Looking at Zhaga there are also considerable advantages for the end user. Luminaires that are using LED are in many cases being sold as products that will last a life time. Life time expectations of 100.000 hours have been advertised. With passing of years these life time expectancies have been considerably adjusted and not for the wrong reasons. Also LED products will go defect.

There are several moments on which a LED luminaire can fail also due to the increasing complexity of the luminaires there is more chance on failures simply due to the increasing number of components. Many end-users have now learned that LED products do not have the eternal life. Products fail already after a short life time and others fail after a much longer time. Anyway conclusion must be that products fail and need to be repaired.

The problem is that the modules that where made several years ago are not always still being manufactured, also the spec can be changed significantly. Can this be the case also in Zhaga, basically the modules will still fit and the the light distribution will not change. The light output can increase but that can simply be corrected by f.e. reducing the current. The issue is that the luminaire can be repaired and that modules can be bought even if the original luminaire (or module) manufacturer is no-longer around.

What we currently see is that many luminaires are being refurbished. Old luminaires for fluorescent lighting are being refurbished to LED. These companies take out the control gear and replace it with a driver and replace the tube with a LED tube. The problems that should be considered here can be part of a separate blog series. In case of Zhaga luminaires this is easily possible. You can replace a Zhaga module with a more efficient module including the driver without having to change the actual luminaire. OK you still have to change the parts but the problems incurred are much less severe than in case of refurbishing a fluorescent luminaire.

So can this not work with non-normalized modules? I hear you ask. Not necessarily, if the manufacturer is still in existence and he is still making the same form factor after f.e. 10 years than this problem could well be covered as well. But take into consideration that companies come and go and that products that are being further developed are not always backward compatible. This depends on the companies philosophy of course. This backward compatibility problem can be covered but the bankruptcy of companies is not always preventable. So the main message is think about it, what is important for you as end-user and what do you consider as important.

So conclusion is that there are many advantages for the end-user. I think in retrospect we can not thank Edison enough for inventing the Edison screw type lamp holder. It is a unsafe product but we have been able to upgrade light sources as simple consumers till now. Look at your home situation, have you been changing incandescent bulbs by the upgraded eco-halogen, CFL or LED sources? And did you not use many different brands of incandescent lamp and/or CFL in your home luminaires? Do you decide based on type of light, amount of light etc. That is basically the same as what Zhaga intents to achieve. Freedom of choice for the luminaire manufacturer and for the end-user.

Jacob.