Background to 2D Compacts or 2D lamps .

The 2D lamp has been around for some time now and has widespread usage especially in commercial applications. They are compact and high brightness and the only real alternative is the tube light. The benefits of the 2D compact or 2D lamp is that it fits into remarkably reasonable looking bulkhead and ceiling mounted fittings which are of a compact size and easy to position in a multitude of places. For this reason they have become very popular for car parks, corridors in flats, warehouses, storage facilities, offices, hotel work areas and a host of other commercial applications. They are often fitted with passive infrared sensors ( PIRs) so they just light up on demand when somebody passes the sensor.

The standard Fluorescent 2D compact and some if the drawbacks compared to the 2D LED lamp.

The normal lamp fitted into the 2D bulkhead fitting is the fluorescent 2D compact which generally some is sizes of 16, 28 and 38 watts and with either 2 or 4 pin connectors. The fluorescent 2D compact is a good lamp however does have a few drawbacks. Firstly these light fittings are often controlled by PIR’s and the fluorescent lamp by its nature is not suited on repeated switching on and off and this normally leads to premature failure which means that a 2D compact lamps with a rated life of 10000 hours may only last 2500 hours! In contrast the 2D LED uses an improved technology which means that rapid switching is not an issues so you will not see a reduction in the life expectancy.

Also 2D lamps are often on for very long periods.  As an example in a car park they would typically be lit 24 hours a day and with this level of usage you would only get around 1 year life from a 10000 hour unit. Also if the lights are fitted in critical places and there is no back up lighting then failure can be a major issue so the longer life of the 2D LED is especially beneficial.

Additional benefits of the 2D LED lamp

The 2D LED lamp has a lifespan of around 35000 hours which is typically 4 times longer than its CFL counterpart.  This means that not only will failures be avoided and the disruption that they cause but additionally there is less maintenance cost for making the lamp changes. If the 2D compacts are in light fittings which are in important areas then it will often be necessary to either fit more light fittings so that there is redundancy in the system but consequently you can accept a few failures or use the 2D LED lamps which mean that you will get much higher reliability.

The 2D LED lamp has a directional capability typically with a beam angle of 120 degrees. As a consequence you can direct the light straight out of the light fitting as opposed to with CFL 2D lamps where there is a lot of wasted light which is cast back into the fitting and if this is not reflected out just servers to heat up the unit. As a consequence the level of light in the area LUX will be higher using the 2D LED lamp than the CFL 2D lamp. As an example the 2D LED 4 pin 14 watt will provide better illumination than the 28w CFL version.

The 2D LED lamp has its own built in driver and as a consequence does not need an external ballast or driver. This means that you will experience no failures doe to the light fitting ballast failing.