LED Panels Buying Guide: What You Should Know

Lighting can be a problem or a benefit to your day-to-day performance. Optimal lighting is essential to carry out our activities in an office, a kitchen, or outdoors.

This is why choosing the products that will illuminate your spaces correctly is so important. There is no better product than LED panels, the market’s most efficient and innovative option.

LED panels are a product in greater demand every day due to their excellent lighting capacity, energy savings, and various styles and uses. This article is for you if you are looking for a more efficient, economical, and innovative option to illuminate your life.

The most important

LED panels are lighting devices based on light-emitting diode (LED) technology designed to supplant traditional lighting products. They are the most innovative, economical, safe, and efficient market.
There are a vast number of applications and uses that adapt to the needs of each client. Similarly, their designs and sizes can vary greatly.
LED panels can also have additional features, such as mechanisms to regulate the temperature and light intensity or integrate them with voice assistants such as Siri or Alexa. However, even more specialized models are made for a specific type of customer.

Buying Guide: What You Should Know About LED Panels

If you’ve made it this far, you’ve probably had a lot of questions about LED panels. We seek to resolve all these doubts so you can make the best possible decision and enjoy the benefits of good lighting. This section will find answers to the most critical questions about LED panels.

What is an LED panel, and what advantages does it have?

It is a lighting device based on LED technology and designed to supplant traditional instruments. This technology is based on semiconductor diodes that produce light, hence its name: Light Emitting Diode (LED).

These work by integrating elements such as LED strips, reflectors, light-diffusing films, and methacrylate (PMMA), among many others. The panels are built in layers.

They generally use aluminium in their internal frames to dissipate the heat generated or avoid any light leakage, a layer of LED lights, a guide (for said lights), and a layer with a diffuser in the front that distributes the light throughout its surface.

Combining these elements allows them to be more efficient when lighting and save more than 80% of energy compared to traditional systems. Its useful life is also a clear advantage over its competitors, up to 10 times more durable.

Advantages

Greater efficiency
Energy saving
Long useful life
They do not generate heat.
environmental friendly
Wide variety of designs and sizes
They do not emit heat.

Disadvantages

Higher price

What types of LED panels are there?

We can now find various LED panels on the market, ready for each type of client and needs. However, we can distinguish three types of panels, depending on their installation:
Recessed LED panels: They are fully integrated into the surface that is being installed. We usually see them in removable ceilings of Armstrong ceilings, generally held in place using special clips.
Suspension LED panels: They are those that, as their name suggests, are suspended or hung from a surface. Suspension panels need a kit to install them. They offer a beautiful and minimalist aesthetic.
Surface LED Panels: These panels are designed to be placed on a surface, and voila. Several options include a base to put them on the floor or a mechanism to fix it to a surface for easy installation.

What are LED panels used for?

The great thing about LED technology is that it has many uses. LED market, there is an infinity of options that can go from the lighting of an office to the panels designed to grow food.
Illuminate interior spaces: Perhaps, where you have seen them the most. Of all shapes and sizes, they can light up offices, living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and just about anywhere else you can imagine. However, the most common, especially in offices, are built-in models.
Illuminate outdoor spaces: Another option presented to us with LED panels is to illuminate open spaces thanks to their high light capacities. An example is panels on the streetlights of many streets and avenues in our cities.
As decoration: In the same way, nowadays, we can observe an increase in the use of LED panels as decorative elements. To give our spaces a unique touch, you can take advantage of the variety of styles and shapes on the market. An example is the much sought-after RGB panels with unconventional designs for those who want a futuristic style or gamer.
However, if you are into cultivation and urban or indoor agriculture, LED panels can also work for you. Its low energy consumption, almost zero heat emission, and durability are beneficial factors for anyone looking to start or optimize their indoor cultivation.

How are the LED panels installed?

You do not usually need a profound knowledge of electricity to install LED panels. This is as long as panels with standard measurements, such as 60 x 60. However, if you require custom measurements, it is best to hire an expert. If you can do it yourself, the procedure is relatively straightforward.

Suppose you decide to put a recessed panel. You have to disassemble the ceiling plate or the surface, connect the panel, place it in the place of the plate, and that’s it. If you prefer a suspended or surface-mounted LED panel, install the suspension kit or the mechanism that holds it to the surface in question, connect it and secure it to be ready.

Can LED panels be repaired?

Despite all their benefits, the panels, like any other product, risk suffering some mishap that impairs their efficiency. In those cases, you may wonder if it can be fixed or if it is simply time to throw it away. The main recommendation is that you take it to an expert.

He will better explain the situation and advise you. But if you decide to repair it with your own hands, here we can give you some ideas of what you can do:

You can check the electrical current to verify that it is not an electrical problem.
You can also check the status of the bulbs one by one since if one of them is damaged, you will have to replace it. Otherwise, you can compromise the rest.
You can also clean it, as sometimes when dust or dirt enters the panel, it can negatively affect it.
If the problem is the screen, one option will be to find a replacement considering the model and brand.

Are LED panels safe?

When looking to purchase products for your daily spaces, you should always ask yourself whether they present any risk to your safety or health.

LED panels are one of the safest products on the market. For example, its low voltage direct current dramatically reduces the most common hazards in handling electrical appliances and lighting products.

However, artificial light is an essential factor to consider for your health. Studies have shown that artificial white lights can reduce melatonin production at night.

This hormone regulates our biological clock, anti-tumour, neuroprotective and immunological activities, among many others. For this reason, avoiding cold or neutral lights at night is recommended and exchanging them for warm tones.

Purchase Criteria

When buying our LED panels, we will find a large variety that could be overwhelming. Therefore, you must consider some factors when choosing it and ensure it is the most suitable for your needs. These are the most relevant:

Shapes and measures

When you start our search, you will find an infinity of designs and sizes of LED panels on the market. From classic square or rectangular panels to triangular panels, we can see them in small, medium, or large sizes.

Some of the most common measurements you will find will be 60 x 60 in the case of squares, 60 x 120 or 30 x 120 in rectangular ones, and 10 cm or 20 cm in circular ones. You can even get them personalized. The market offers a wide variety to adapt to your tastes, needs, and abilities.

Light Temperature

An important factor that is often overlooked is the temperature of the light. Choosing the right temperature can make a big difference in your daily activities.

This occurs because our brain reacts in different ways to different light temperatures. Some stimulate, and others relax, measured in degrees Kelvin, from warm to cold colours.

Although there are many colours within LED lights, most are white (warm, natural, or cool). In these, the lower the Kelvin, the warmer the lights. Each tonality has a use depending on the environment you want to create.

Warm light is perfect for creating cozy and relaxing environments, while cool lights create more stimulating environments and higher performance. For its part, neutral light is the most similar to sunlight, generating feelings of animosity and energy.

Light Direction

An essential factor in illuminating our spaces is to think about how we want the light to be oriented. For this reason, a distinction is usually made between LED panels with direct lighting and those with indirect lighting.

Direct lighting panels are those where the LEDs are placed directly towards the surface that wants to be illuminated. This allows for better visibility but may be less uniformly distributed as the light does not change direction.
Indirect lighting panels: In these, the LEDs are horizontally towards a sheet that abruptly changes the angle of the light. This mechanism reflects the light upwards, which provides more excellent uniformity but reduces its illumination level. This is why you generally need other lighting elements as a compliment.

Power

Power refers to the device’s power consumption and the light output it can achieve. But as in other characteristics, the panels are designed with different powers to have more or less luminosity according to the client’s needs.

You can find panels with very varied powers, ranging from 12 W, 16 W, 25 W, 30 W, 40 W, to 80 W. There is no exact power level for the panels. Therefore, it is essential when deciding which product best suits your capabilities and needs.

Additional Characteristics

We already know all LED panels’ benefits, but some may go further. Many have features that make them even more efficient, specialized, and easy to use.

Mechanisms to adjust the lighting, integration with voice assistants such as Siri or Alexa, and antibacterial technology are some of the options on the market.

In general, panels with highly specialized features such as antibacterial technology are designed for customers with specific needs, such as hospitals. However, if you are only looking for comfort, the graduation mechanisms or voice assistance will be essential for your purchase.

Summary

We have discussed the importance of lighting for our daily activities, how to take advantage of it and what we should avoid. In the beginning, there were many questions about what LED panels were and, how they work, whether or not you should buy them.

However, we decided to go further and explain its characteristics, comparisons with other products, and critical concepts such as colour temperature.

We did that to ensure we give you the best possible information, not only to clear up your doubts but to give you the tools and criteria you need to make the best decision.

Now you can choose between LED panels and other devices from the massive variety of models. Just depend on you.

LED Panels Buying Guide: What You Should Know

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