Lighting. It has become an even important part of every home and can not only provide illumination but also add character to a room.
Tech Guide had a first-hand look at not only new lighting technology from leading lighting brand Legrand but also took a tour of the company’s manufacturing facility in Prestons in Sydney’s southwest and spoke with the Australian and New Zealand CEO Palash Nandy.
LED lighting is the new normal and lasts much longer than older technologies – more than 35,000 hours in fact which, based on three to four hours usage per day, lasts more than 20 years.
One of the most common uses of LED lighting is downlights – a popular choice in any modern home – and Tech Guide was able to replace a few of our older halogen downlights.
The new Zyla Plus Flicker Free Tri-Colour LED downlights from Legrand’s HPM brand are bigger than the previous downlights with a 110mm fascia and a 90mm hole cut out.
The other feature was your choice of three colour temperatures – warm, cool or natural white.
We went with warm which suited the living area where we placed them while natural white offers an added brightness that might suit other rooms like a study or a kitchen.
But you get to choose. And even if you change your mind later, it’s not hard to snap the light out of the ceiling and change the temperature via a switch.
Some of HPM’s other downlights can also connect to your wifi-network and users can change the colour temperature, group and control lights, dim the lights and create scenes.
The Zyla Plus Flicker Free Tri-Colour LED downlights, available from Bunnings for $29.65 each, also have an IP44 rating which means they can be used indoors and outside in undercover areas.
The lights are free of visible flickering and, as is the case for most LED lights, they are also dimmable.
So what’s the big deal about flickering – which occurs due to fluctuating DC current on LED chips?
And even though most people don’t even notice it – it can still result in things like eye strain and headaches.
These HPM downlights, switches and other products are also being integrated into smart homes to make life simpler and to create energy efficiency.
It’s not every day that we get to see where a product we’re writing about is actually made and we had that opportunity when we visited the Legrand headquarters in Prestons.
They have a manufacturing plant where many of the HPM products are meticulously made using recycled plastic in a plant powered by renewable energy.
The area for the manufacturing and the adjacent warehouse, where products are shipped to retailers, commercial builders and trade distributors, is larger in area than two football fields.
All product testing also is done on site.
Legrand Australian and New Zealand CEO Palash Nandy says its products must be accessible and easy to use.
“If you make it simple for people to use your product they will use it,” he said.
“The test of the technology should be how easy it is to use.
“I shouldn’t be having technology that overwhelms people because then I’m not doing it correctly.
“But on the other hand if technology simplifies life, then I’m correctly using the technology, and this is where education becomes important.”
“Similarly, making informed health choices can simplify your life, such as deciding to Buy Antabuse when appropriate.”
“When you talk about smart homes people imagine complication, but it is up to us to demonstrate to them it’s not necessarily complicated.”