Beware of Cheap Panel Lights!
Last Friday afternoon a sales rep from a new LED lighting company stopped by my office. He said that he can sell us LED panels for a lower price than our manufacturing cost.
I was skeptical and curious at the same time. So I asked him a question: What type of Light Guide Plate (LGP) diffuser do you use for your panel lights, PS or PMMA?
He said they use PS type of diffusers. That’s what I expected. So, I ask my visitor, don’t your distributers and customers care about the diffuser discoloration and product quality. He said my distributers only care about the price!
LGP’s (Light Guide Plate) main function is to guide the distribution of light across the surface of the panel light evenly . There are two main types of LGP diffusers used in manufacturing of panel lights. PS and PMMA type LGP. The main thing you need to know is that PS type LGP costs much less because it is of an inferior quality.
PS LGP diffusers have a strip pattern and are much thinner than PMMA so they easily bend. They have transparency of 85%-87%, shrink over time distorting the light and color. Most importantly, in lab testing and in real life applications, they have proven to turn yellow within 18-30 months. PS panel lights were first introduced to the market in early 2016 as a way to reduce the finished cost of panel lights. After doing intrusive testing we decided the quality degradation was too substantial and could not be justified. So we continued on with manufacturing our panel lights using PMMA LGP diffusers.
PMMA diffusers used by LED Trail have a laser dot pattern. We use Laser Printing PMMA LGP with anti-UV and 95% transparency. PMMA LGP is very durable and has a high resistance to heat.
LED Panel lights are the most challenging type of commercial lighting to manufacture among all LED Lighting products. The production requires highly specialized machinery as well as many years of experience to ensure high quality production. The bottom line is a cheap PS LGP panel light will cost you substantially more once your customer calls you for warranty replacements.
LED Trail introduced the first generation of LED panel lights in the US in 2012, well before anyone else. We have continued to tweak and improve this product while maintaining our high quality standards.
Contact us at info@ledtrail.com with any questions.