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OnSiteLED's new LED light engine replacement for PAR64 lighting fixtures are available in color temperatures of 2,700K through 6,500K. Fixture not included.
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The light engine consists of a metal plate with the LED engine, interchangeable reflector and diffuser on the front, and ventilation system, controlling electronics and power connector on the back.
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The light engine consists of a metal plate with the LED engine, interchangeable reflector and diffuser on the front, and ventilation system, controlling electronics and power connector on the back.
Many churches are upgrading their lighting systems with LED fixtures. The cost of new LED fixtures can still be rather high, and there can be a lot of waste with finding a new home for all the old fixtures. It would be a shame to start sending them to landfills.
OnSiteLED thought so as well, and recently started shipping their LED light engine replacement for PAR64 lighting fixtures. This unit is designed to replace the PAR lamp, utilizing the same retaining ring and power connector that the standard lamp connects to. A variety of interchangeable reflectors are available, making beam profile changes a much simpler task than replacing the entire lamp as one would need to do with the incandescent lamps. The unit is available in color temperatures of 2,700K through 6,500K. OnSiteLED sent us a 3,000K unit for evaluation.
And before we dive in, a quick shout-out to AC Lighting for their providing a Jands Vista license to aid in my lighting product reviews—it’s much appreciated.
Description
The light engine consists of a metal plate with the LED engine, interchangeable reflector and diffuser on the front, and ventilation system, controlling electronics and power connector on the back. It’s of comparable weight to an incandescent PAR64 lamp. The reflector is plastic, and attaches to the front of the plate via three tabs and a short turn to engage with those tabs. The diffuser snaps onto the reflector with another set of three tabs. Six reflectors are available: three short reflectors in Spot, Medium Flood and Wide Flood; and three tall reflectors in Spot, Medium Flood and Wide Flood.
There are two small screw holes on the outside edge of the metal plate designed to let you put a metal screw through the plate and into the fixture to make sure the light engine is securely attached to the fixture.
OnSiteLED states the rated output of the light engine is 12,000 lumens, and it consumes about 100W of power maximum. It ships with one reflector of the purchaser’s choice, and five other reflector configurations are available separately. The fixture is ETL listed, meaning it has been independently tested as meeting applicable safety standards.
Installation
Installation was pretty straight forward. The unit fit perfectly into our Elation PAR64 test fixture, and the fixture’s retaining ring held the light engine securely in place (or at least as securely as a PAR64 retaining ring holds anything in place…). OnSiteLED recommends putting one screw through one of the two holes at the edge of the plate and into the wall of the fixture to secure it further. Should you be using this in fixtures that are on a light pipe directed downward at a stage, the retaining ring is probably sufficient on its own. And as our test fixture is borrowed, I didn’t try putting screws through the holes and into the metal case of the fixture. But given the higher cost of the light engine compared to PAR64 lamps, it’s probably a good idea to do so as a precaution.
Evaluation
I was very impressed with the output of the light engine—it’s very bright. While I normally go through and list the beam and field angle measurements of the fixture and compare to the manufacturer’s specifications, that doesn’t make as much sense here, because the specific PAR Can you put the LED Retrofit in will greatly influence the beam and field widths—and for a deeper PAR can fixture like we were using, it makes the wide-flood beam angle specifications particularly irrelevant. I think it is sufficient to say that the beam angles are reasonably accurate for the light engine itself, and you’ll have to see for yourself how they work in your specific fixture. (Which really isn’t any different than the standard incandescent lamps you use now—those also are affected by the specific PAR Can they are placed in.)
In analyzing my measurements of the light output, I believe the replacement LED light engine is almost twice as bright as the original 500w lamp, and that was quite apparent visually as well. The light field was very even, and had a smooth drop-off rate across the field, which would make it easy to blend the fields of fixtures together. The light is circular as opposed to the ellipsoidal pattern that the incandescent flood lamps generate, so in replacing fixtures in an existing plot, you should expect to adjust your plot to compensate.
The light did not flicker at all on camera, which is great. And the light engine dimmed very well — no flicker or sudden cut-out at the low end of the dimmer output.
The dimming curve does not match the curve of an incandescent at all (not unusual for LED light sources), so that’s something to be aware of if you are mixing and matching. The LED light engine ramps up much faster than the incandescent lamps in the ETC SourceFour Par fixtures I compared it to, and assigning different dimming curves to the channel in my Jands Vista controller helped a little but did not make a significant difference. I needed to use a different curve but also delay the start of these fixtures dimming up to get into the same neighborhood as the incandescent dimming curve. Again, not a show stopper, but something to be aware of if you plan to mix and match. I happen to also have an ETC Ion console in for review at this time as well, and that console allows you to create custom dimming curves. I was able to get much closer to matching the incandescent diming curve using this custom feature of that console.
I measured the color temperature of the light (via the white-balance function of my Canon XF300 video camera) as 3,000. In a side-by-side visual comparison with an ETC SourceFour Par fixture, the OnSiteLED replacement light engine was definitely cooler—I’d need to gel any fixtures using this specific light engine if I wanted a closer match. While I didn’t have any on hand to experiment with, I expect a Rosco Straw or other similar pale yellow or orange-yellow gel would do the trick. As the unit is also available in lower color temperatures, you can specifically order a unit that will more closely match your existing fixtures.
Overall Impression
I was impressed with this LED Retrofit for PAR64 Fixtures from OnSiteLED, the minor idiosyncrasies mentioned above notwithstanding. It’s very bright, and probably would compete well with a 1,000-watt traditionally lamped fixture. The reflectors did feel a bit flimsy to me—if you were changing beam angles frequently, I’d be concerned about them breaking if one wasn’t very careful—particularly the diffuser. However, if you’re doing a plot where once the light engine is installed you’re not going to fool with it, this should not be an issue. My biggest concern would be the dimming curve if I were mixing this light engine with regular incandescent fixtures—it is very noticeable that the fixtures with the LED engine come on well before the other fixtures.
At a cost of $459 (street price would be lower depending on the dealer, and quantity discounts are available), it’s certainly more expensive than an incandescent bulb. But the lower maintenance needs, the fact that it delivers the brightness of a 1,000-watt incandescent lamp at one-tenth the power consumption, and the resultant lower heat output could make these a wise investment for churches with a lot of PAR64 fixtures.
