# LED for Landscape Lights



## Maximumbob (May 24, 2013)

I just used the 8w LED from unique lighting for the first time. They're claiming 40,000 hr rated life. Time will tell.

For everyone that does a lot of landscape lighting do you use only LED now and if so what brand(s)?

http://www.uniquelighting.com/


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## Black Dog (Oct 16, 2011)

Maximumbob said:


> I just used the 8w LED from unique lighting for the first time. They're claiming 40,000 hr rated life. Time will tell.
> 
> For everyone that does a lot of landscape lighting do you use only LED now and if so what brand(s)?
> 
> http://www.uniquelighting.com/


:thumbsup:


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## FrunkSlammer (Aug 31, 2013)

Black Dog said:


> :thumbsup:


:rockon:


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## dmxtothemax (Jun 15, 2010)

Maximumbob said:


> I just used the 8w LED from unique lighting for the first time. They're claiming 40,000 hr rated life. Time will tell.
> 
> For everyone that does a lot of landscape lighting do you use only LED now and if so what brand(s)?
> 
> http://www.uniquelighting.com/


Bett ya the power supply fails before the led itself fails !

But try explaining that to the customer !


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## A Little Short (Nov 11, 2010)

Don't know the brand of LED lights but I just did a service call to check their landscape lights. Two out of eight LED lights had failed. One was still burning but very dim. These had internal drivers and they were fed from a low volt transformer.


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## Electric_Light (Apr 6, 2010)

Maximumbob said:


> I just used the 8w LED from unique lighting for the first time. They're claiming *40,000 hr rated life*. Time will tell.


So? That's 4.5 years. High power LEDs haven't even existed for that long in stationary continuous use. I know they've been around for over a decade for flashlights, but they probably seldom see 100 hours a year at full output even in professional use. 

With 7 days a week sunset to sunrise use, 12 hours average per day is a reasonable estimate, so 40,000 hour don't mean a thing unless they're going to warrant it with no less than 9 years. Unique's been around since 1989, so it's not very likely they'll be gone in a few years like a lot of fly by the night green products vendors. If the warranty on the product is good enough to cover 9 years or more, i'd go for it. 

It depend on where you'll use it, but it makes sense to avoid solid brass or copper and try to find fiberglass, composite or ferrous material fixtures that look nice, but feel as cheap as possible. Unfortunately, bronze tombstone plaques, statutes and even live power company wires are getting hit. It's gotten so bad that there's a copper clad steel cable for the utilities industry on the market specifically to deter theft. If a scrapper discovers that landscape fixtures are solid brass/copper, they will be all stolen within hours.


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## sbrn33 (Mar 15, 2007)

I use normal fixtures with LED lamps. That way if one fails I don't have to worry about finding a matching fixture. They will always make similar lamps.


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## Electric_Light (Apr 6, 2010)

Many LED lamps are not intended for use in enclosed fixtures commonly used for outdoor lighting, so they're susceptible to failing. Fixtures allow for LED to thermally connect to the body for cooling.


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## sbrn33 (Mar 15, 2007)

Electric_Light said:


> Many LED lamps are not intended for use in enclosed fixtures commonly used for outdoor lighting, so they're susceptible to failing. Fixtures allow for LED to thermally connect to the body for cooling.


Yea, I could see that. But I will stick with it. Happy customers and better looking fixtures. Not to mention a quarter of the cost.


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## Maximumbob (May 24, 2013)

Electric_Light said:


> Many LED lamps are not intended for use in enclosed fixtures commonly used for outdoor lighting, so they're susceptible to failing. Fixtures allow for LED to thermally connect to the body for cooling.



The supply house had only Satco and another name brand LED MR16 but both weren't for use in an enclosed fixture. I don't do a lot of landscape lighting but the LED's can be a real game changer with Transformer sizing and VD calc.


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## Electric_Light (Apr 6, 2010)

sbrn33 said:


> Yea, I could see that. But I will stick with it. Happy customers and better looking fixtures. Not to mention a quarter of the cost.


Heat is the main cause of premature failure in LEDs or CFLs. They both have a nearly identical power supply. The drop-ins have a unique challenge, because they have to be sized to fit in many places and they can't control the burn position. 

The CREE can drop-in is a good example of purpose specific retrofit kit. It looks like a cowboy hat, but the brim is part of the fixture and it stays cool enough even if it's an insulation contact can, because the brim always have access to the same flow available on the surface of ceiling. 

One of the two things happen.... 

It gets too hot and fails prematurely. Not covered under warranty if you used it outside of intended purpose like using it in enclosed fixtures when they tell you not to. If it was one or two, I doubt they'll raise an issue, but if half the lamps in a large projects start failing within a year, they'll start objecting and investigate the cause. 

It hits the thermal limit and shuts off or dims so much that its not putting out anything close to the rated output. (i.e. 10W trimming down to 3w and losing output accordingly. I tried it)


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## Bootss (Dec 30, 2011)

Are LEDs overrated as far as performance is concerned?


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## Electric_Light (Apr 6, 2010)

Lep said:


> Are LEDs overrated as far as performance is concerned?


No, they're just marketed wrong. They're not the silver bullet. Light Emitting Decorations produce very vibrant saturated colors and it is hard to beat them in producing highly saturated color efficiently. 

They also do well in highly directional lighting.


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## 3DDesign (Oct 25, 2014)

Check out Volt Landscape Lighting.
High quality and much better price than Kichler.


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

Maximumbob said:


> I just used the 8w LED from unique lighting for the first time. They're claiming 40,000 hr rated life. Time will tell.
> 
> For everyone that does a lot of landscape lighting do you use only LED now and if so what brand(s)?
> 
> http://www.uniquelighting.com/


Use what the customer buys and you are safe..


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## JBrzoz00 (Nov 17, 2013)

I've had great experiences with landscapelightingworld.com 

The fixtures are all brass and led lamps are great.


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## youngapprentice (Mar 31, 2012)

We use RAB LED landscape lights and they work great! Customer had metal halide and high pressure sodium. We replace em when either the ballasts or the bulbs go.


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## Texas_LED_Guru (Mar 1, 2013)

Electric_Light said:


> No, they're just marketed wrong. They're not the silver bullet. Light Emitting Decorations produce very vibrant saturated colors and it is hard to beat them in producing highly saturated color efficiently.
> 
> They also do well in highly directional lighting.


This.

You can't get those vibrant red's, greens, or blue's with plastic, glass, or gel filters like you can LED's.

You simply can't.


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