Industry News

Aleddra LED Lighting, a business unit of Lightel Technologies, Inc., is pleased to share that its double-ended EasiRetrofit LED tube has been selected as the top choice among facility managers for energy-efficient lighting retrofits due to its superior safety.

Facilities management is a cost-center in most organizations. As such, cost saving is a crucial priority for many facility managers when it comes to making the purchasing decision to replace linear fluorescent tubes with energy-efficient LED tubes. This concern with cost causes some to make the mistake of selecting the single-ended LED tube, which looks appealing with its cheaper price tag. More experienced facility managers, however, look at the total cost of ownership, which goes beyond per-lamp cost to include installation labor costs and long-term maintenance costs. After taking all these considerations into account, facility managers often decide on the UL-classified double-ended LED tube because the savings on installation time more than compensate for the slightly higher per-lamp cost of the tube.

However, there is also another less-known disadvantage to the single-ended LED tube, and that is the high liability cost. Accidentally inserting a fluorescent tube into a linear fixture that has been rewired for the single-ended LED tube will create an electrical short, which poses a hazard to the personnel changing out the LED tube. In contrast, there is no danger in inserting a fluorescent tube into a linear fixture that has been rewired for the double-ended LED tube, because without ballast the fluorescent tube won’t energize.

Here is a video demonstrating the difference:

Recently, a certain East Coast department store chain chose to retrofit the fluorescent T8’s at one of their facilities with the single-ended LED tube based on the lower cost per lamp. Not long after the installation, a maintenance crew member attempted to replace a dead single-ended LED tube with a fluorescent tube. At 277V line voltage the fluorescent tube exploded, sending mercury vapor everywhere. The result? All fluorescent T8 retrofit projects were put on hold, the fixtures at the facility in question were converted back for the fluorescent tube, and the facility manager was fired. All of these costly consequences could have been avoided by using Aleddra’s double-ended EasiRetrofit LED tube.

A fast food chain in California faced the similar challenge of retrofitting the fluorescent T8’s at its branch locations. However, knowing that it couldn’t rely on the electrical safety knowledge of store personnel, the company decided that its only choice was to find and use a fool-proof and safe LED tube that could be changed by any end user and posed no hazard in the event that a fluorescent tube was re-inserted into a rewired fixture. Its decision? The Aleddra double-ended EasiRetrofit LED tube.

“Experienced facility managers are quick to realize that the 70% in labor savings of the double-ended EasiRetrofit LED tube on installation more than offsets the per-lamp price difference as compared to the single-ended LED tube,” states Patrick Yu, Aleddra GM. “When they find out the EasiRetrofit tube also better protects their maintenance crews from safety hazards, and therefore their employer from liabilities, all without additional charge, the decision to purchase our tubes becomes a no-brainer. We have seen tremendous sales growth for our tubes as more facility managers and their supervisors become aware of the safety issue. The liability cost of a wrongly-chosen LED tube can be very high, as some facility managers had to learn the hard way. Why would anyone want to repeat such a mistake that could cost them their job?”

Aleddra’s double-ended EasiRetrofit LED tube is UL 1598C classified and its 4-ft models are on DLC (Design Lights Consortium) qualified product list for rebate. It comes with a 5-year warranty and 50,000-hr lifetime. It is available in 2, 3, 4, and 5 feet and in color temperatures of 3000K, 4100K, 5000K, and 6000K.

To get immediate energy savings on your facilities lighting and protect properly your maintenance crew, please contact us at [email protected] or 425-430-4555.