Introduction

There are many historic cities in North America, South America, and especially in Europe. In these old towns, historic districts, or traditional-style residential areas, there are many antique lamp post with vintage lanterns hanging on them. These lanterns have witnessed the significant evolution of lighting technology—from incandescent lamps, sodium lamps, HID lamps to today’s LED lamps. Although some lamps have been replaced with LED urban lights, some European lamps still remain today with their elegant symmetrical design and simple lines, which shows that their iconic aesthetics are still highly sought after, not only because they are visually attractive, but also because they are treasures reflecting historical and cultural heritage. However, these lamps also have many problems, such as insufficient brightness, frequent maintenance (More about street light maintenance) , and high electricity costs. Therefore, how to preserve these ancient lanterns while meeting modern lighting needs has become a major challenge. ZGSM believes that we should find a balance between balancing historical authenticity and the need for energy efficiency, sustainability, and improved lighting, and LED light retrofits for antique lamp posts are one of the ideal solutions. This article will mainly explain what LED light retrofits are, the advantages of ZGSM solutions, and some application cases of ZGSM.

What are LED light retrofits?

LED light retrofits are designed to replace existing traditional light sources such as incandescent lamps, fluorescent lamps and high-pressure sodium lamps. In retrofit installations, we usually retain the shell part of the existing lamps and install new components (i.e. LED retrofit kits) that are compatible with the existing fixtures. Since the size of traditional lighting fixtures is generally larger than that of LED components, their internal space is sufficient to accommodate LED retrofit kits that are smaller, generate less heat and are lighter. Installing LED retrofit fit only requires solving electrical connection and mechanical fixing problems, without replacing the entire lighting fixture, which significantly reduces the equipment procurement cost and installation and construction costs. This is a very good choice for users who want to upgrade the lighting system and improve the quality of light. At present, LED retrofit technology has been widely used in indoor and outdoor lighting scenarios: in indoor lighting, it can replace troffer light, high bay light, canopy light (ZGSM canopy lights), etc. In outdoor lighting, it can replace classic street lights, shoebox fixtures, post top light, floodlights, etc. This transformation mode perfectly realizes the technical upgrade of the lighting system while retaining the aesthetic value of the original lamps.

What’s the problems of traditional lighting in antique lamp post?

High energy consumption

Traditional street lamps usually use incandescent lamps, halogen lamps or high-pressure sodium lamps as light sources, and these lamps have extremely high energy consumption. For example, the power conversion efficiency of incandescent lamps is less than 10%, most of the energy is wasted in the form of heat energy, and the light efficiency is only about 10lm/w. In contrast, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of LEDs is much higher, and the current efficiency of LEDs can reach more than 200lm/w. The efficiency of halogen lamps and high-pressure sodium lamps is between incandescent lamps and LEDs, but their current efficiency is only half of that of LEDs. In addition, the light distribution (What’s light distribution?) of traditional lamps is very unreasonable, while LEDs can achieve the lighting requirements with suitable light distribution. Therefore, we can often use LED solutions with lower wattage and more reasonable light distribution to achieve the required lighting requirements, which can significantly reduce electricity bills, which is very beneficial for city managers with a large number of roads, parks, and factories.

Short lifespan which needs frequent maintenance

The light sources used in traditional post top lamps have a fatal disadvantage of short lifespan (What’s lifespan of LED lighting?) in addition to low luminous efficiency. Incandescent and halogen lamps usually have a lifespan of only 1,000 to 2,000 hours, and high pressure sodium lamps have a lifespan of about 10,000 hours, which is much lower than the 50,000 to 100,000 hours of LEDs. This means that these traditional lamps need to be replaced within less than 2 years of use, and frequent replacement of light sources requires high labor and maintenance costs. In addition, repeated disassembly and assembly will also cause damage, wear and tear, and waterproofing problems to the lamps, which is extremely unfavorable for lamp maintenance. On the contrary, the long life of LEDs helps reduce maintenance frequency and save maintenance costs, making them an ideal choice for retrofit kits.

Poor light quality

In addition to high energy consumption and short life, traditional light sources have many other disadvantages, including low color rendering index, unselectable color temperature, unreasonable light distribution, and high temperature during operation. For example, the color rendering index of the previous generation of high-pressure sodium lamps is about 20-30, which causes the illumination to cause color distortion at night, making it impossible to clearly restore the true color of buildings, people or objects at night. At the same time, due to the low conversion efficiency of traditional light sources, a large amount of electrical energy will be converted into heat energy during operation, and this part of heat energy will accumulate in the lamp housing, thereby generating high temperature. High temperature will not only accelerate the aging of lamps, but may also cause safety accidents in serious cases. In addition, the light distribution of traditional light sources is often unreasonable (mostly symmetrical light distribution), so much of the light emitted by the lamp cannot be projected into the lighting area, resulting in poor lighting effect (uneven lighting). LED lamps are equipped with different lenses to achieve uniform lighting (What’s lighting uniformity and how to improve it?).

Key feature of ZGSM LED light retrofits

It is because of the many disadvantages of traditional light sources that it is necessary to replace them with LED luminaires. ZGSM also believes that replacing them with LED light retrofits not only saves energy, but also reduces a part of the expenses. LED lighting is virtually maintenance-free and is expected to save up to 60-80% of electricity. ZGSM’s ST25 LUME series LED light retrofit comes with an aluminum mounting plate that carries the LED module, lens, glass, surge, LED driver (How to choose the right LED driver?) and other connectors, and it has an efficient thermal management that ensures a long lifetime of the luminaire. In addition to its optical and structural design, there are many other advantages of the ZGSM LED light retrofits, which are described below.

High luminous efficacy and good heat dissipation

The ST25 LED light retrofit has different LED chips to choose from, including the standard 3030 version, and the high-efficiency and ultra-high-efficiency 5050 versions. The highest luminous efficiency can reach 185lm/w, which can save more than 50% of power consumption compared to the traditional light source with an efficiency of less than 100lm/w. Because LEDs convert more energy into light energy, their unnecessary heat consumption will also be reduced. Combined with the excellent heat dissipation of ADC12 die-cast aluminum, this series of lamps has efficient thermal management, which can not only avoid failures caused by thermal runaway, but also reduce light decay (Light decay and CLO function of LED solutions) and extend the life of the lamps.

Various CCTs and light distributions are available

The LED post top light retrofit(Retrofit Kit) offers a variety of color temperature (CCT) and light distribution options to meet the lighting needs of different scenarios. For example, the ST25 has 1800-6500K color temperature options, 2700K-3000K warm white light for residential and historic districts, 4000-5000K positive white for commercial and parks, 5700K-6500K cool white for factories and docks, etc. 1800K is suitable for the distinction of the strict limitations of blue light (such as the seaside and nature reserves, etc.). The ST25 is available in Type II, Type III and Type V light distribution types, which ensure uniform illumination in road, pedestrian street and parking lot applications. In addition, the ST25 comes standard with CRI70 LED chips, of course, CRI80 and CRI90 are also supported by the choice, but the luminous efficacy will be affected by a certain degree, interested parties can refer to the blog  “High CRI vs high luminous efficacy”.

Square or round type retrofit kit which also support customization

ST25 LED light retrofits are available in square and round types, which can meet most of the traditional lamps replacement needs. For example, globe post tops, bell post tops or bell pendant, cone post tops, rectangular post tops (Classic post top lantern), etc. Except for the last one, which mostly uses square LED retrofit kits, the rest of them are suitable for round LED light retrofit kits. In addition, we also support customized frames to suit customer’s special installation needs, but we recommend customers to send us the actual traditional fixtures to speed up the process of customization. The following is the application of ZGSM’s LED light retrofit kit in the project, the customer is very satisfied with this solution, the end-user that is to enjoy the high luminous efficacy and uniformity of LED lighting, but also to avoid the removal of these old equipment brought a series of problems (color harmony and high installation costs, etc.).

Other advantages of LED light retrofits

If you take a close look at the design of ZGSM-ST25 LED light retrofit kit, you will find that it is equipped with gland, fixing bracket, cable holes, which make the retrofit kit very easy to install. Adjustable bracket, which makes it adaptable to different sizes of traditional fixtures (including round and square housings), reducing customers’ SKUs. For smart lighting integration, the LED light retrofit kit supports DALI-2 dimming (with auxiliary power) and programmable timer dimming. For smart lighting integration, the LED light retrofit supports DALI-2 dimming, motion sensors (with auxiliary power supply) and programmable timer dimming (Timer dimming and its benefits), which meets the requirements of modern energy efficient lighting. The product comes standard with a 10KV surge, and with the IP66 design the fixtures are protected from harsh weather conditions.

Below is a link to the ST25 round and square type products, if you are interested, please click below to view more details. ZGSM also offers a wide range of modern Halo and L series garden lights, as well as traditional post top lights, including the 1094, 1058, etc. Click below to view ZGSM’s LED garden lights.

How to choose the right LED light retrofits and install it?

To choose the best LED light retrofit, you need to first evaluate the existing lamps and check their size, installation style and electrical requirements to ensure compatibility with the retrofit kit; then you need to determine the lighting needs, clarify the required luminous flux (wattage), color temperature and beam angle, and choose according to these requirements; then check whether the product has certifications/reports such as CE, CB, LM79 and TM21 to ensure safety, quality and energy efficiency; finally, if dimming function is required, confirm whether the LED retrofit kit supports the corresponding dimming, including microwave (Find more about street light with motion sensor), photo control, timer dimming and 0-10V (or DALI), etc. Next is how to install it. Here are several main steps.

1. Turn off the power: Switch off the power of the lamp at the circuit breaker and use a voltage tester to confirm that there is no power to ensure safety.

2. Disassemble the existing parts: Remove the old bulbs and other removable parts from the lamp. At the same time, the operator needs to find the input line and fix it in the appropriate position for the next step. Please strictly follow the electrical operation specifications in this step to avoid unnecessary trouble later.

3. Install the LED retrofit kit and complete the wire connections: Attach the LED light retrofit  to the existing light body and secure the wires using connectors or terminal blocks per the manufacturer’s instructions. Tighten the fixture housing connections with the mounting hardware.

4. Test the fixture: Turn on the power and check that the light is functioning properly.

Summary

In the context of modern lighting needs, upgrading old lanterns with LED light retrofits is an ideal choice for both aesthetics and high-quality lighting. In the past, traditional lighting solutions such as incandescent lamps or HID lamps have many disadvantages, such as high energy consumption, short life and unreasonable light distribution. On the contrary, LED light retrofits excel in these aspects, and they are also the priority points when we choose LED retrofit kits. In addition, we also need to consider the compatibility of the kit with the old lanterns, the choice of color temperature and CRI, etc. ZGSM’s ST25 LED retrofit kit has the square or round retrofit kit you want, and we also support customized fixing brackets. By adopting the LED retrofit solution, we can not only preserve the unique charm of old lanterns intact, but also actively embrace the concept of energy efficiency, strong product durability and environmentally friendly lighting. It is undoubtedly an excellent choice to achieve a win-win situation in both aesthetics and function.

Related Products

Related Blogs

Related Cases

People also ask

Author introduction