible spaces.

Optic Arts

The main bread and butter for Optic Arts is linear LED tape light. They want to eliminate most of the issues that arise in the field so they do a 3 day test of all of their products before shipment. That way they can resolve issues such as color shift or resister malfunctions. They build their own boards so quality control and consistency can be monitored in house. For most of their products they recommend MLV drivers, but they do offer others depending on the linear footage and desired dimming levels. On their website there is a chart that shows all of their driver options and how they low they can dim to which makes specifying easier.

Most of their product is 90+ CRI. new cut sheets are coming out soon with higher efficacy numbers. Typical lead times are 2-4 weeks. The DC strips can be offered with an IP rating with a minimum color shift from the casing.

We took a look at their AC strip which operates on 120v with ELV reverse phase dimming. The strips can be run up to 100' on one power feed. The strip is 95 CRI and has an IP rating.

There is also a dynamic white product that ranges from 6K to 24K and is controlled with DMX. they are currently developing a 2-wire control option. We also talked to them about the possibility of doing a 4K to 24K strip which they seemed open to looking into.

Optic Arts has a strip with notches that will allows it to bend laterally which makes it ideal for curved applications and does not require you to cut and re-solder the strips back together.

There are multiple extrusions that they offer including one that uses a milky lens and has no visible LED nodes.

Fiber optics is another area that Optic Arts excels at especially custom work. They are in the process of updating their website but we can ask for more information by reaching out to O'Blaney Rinker Associates.

Overall we were impressed with their products and it is nice to find linear strips where quality control is a priority and can accommodate varying project requirements.

Dayolite

Day-o-lite has a direct/indirect edge lit fixture that will allow you to specify the percentage of distribution. There is a second diffusing layer on the direct portion of the fixture that eliminates any hot spots from the individual nodes. Most of the products from Dayolite are built with steel housing. This gives them the ability to do more customizations because it eliminates the extra tooling cost that comes with extruded aluminum housings. All of the work is done in house so their fixtures, even the custom ones are cost competitive. They do offer a few extruded aluminum fixtures. The benefit of the extruded aluminum is sharper edges.

The WPPL2 is a recessed linear perimeter light that boasts a 2" opening. The whole fixture is field adjustable including the LED boards. They proved a telescoping end that allows you to adjust up to 10". The LED boards are on the end have a unique overlapping tray that ensures the fixture will not have any dark spots.

We also took a look at their 1'x2' LED troffer, which they also offer as a 1'x4', 2'x2', and a 2'x4'. It has an integral daylight sensor and vacancy sensor. There was a pretty even illumination on the lens of the fixture.

Dayolite offers integral or remote emergency battery packs for their fixtures depending on the size of the housing. The battery packs are provided in standard wattages and the output is based on the efficacy of the fixture.

Liteline

Liteline is a Canadian company that offers a good option for downlights with a low price point. They have a warehouse stocked and can ship the next day. The Sigma 2 is a 2" aperture downlight. It is offered in 3K and 4K with 15°, 30° or 60° beam spreads. They have multiple overlap trim options and are working on a mud in trim. The fixture has 500 delivered lumens.

Slim LED is another downlight family that we saw and is offered in either round or square. The fixtures have only a 1/2" thickness to them and are available in 4" and 6" apertures. They are ETL listed with the driver in plenum ceilings. We also got to see a prototype for a track head that includes warm dim technology. The fixture head is small and has a lower output than we would typically use. But we liked the idea and will be interested to see how it develops further.

LightArt

LightArt is the lighting division to 3 Form, a company known for their resin sheets. LightArt has a series of standard fixtures but they also do a lot of custom work as well. The resin that they use for the shades and forms of their fixtures comes in many different varieties ranging from various colors, infused material, images of patterns including wood, to also custom images that you provide. All of the LED fixtures are dimmable with 0-10V as standard. Their Ready To Go line is a quick ship line of some of their most popular products that can ship within 3 weeks. They are offered with 9 material resins and 14 color resins. The dimensions are standard and either a CFL or LED source can be specified.

The LA2 set of fixtures have more options than the RTG line. The LA2 has 1000+ resin options. All of the fixtures are LED and have a 3-6 week lead time.

The LA2 Connected is similar to the LA2 but it offers a series of shapes that you can put together to create any pattern.

The Casper is a series of fixtures that are diffuse forms sealed with glue so you have a completely luminous object.

Because they make everything in house and have so many variations of resin that they can do, the range of custom work is almost endless. Typically there is a 6-12 week lead time for the custom fixtures.

Folio Lighting

Folio Lighting is an Italian company specializing in edge-lit lighting panels. All of their fixtures are manufactured in Italy and have a 6-8 week lead time that includes shipping. They pride themselves on custom work so they do not have any standard sizes. The panels can come in 35K, 4K, 65K or RGBW. You can either use the lit panels on their own or with a diffuse panel in front of it that they provide. Another interesting thing they can do since they are so custom oriented, is curve the LED panels.

They also provide their own stone panels that are 3mm thick with 3mm of glass on one side. The thickness of the stone allows light to be transmitted evenly when installed against their edge-lit panels. We are not sure if the stone comes installed onto the LED panels or not though.

We also took a look at their Rego Line and Frame fixtures which are built fixtures with edge-lit LED technology. The fixtures come in options of 2", 4", 6", 8", or 12" widths. Custom lengths are available as well as lit corner pieces.

PMC Lighting

PMC Lighting has based their company on made to order product. Because of that they do not have a quick ship program, but they have a 2-6 week turnaround for everything they offer even customs. RAL and custom colors can be done at no extra cost. PMC showed us their linear profiles that can be straight and curved, with the curve going down to a 14" radius bend. They can be direct, indirect, or direct/indirect. Fixtures can be surface mounted, wall mounted or pendant mounted. They are offered in a 2 1/2", 3", 4" or 6" wide profile.

We also were shown their series of downlights. They can be specified with either Bridgelux or Xicato modules. The optics vary from 24°, 40° to 60° and are field changeable. The downlights can have a lens for a wet location listing.

We discussed the possibility of customizing the downlights to include tamper proof screws and a thicker acrylic lens to be vandal resistant and they seemed to be able to do it.

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.

Zaneen

Zaneen recently stopped by to show us their trimless LED cove, the Manhattan. The LED strip is offered in only 3000K. It can come with a standard white powder coat interior finish or it is also available with silver, gold and bronze leaf finishes.

The cove is a modular system that offers inside and outside corners and can be wall to wall or floor to ceiling. Lengths can be customized up to 35mm. It requires a remote driver and is dimmable.

Ecosense

Ecosense initially introduced their new line of linear fixtures, the Trove, at Light Fair this year and stopped by to show us the full range of the products. They have reduced all of their lines to two profiles. Both are offered with 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 watt per linear foot. The body of the fixtures has been redesign to allow for maximum flexibility in each installation. You can adjust the fixture in increments of 15° up to 180° without the need for different mounting brackets. Ecosense also provides an attachment for hot aiming that gets you between 0° and 16° adjustment.

The L35 is the smaller profile of the two and is only available with a wide distribution and for dry installations.

The L50 is larger and has more options including having a wet location rating. It has various optics intended for grazing, washing and also asymmetric applications. You can also specify a ground stake for landscape applications with the wet location fixture.

Another improvement to the Trove is that they can do longer runs. With the 2 watt/ft fixture it can be run up to 200' with one leader cable. Both of the fixtures come standard with ELV dimming to 0%. The L35 and L50 can come in either 80 or 90 CRI. The higher CRI is only a 10% cost differential.