When buying any product, it is important to have certain clear concepts to know if what we are acquiring is of quality. In the world of lighting this is no exception and, today, with the amount of stores and various information to which we are exposed, it can be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Here are some guidelines to know if we are choosing a quality LED bulb when making a purchase.
How to know if a bulb is of quality?
Undoubtedly, the most effective method to know with full certainty if a product is of quality is to perform an analysis of it. In the case at hand, we should check several aspects such as that the actual performance of the bulb conforms to what is specified by the seller. Check that during operation, parameters such as temperature remain within reason and, of course, examine all the electronics and other constructive aspects of the bulb.
To really assess the quality of manufacture it is necessary to open the product and see what it contains. We will check that the board containing the LEDs is in contact (with the corresponding thermal paste) with the heatsink, we will check that the electronics that make up the driver is sufficient and we will look at the cleanliness and quality of the soldering. The only downside of this is that you have to buy at least one bulb, gut it and have a minimum knowledge of electronics to know what we are looking at.
If you are reading this and have no idea what a capacitor is or what a solder should look like when it is well done, don’t worry. In the following points we detail some simple tips for choosing a quality bulb.
Basic aspects to evaluate the quality of an LED bulb
The first thing to do is to purchase your bulb from a reliable retailer. If the purchase is going to be made through the Internet, we will make sure that the web site presents the corresponding fiscal and contact data of the company and that the information offered is clear. On the other hand, it is indispensable that all the actions that suppose an exchange of sensitive information (process of registration, access, payment) are realized from safe pages. We must also pay attention to the guarantee offered.
As for the product itself, it is important that it has the corresponding certificates that guarantee safety, such as the CE marking or the RoHS certificate, which restricts the use of hazardous substances such as lead or mercury. There are other types of certificates such as TÜV, issued by German certifying organizations (Technischer Überwachungs-Verein), which are considered to be among the strictest in the world. A quality LED bulb is very likely to have all three certificates.
From a performance point of view, the quality of a bulb is determined by its lifetime, the efficiency of its LEDs (lumens per watt) and the color rendering index of the light emitted.
At this point it should be noted that, when acquiring any lighting element, we must select the one that best suits our needs. This means choosing a lighting system that offers a sufficient amount of light for the activities to be carried out in the space, with the opening angle and light temperature that creates the desired atmosphere.
You can check out other articles on this blog for ideas and tips on how to light a bedroom, choosing a vanity lights or about lights for a staircase, among others. If you need help choosing, in our online LED lighting store we have a fantastic team of professionals who will clear any doubts you have and of course, you can also leave any questions in the comments.