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Yes, you know that LED is taking over. It seems that every theatrical and commercial lighting fixture is LED. Even the lamps in your home are LED. So why not bring that green technology into your clients’ houses of worship?
Up to now there were several reasons why they stayed with our old-fashioned incandescent and arc lamps. First off, the color rendering was much better since LED suffered from a spikey spectrum that did not render colors accurately. Second, LEDs were prohibitively expensive compared to incandescent and arc light engines. Third, the intensity of LEDs were not as bright as comparable arc lamps. And fourth, the cooling requirements of LEDs required noisy fans that competed with the sound sensitivity of church services.
… many of the previous reasons why someone wouldn’t make the jump a year ago are reasons why they should now.
Changing times
Advances in LED technology have made these potential client objections obsolete. In fact, technology has moved very fast in this field, and many of the previous reasons why someone wouldn’t make the jump a year ago are reasons why they should now. We now have four reasons why now may be the time to make the switch.
1. Intensity –
The latest LED engines are very, very bright. In fact, several LED-moving lights are as bright as 1,200-watt arc fixtures. The High End SolaSpot Pro 2000 produces 26,000 lumens of intensity. This is as bright as a Martin Viper. These new high-powered LED light engines, and the ventilation systems that are necessary to cool the LEDs, have made it possible to create these extremely intense fixtures.
2. Color Rendering –
The improved quality control of the color of LEDs, along with the clever use of varied lime-green color LEDs in the manufacturers’ light engines, have created fixtures with relatively high CRI ratings. Although not as high as many daylight arc and incandescent fixtures reach, the LED has reached a color rendering quality that accurately reveals fabric colors and skin tones. Some are better than others, so be sure to look closely at the specifications.
LED has reached a color rendering quality that accurately reveals fabric colors and skin tones.
The CRI and TM30-15 indexes will give you a good idea how accurate the LED will render colors. My advice is to look for a CRI rating of 90 or above.
3. Sound –
With the new high-powered LED light engines, new efficient cooling systems had to be developed. Although forced-air cooling is still prevalent in most models of LED fixtures, some LEDs also incorporate liquid cooling systems to make their lights virtually silent. The High End SolaFrame Theatre moving light uses a proprietary liquid cooling system that makes it unnecessary for any fans to cool the light.
Church.Design’s sister publication, Church Production Magazine, tested the SolaFrame Theatre light and found it to be complexly silent … ideal for theatrical, worship and broadcast applications. Other manufacturers such as Martin, Vari-Lite, and Clay Paky have developed their own low-noise LED moving lights, as well.
4. Value –
There was a time when switching over to LED was economically unfeasible for most houses of worship. It is true that one could rationalize that eventually the initial cost of the LED fixture will be recouped through energy and replacement lamp savings, but it was a tough sell.
Once again technology and competition have come to the rescue. More and more lighting manufacturers have jumped full force onto the LED bandwagon. In fact, if you attend the LDI or Lightfair lighting conferences, you will be hard pressed to find any incandescent lights on the expo floor. This heavy competition has forced prices down to affordable levels.
If your clients look at the price of modern arc discharge and LED moving lights, they will find that they cost virtually the same for similar features and light output. It now seems to be a no-brainer to purchase an LED moving light instead of an arc discharge fixture. The LED will use less electricity, it will run cooler (with corresponding HVAC savings), and church clients will probably never have to change the lamp (see information below on L70 ratings). ETC has recently announced that they are so confident in the longevity of their LED light engines, they are now offering a 10-year warranty on them.
There is one more important consideration. The EU has a new requirement that, as of 2020, no stage light with an incandescent lamp can be used in their theaters. This means that European theaters must make the switch to lamps with a small carbon footprint. It is debatable if even LED meets these strict new requirements. Unfortunately, this signals the death knell of the incandescent lamp in the theater.
The EU has a new requirement that, as of 2020, no stage light with an incandescent lamp can be used in their theaters.
Obviously, we have now reached the point where LED is a viable option for any house of worship client. If your clients still hold out on LED, encourage them to try out some LED fixtures in their church. They may be surprised at how far the technology has advanced--and how it now makes perfect sense to make the switch to LED.
L70 – What does it mean?
When an incandescent or discharge (arc) lamp burns out, it no longer produces any light. It has effectively reached the end of its useful life. Their lamp life is measured in hours, from when you first turn the lamp on until it completely goes dead. Under perfect environmental conditions, most incandescent stage lamps have a lamp life of around 2,000 hours. Arc discharge stage lamps usually have a lamp life of around 200 hours.
LEDs don’t die suddenly. And in most cases, LEDs don’t “burn out.” Instead, they slowly get dimmer as they age. So there had to be a new standard for the lamp life of an LED. L70 is that standard. The LED’s L70 rating is the approximate hours that an LED lamp will run until it dims to 70% of its initial light intensity. So if you buy a fixture with an L70 rating of 50,000 hours, then your fixture should last that long with 70%-100% of intensity.
The LED’s L70 rating is the approximate hours that an LED lamp will run until it dims to 70% of its initial light intensity.
Another way to look at this is if your clients’ LED moving lights produce 27,000 lumens of light when new, 50,000 hours later they will probably be producing around 19,000 lumens. Not bad…. And remember, 50,000 hours is 2,083 days, or 5.78 years. And that is if they run that light at full 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Most theatrical fixtures may run for only a few hours a day and a few days a week. So it’s not difficult to help your clients see why, chances are, they won’t be around to see these lamps reach the end of their useful lives.
David Martin Jacques is a professional lighting designer, architectural lighting consultant, and Head of Stage Design at Long Beach State University. His book, Introduction to the Musical Art of Stage Lighting Design, Fourth Edition, is available as an iBook on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/david-martin-jacques/id555554393?mt=11 and in soft cover at Amazon.com. David is also featured on the weekly podcast: Light Talk with The Lumen Brothers, available on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play Music.
