LED lighting - Integrated vs driver

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angski

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#299420 6-Sep-2022 10:37

There are two version of LED lighting in the market place
A. integrated - driver mounted on back of it
b. Driver - driver is attached to the LED lighting

JA Russell sells mostly the driver version whereas Lighting Direct and Lighting Plus have both version.

Which one do you recommend and why? My 2c will be to go with the integrated version. But the sales person at JA said go with the driver version (of course he will say that).
What is/are your opinion?

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#2963825 6-Sep-2022 10:45

If a light with an integrated driver fails you probably have to replace the whole light. If it looks different from the others in the room you may want to replace every light in the room. If the driver is separate you can replace just the driver - assuming it's a common voltage / current.

I had that happen recently, a bathroom downlight driver failed, and the bathroom LED driver strip failed. Both were around 7-8 years old. The download driver was 36V which was unusual and we couldn't find a replacement, whereas the LED strip light used a regular 12V driver. We replaced all the lights in the bathroom at a cost of about $300, but the LED strip I just bought a new driver for about $30.

So my answer: separate driver.

angski

59 posts

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#2963828 6-Sep-2022 10:55

timmmay:

If a light with an integrated driver fails you probably have to replace the whole light. If it looks different from the others in the room you may want to replace every light in the room. If the driver is separate you can replace just the driver - assuming it's a common voltage / current.

I had that happen recently, a bathroom downlight failed, and the bathroom LED strip failed. We replaced all the lights in the bathroom at a cost of about $300, but the LED strip I just bought a new driver for about $30.

So my answer: separate driver.

Fantastic answer, thank you. I forgotten that maybe it is the driver that could go first rather than the LED lights. Then it will be a mismatch of the LED lights.

timmmay

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#2963829 6-Sep-2022 10:59

Multiple LED drivers failed at about 7-8 years old for us. They're sitting up in hot ceilings, it's not surprising. I had LED lights that used a 36V driver and I couldn't find a replacement, hence having to replace all the lights.

angski

59 posts

Master Geek

#2963831 6-Sep-2022 11:03

timmmay:

Multiple LED drivers failed at about 7-8 years old for us. They're sitting up in hot ceilings, it's not surprising. I had LED lights that used a 36V driver and I couldn't find a replacement, hence having to replace all the lights.

Thanks for the reply. Did go with drivers or integrated LED?

When my friend was building his house, he asked the sparkie to put the drivers, not close to the light, but to like a inbuilt panel, where all the drivers are located. I thought that was a fantastic idea.

timmmay

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#2963832 6-Sep-2022 11:06

angski:

Thanks for the reply. Did go with drivers or integrated LED?

When my friend was building his house, he asked the sparkie to put the drivers, not close to the light, but to like a inbuilt panel, where all the drivers are located. I thought that was a fantastic idea.

Good idea to centralize the drivers :) My new lights all have separate drivers. They sit on top of the insulation, you have to make sure the lights are insulation cover rated - most should be these days.

angski

59 posts

Master Geek

#2963835 6-Sep-2022 11:12

timmmay:

angski:

Thanks for the reply. Did go with drivers or integrated LED?

When my friend was building his house, he asked the sparkie to put the drivers, not close to the light, but to like a inbuilt panel, where all the drivers are located. I thought that was a fantastic idea.

Good idea to centralize the drivers :) My new lights all have separate drivers. They sit on top of the insulation, you have to make sure the lights are insulation cover rated - most should be these days.

Yes, he shown be the picture. The sparkie built a ventilated front panel and named all the drivers associated with the lights. i was like, wow, bright sparkie (pardon the pun).

neb

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#2963961 6-Sep-2022 18:25

timmmay:
My new lights all have separate drivers. They sit on top of the insulation, you have to make sure the lights are insulation cover rated - most should be these days.

Yep, and that's an important point, if you're putting in IC-F rated lights then you've already got a fairly significant heat source smothered in insulation, you don't want even more heat from the driver adding to the load. That's why we got separate drivers, lights under the insulation, drivers on top.

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tchart

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#2963964 6-Sep-2022 18:46

I don’t think you can win either way…

We have a newish 6 year old home. I’ve had two LED down lights fail on me. While I’ve been able to source the exact same lights the manufacturer had updated the driver and also changed the connector between the driver/light. So sometimes there is no reuse of existing components anyway.

When I went in to get the replacements the salesperson said 90% of the time it’s the driver that fails - wasn’t in my case - so I figure if it’s going to be the driver you might as well not bother having separate drivers.

timmmay

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#2963965 6-Sep-2022 18:49

One of my four office light drivers failed. I purchased five drivers so I have spare. Another driver failed since then, only took a few minutes to replace it.

angski

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#2964009 6-Sep-2022 20:30

if a driver provides either constant voltage or current, do you need a specific driver to light up a specific brand of LED light, or would any driver do the job?

rogercruse

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#2964463 8-Sep-2022 07:07

timmmay:... Good idea to centralize the drivers :) My new lights all have separate drivers. They sit on top of the insulation, you have to make sure the lights are insulation cover rated - most should be these days....

My integrated driver "farm" for LED and other drivers.

All lighting is controlled using 24vdc... original plan was to distribute drivers through home before space was found in the network cupboard.

neb

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#2964601 8-Sep-2022 11:01

rogercruse:
My integrated driver "farm" for LED and other drivers.

All lighting is controlled using 24vdc... original plan was to distribute drivers through home before space was found in the network cupboard.

So you're running low voltage DC over long runs of cable all over the house? How many volts are left by the time they get to the lights?

angski

59 posts

Master Geek

#2964617 8-Sep-2022 11:49

neb:
rogercruse:

My integrated driver "farm" for LED and other drivers.

So you're running low voltage DC over long runs of cable all over the house? How many volts are left by the time they get to the lights?

i found this link with all the calculations

https://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html?necmaterial=copper&necwiresize=0&necconduit=steel&necpf=0.85&material=copper&wiresize=8.286&resistance=1.2&resistanceunit=okm&voltage=240&phase=ac&noofconductor=8&distance=20&distanceunit=meters&amperes=.3&x=42&y=23&ctype=size

angski

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#2964620 8-Sep-2022 11:51

rogercruse:

timmmay:... Good idea to centralize the drivers :) My new lights all have separate drivers. They sit on top of the insulation, you have to make sure the lights are insulation cover rated - most should be these days....

My integrated driver "farm" for LED and other drivers.

All lighting is controlled using 24vdc... original plan was to distribute drivers through home before space was found in the network cupboard.

fantastic picture. Thanks for sharing. Should there be holes for ventilation?

KiwiME

214 posts

Master Geek

#2964729 8-Sep-2022 17:06

I suspect the reason that drivers are sometimes separate has more to do with the manufacturer reducing the costs of regulatory compliance for the part that takes 230VAC, a part that can be used on many different products.

Personally I prefer the built-in driver because I don't like having a part that is not secured.

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