Retrofit LED: sailing close to the wind
I was very sorry to hear the unfortunate news from Benetti Shipyard in August about a fire on-board one of their fine yachts…
An electricity spike was the probable cause, and when it’s a lightning strike there is not much that one can do to prevent it. I hope that Benetti can make good of it. I suspect that MY Seafaris that caught fire earlier this month is scrap. That’s tough.
It goes without saying – potential hazards where electricity, water and fuel are in abundance are always best avoided. Whilst LED lighting promises sustainable and hassle free illumination, there remain issues with quality, particularly on retrofit LED lamps that are being offered to replace the tungsten halogen lightsource that we know and love. There have been several recalls in 2013 on leading brand products that have had overheating issues or electrical leakage, and this should ring alarm bells.
There are clear advantages in using retrofit lamps, particularly mains dimmable ones that do not need a remote power supply hidden away in an electrical cabinet or ceiling void somewhere… this space is precious, right? But we must remind ourselves that this technology is still relatively new, and thermal control of the LED chip is critical. Even if there is not a catastrophic event, early failures of the lamps could inadvertently scuttle the low energy, low maintenance lighting scheme that was promised.
So the advice is choose retrofit LED lamps cautiously or – better still – use a quality engineered LED lightsource. Get in touch if you want to discuss led lighting for your project.