February 16, 2016 at 16:01How LED Lamp Manufacturers Fool Buyers
The popularity of LED lighting is growing. The number of Russian manufacturers of LED lamps is approaching a hundred. Unfortunately, some of them do not hesitate to deceive the buyer, for one discrediting other manufacturers. After all, the buyer unsuccessfully bought some lamps, then he is afraid to buy others.
Here are two housekeeper lamps. Judging by the pictures, the buyer should understand that they consume 5 watts, and shine like 60-watt incandescent lamps.
Deception begins already in the information given on the package. On both lamps in small print it says: "Luminous flux: 340 lm."
That's just 340 lumens is not 60 watts of equivalent, but only 40. But this is not all the hype. We are testing both lamps.
Instead of the promised 5 watts, the power of the "candle" is 4 watts, and that of the "ball" is only 3.9 watts. Luminous flux - 283 and 231 Lm. These bulbs shine like 25-watt incandescent bulbs, and the manufacturer promised the equivalent of 60 watts.
Another example is two Cosmos lamps. The manufacturer promises the equivalent of 75 watts for a 7-watt bulb and 60 watts for a 5-watt candle.
Already implausible, isn't it? We look at the very small print on the back of the box.
Candle - 340 Lm (actually this is the equivalent of 40 W), a ball - 540 Lm (equivalent to 60 W). Lied already on the box. We measure.
Candle power 3.8 W instead of 5 W. The power of the ball is 5 watts instead of 7 watts. The luminous flux at the candle is only 242 Lm, at the ball - 422 Lm. They promised that the bulbs would shine like 75 watts and 60 watts, but in fact they shine like 45 watts and 25 watts.
Sometimes, manufacturers cheat differently. Here is the start lamp. The package indicates 7 W, the equivalent of 60 W, 560 Lm.
560 Lm really corresponds to the equivalent of 60 W (which is probably why the manufacturer placed this inscription on the front of the box and wrote it in large print). We measure.
Oops Instead of 7 W, only 5.6 W, and instead of 560 Lm, only 332 Lm. The bulb, which, according to the manufacturer, must shine like a 60-watt incandescent lamp, shines like a 40-watt.
Unfortunately, in Russia, LED lamps on sale are not controlled in any way. According to GOST R 54815-2011, the measured initial luminous flux of the LED lamp must be at least 90% of the nominal luminous flux. But many simply spit on GOST.
Lies with power and brightness is not all. On sale you can find a large number of lamps with strong visible pulsation of light (this can lead to fatigue), as well as lamps with a low color rendering index (CRI), which leads to the fact that the colors of objects illuminated by such lamps look unnatural.
I know only five brands that never lie with power and light output. And they are not all Russian. These are Ikea, Osram, Philips, Thomson and Diall (Castorama's own brand of stores).
Most of the lamps of the Russian brands Navigator, Nanosvet, Lisma, Gauss, X-Flash have a power and luminous flux that matches the declared ones and only some lamp models of these manufacturers shine fainter than promised. It’s easy to explain - they order lamps (and Lisma LED filaments for the production of lamps) they order in China, and Chinese manufacturers first supply lamps that correspond to pre-production samples, and then begin to save and deceive their partners and us consumers. Equipment for testing lamps is expensive, tests in laboratories are also not cheap, so it turns out that sometimes manufacturers learn about how much light their lamps actually give from me.
Before buying LED lamps, study the results of their testing on lamptest.ru. Even if there is no specific model that you want to buy, you can make a general opinion about the manufacturer using other models. Often, the manufacturer of the lamp is quite good, but you need to introduce a "correction for brightness", buying lamps with a margin of brightness. For example, the same brands Housekeeper, Cosmos and Start, many lamps are quite decent.
Do not be fooled!
Here are two housekeeper lamps. Judging by the pictures, the buyer should understand that they consume 5 watts, and shine like 60-watt incandescent lamps.
Deception begins already in the information given on the package. On both lamps in small print it says: "Luminous flux: 340 lm."
That's just 340 lumens is not 60 watts of equivalent, but only 40. But this is not all the hype. We are testing both lamps.
Instead of the promised 5 watts, the power of the "candle" is 4 watts, and that of the "ball" is only 3.9 watts. Luminous flux - 283 and 231 Lm. These bulbs shine like 25-watt incandescent bulbs, and the manufacturer promised the equivalent of 60 watts.
Another example is two Cosmos lamps. The manufacturer promises the equivalent of 75 watts for a 7-watt bulb and 60 watts for a 5-watt candle.
Already implausible, isn't it? We look at the very small print on the back of the box.
Candle - 340 Lm (actually this is the equivalent of 40 W), a ball - 540 Lm (equivalent to 60 W). Lied already on the box. We measure.
Candle power 3.8 W instead of 5 W. The power of the ball is 5 watts instead of 7 watts. The luminous flux at the candle is only 242 Lm, at the ball - 422 Lm. They promised that the bulbs would shine like 75 watts and 60 watts, but in fact they shine like 45 watts and 25 watts.
Sometimes, manufacturers cheat differently. Here is the start lamp. The package indicates 7 W, the equivalent of 60 W, 560 Lm.
560 Lm really corresponds to the equivalent of 60 W (which is probably why the manufacturer placed this inscription on the front of the box and wrote it in large print). We measure.
Oops Instead of 7 W, only 5.6 W, and instead of 560 Lm, only 332 Lm. The bulb, which, according to the manufacturer, must shine like a 60-watt incandescent lamp, shines like a 40-watt.
Unfortunately, in Russia, LED lamps on sale are not controlled in any way. According to GOST R 54815-2011, the measured initial luminous flux of the LED lamp must be at least 90% of the nominal luminous flux. But many simply spit on GOST.
Lies with power and brightness is not all. On sale you can find a large number of lamps with strong visible pulsation of light (this can lead to fatigue), as well as lamps with a low color rendering index (CRI), which leads to the fact that the colors of objects illuminated by such lamps look unnatural.
I know only five brands that never lie with power and light output. And they are not all Russian. These are Ikea, Osram, Philips, Thomson and Diall (Castorama's own brand of stores).
Most of the lamps of the Russian brands Navigator, Nanosvet, Lisma, Gauss, X-Flash have a power and luminous flux that matches the declared ones and only some lamp models of these manufacturers shine fainter than promised. It’s easy to explain - they order lamps (and Lisma LED filaments for the production of lamps) they order in China, and Chinese manufacturers first supply lamps that correspond to pre-production samples, and then begin to save and deceive their partners and us consumers. Equipment for testing lamps is expensive, tests in laboratories are also not cheap, so it turns out that sometimes manufacturers learn about how much light their lamps actually give from me.
Before buying LED lamps, study the results of their testing on lamptest.ru. Even if there is no specific model that you want to buy, you can make a general opinion about the manufacturer using other models. Often, the manufacturer of the lamp is quite good, but you need to introduce a "correction for brightness", buying lamps with a margin of brightness. For example, the same brands Housekeeper, Cosmos and Start, many lamps are quite decent.
Do not be fooled!