LED Linear

LED Linear have been upgrading their tapelight as well as their encapsulated linear strips. There are several qualities of tape that LED Linear offers, the Hydra is the highest quality. With all of their tapes including the Hydra, they offer it in either a low density or a high density in terms of spacing. The Hydra is field cuttable in 5" and 2" increments respectfully. The benefit of the LD version of the tape is that it comes with a 30% cost savings compared to the HD. The HD, however, can be node free in an extrusion with a frosted lens and can be specified up to 1000 lumens per foot.

The ECO line is a more cost effective tape with a savings of at least 50% compared to the Hydra tape. It has the same low density and high density variations as well.

For all of their tape under 5 watts/ft, an additional heat sink is not required. Color temperatures range from 2000K to 4500K.

They are able to encapsulate their tape so that it can have an IP67 rating. However, this does shift the color to be cooler than the original tape. They have the shifted color temperature listed on the cutsheets. They recommend when specifying the fixtures that you list the desired color temperature in parentheses. For the encapsulation, it can be on the tape itself or in an extrusion. With the extrusion, the lengths are limited.

The Hydra Lux is a version of the Hydra tape that is already encapsulated to be IP67. It is field cuttable with a male feed only. It cannot be connected to other pieces in the field. It is available in a full or half reel.

Tivoli

Tivoli have revamped their tapelight. It all uses Nychia LEDs, have a 90+ CRI and can be dimmable with 0-10V or MLV as standard. They have an aggressive pricing for tape in the industry. All of their tape can be provided with an IP67 rating. The big thing that Tivoli is also now providing is extruded aluminum channels. They are using the channels provided by Klus that most tape manufacturers are using. It is nice to have them all in one place and makes specifying it simpler without having to go through the third party.

Tivoli has also brought back their variable white tape. It ranges from 2200K to 3000K.

Finelite

Finelite stopped by to show us what they have been up to recently. Finelite uses mid-power LEDs which are driven at low currents and are able to extend their lifespan. Because of that, they are offering a L90 of 100,000 hours with a 10-year warranty. Most products have a 10 day lead time for shipping once the order is processed. They have been developing FineTune, which is a tunable white LED board system. FineTune offers color temperatures ranging from 27K to 65K. It can be controlled with DMX, DALI, or with two 0-10V controls. This will be offered in most of their fixtures including pendant and cove fixtures.

We also got to see their slim cove fixture, the Series 11 Micro Cove. It has as slim profile allowing for thinner cove construction. It also features a 12" telescoping option that lets you achieve custom lengths in the field. The cove is also available as a curved fixture which is offered in 1' segments connected to one another with a quick-connect low-voltage cable in between. It has a minimum of 2' length and requires a driver every 8 segments. We liked the quality of the light and the construction of the fixtures.

Mercury Lighting

Based in New Jersey, Mercury Lighting have been known in the industry as providing cost effective linear and troffer fixtures. Previously they have been known only as a fluorescent fixture manufacturer, but over the past couple of years they have put their efforts into doing what they are good at, but with LEDs. Taking their fluorescent fixtures, they deconstructed them and redeveloped the bodies to work better with LEDs and tried to make them as contractor friendly as possible. All of their fixtures have dimming options and can be dimmed to 1%. Programmable drivers allow you to also determine the wattage or lumen output desired as well. Mercury also can provide integral emergency battery backups for a majority of their fixtures. The batteries can be specified with 5 watts, 7 watts, or 10 watts with 10 lumens per watt.

Mercury offers a standard 5 year warranty on all of their fixtures, but they can offer a 10 year one for an adder. They quote a 2 week lead time, but usually ship within 7-10 day.

We took a look at their linear line LW series that has a rounded lens. It comes in varying widths, and with the curved lens there are no visible LED nodes. The frosted lens has a ribbed interior to add to the diffraction of the LED nodes, however they can do a custom lens with a smooth interior if the order is for 100+ fixtures.

Elliptipar

Elliptipar is moving away from their typical form factor and using a special extruded refracting lens instead. The new fixture S144 is a surface mounted asymmetric linear LED that uses these refracting optics in the lens. It also has a further diffusing material that blends the LEDs and eliminate the nodes. There is also an integral baffle that can be added as an option. The smallest length they can do is 2' and the longest single piece is 9' although they can be installed end-to-end. When we got a chance to look at the fixture we noticed that it threw most of the light at the top and then faded down. It would be a good option for more commercial projects. The Stack Light fixture has been re-imagined using the new lens system and provides a bi-symmetrical distribution. You can see the nodes, but we do not think it detracts from the fixture given that the performance on the vertical surfaces is so strong.

Vokslyte

Vokslyte is a lighting company that specializes in curved linear fixtures either as a recessed or pendant fixture. They do all of their manufacturing in-house. Vokslyte has taken great care so that their fixtures are their purest form by eliminating visible screws and the seams are very minimal.

The fixtures are 2" wide and are made custom order with the smallest radius being 12". Vokslyte has the ability to do straight pieces as well if needed. The lenses are laser cut to ensure that they fit with any curve. The bends for the pendant fixtures can either happen in the horizontal or the vertical plane. Currently the color temperatures available are 28K, 30K, 35K, and 4K. They are working to get a 19K board as well.

Because all of their fixtures are custom per order, their lead-time is 12-16 weeks.

Specialty Lighting

Specialty Lighting has developed a budget friendly family of recessed lights called the Graffiti. The family consists of a fixed downlight, an adjustable accent, and a wall washer. Square and round bevel trims are available in trimmed and trimless options. To keep the costs down, the trim for the 4" fixtures are only available in white, but they can be painted in the field. The Graffiti family is available with a warm-dim option. Specialty is unique from other warm-dim fixtures that we have seen because they use an altered strip of remote phosphors in the center as opposed to using a red or amber LED. They claim that this helps extend the lifespan of the LEDs. Dimming is standard to 5% with 0-10V but can also use Lutron or EldoLED to 1% or less for an adder.

The downlight and the accent light have beam spreads of 15°, 24°, 38°, and 60°. The accent light is adjustable with hot aiming using a screw driver.

With the wall washer, there is a 1.5 spacing. When they stopped by our office they did not have a sample available since it has just recently been released, but we look forward to getting a look at it in person soon.

Specialty is also working on a 2" aperture fixture that will only be available as a fixed downlight or wall washer. The downlight option can be regressed 4" back from the ceiling plane for added glare control.

Currently the fixtures are on a 2 week lead time, but they are planning on rolling out a quick ship program that would include all of the Graffiti family.

Targetti and Duralamp

Targetti stopped by the office to show us some of their recent fixtures as well as introduce us to Duralamp which is a recent company they have included in their brands. Duralamp has a series of retro-fit LED lamps and tapelight that are now available in the U.S. with UL labels. All of the lamps are dimmable. They have an A lamp that delivers 1300 lumens and is completely omnidirectional making it look a lot a traditional incandescent A lamp. They also have LED filament lamps.

Their MR16 lamps are dimmable as well with either traditional dimming, or dim to warm. Both options dim down to 10%. Both lamps can handle accessories and are available in either 25° or 40° beam spreads. They are currently developing a tighter beam spread as well.

The tape that they offer is a high quality linear tape light that is field cuttable in 4" increments with both interior and exterior rated versions.

Duralamp also has a UL listed string light that can be cut in the field.

Targetti showed us their new downlight fixtures, the CCTLED and CCTLED MINI which are 6" and 4" apertures. The fixtures can be trimmed or trimless. They have a fixed downlight, an adjustable accent and a wall washer. For the downlight, there are three options that we got to see: an open reflector, a secondary reflector which also tightens the beam spread, and an insert that blocks the direct view of the LEDs. With all of the options for the downlights, the the light that was produced was nice and smooth.

We also got to take a look at some of their exterior rated fixtures. The Keplero is an in-grade uplight that is available in 2 sizes and are both adjustable. There are three platforms for the Keplero: the zoom which is the most flexible, the gimbal which is the most precise, and the high efficacy which has the most output.

The zoom platform uses one LED includes a tool-free focusing with 4 different beam spreads but is only adjustable with 20° tilt. The gimbal has 40° tilt and has four LEDs which allows for a higher performance. The HE is only available in the MINI fixture but offers 3 set optics and the highest output per wattage out of all of the Keplero families. Additionally, Keplero can also be provided as a wall wash which boasts a wide through allowing for a 10'-12' on center spacing.

Apogee Architectural Lighting

Apogee Architectural Lighting is a local company based in Long Island. They are mainly known for their work on fixtures for MTA, however they are a full operational shop in terms of architectural lighting. We took a look at their Silhouette fixture. It is a linear LED fixture with no visible diodes that can be either surface mounted or recessed. The unique thing about the fixture is that it is all field cuttable in 2" increments including the extrusion and the lens. The extrusion can even be cut at an angle for custom installations. They do not have a mud-in flange, but you can install it as a millwork installation.

They partner up with New Mat and other materials on a lot of their fixtures and can do custom installations ranging from back-lit surfaces to unique back-lit luminaires. For the back-lit fixtures, they will typically use LED boards from other manufacturers, however if the fixture requires it, they can make their own boards to fit. With their recessed back-lit fixtures, they can either do trimmed or trimless. They usually only will need 2-3" of depth but it will depend on the material you are lighting.

Their website does not feature all they are capable of doing so it is best to reach out to them with an idea and see if they can do it. All of their fabrication is done in house and they thrive off of custom work. They have multiple extrusions to offer including several coves. A great thing about Apogee is that most of their fixtures can come with an emergency battery if required.

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.

Acuity: Gotham Lighting

Acuity stopped by our office with a new series of recessed lights from Gotham, called Evo Architainment Color. There are three new platforms that they introduced that all work within the 4" round and square downlight and wall washer apertures. There is a dim to warm LED, a color tuning and an RGB option all using Nichia LEDs. With the Dim to Warm option, they are trying to keep it as close to the black body curve as possible. The fixtures dim from 3000K to 1800K. Dimming can happen with either 0-10V or DMX. With 0-10V it requires a power pack in order to work without DMX. Color tuning fixtures have a range from 1800K to 4300K. With the RGB fixtures, you are able to change color and intensity.

Solavanti

Solavanti has four lighting brands that range in quality and price. The brands are LTS, Baulmann Leuchten, LAMP Lighting, and One Light. When they stopped by recently we got to see a linear LED light strip that can be recessed, surface or pendant mounted. It can be specified as a wet location which can be up to 8' in length. It is also available for a recessed concrete installation.

One Light has a slim downlight that is only 5/8". It requires a remote driver that is dimmable with either 0-10V or phase dimming. The standard color temperatures are 3K and 4K, but for an extra 6 week lead time they can provide 27K. The size of the fixture ranges up to 2' in diameter. The fixture is edge lit and you get an even illumination in the center without needing the extra depth.

Baulmann can do custom lit mirrors. They have standard products but they are also capable of doing any customization and provide shop drawings.

Lumafim

Lumafilm is an LED film that does not need an additional heat-sink. The film can be cut in any direction and can also cut holes in the middle. It can also be mounted to any surface with any type of fastener such as 3M tape, screws or Velcro. Without the need of an additional heat-sink material, the film can wrap and bend to adapt to more unique applications. The circuits are printed on the film and the diodes are all match color temperature. The film is UL listed for both interior and exterior applications. The diodes are spaced 1" on center and allows for the diffusing material to be placed closer to the LEDs than most LED panels.

The film are used with programmable drivers and can have up to 4800 lumens/ft. The drivers can be adjusted in the field after the fact. LumaFilm can be matched with almost any branded, Class 2 UL approved power supply which will reduce the costs and increase the options.

Zumtobel

Zumtobel is known for their linear slots and have been expanding the fixture line. They are now available in 1 1/2", 2 1/2", 4", 6", and 8" widths. The linear slot can be uplight, downlight or bi-directional. There is also a linear extrusion with adjustable spots. The typical size of the unit is 18" but can also come in custom 6" increments. The extrusion can connect to the linear lit slots. The spot light sizes are proportionate to the slot widths.

All of the linear slots can be offered with programmable drivers. The linear color temperatures available are 3, 35, and 4K. The color temperatures available for the spot fixtures are 27, 3, 25, and 4K. A new lens is coming in the spring that eliminates the light leak when you have continuous runs.

There are new 2 3/4" aperture downlights to add to their existing 4" and 6" lines that we took a look at in both round and square. The fixtures had a deep reflector that limited the glare. It is available as a downlight, wall washer and an accent.

Lucifer

Lucifer Lighting has been developing more down lights to add to their fixture lines. A warm dim platform will be coming in 2-3 months. Dimming will be to .1% with any dimming type. A new cylinder track head is also being developed to be used with a slim one-circuit track. It will be available in a spot and wall washer versions and can dim to 1%. Another new family of down lights is the Fraxion Family. It is offered in trimless, flange and micro-flange options. They are using citizen chips and can do wet location fixtures as well. The adjust-ability is controlled with a dual pivot and a hot aim tool. The optics range from 13°, 25°, 40°, and 60°. There are also different lumen packages which determine the height of the housing. With the 1100 lumen package the housing height including the ceiling material is 4 1/2". The remodel fixture is only 3 1/2".

The trims and reflectors can be specified to match each other or can be different. Right now the Fraxion fixtures are only available in 4" round or square but will be developing a smaller aperture soon as well.

There is a quick ship program that will be starting soon that will be available on quantities of at least 100.