News

GRE’s SEL-20kA Answers the Threat of Power Surges

LED lighting investments can cost thousands of dollars – ignoring the possibility of unchecked power line transient voltage surge can be devastating. GRE Alpha’s surge protection device acts as a flood wall that guards against transient voltage surges, enabling the lighting system to stay intact, and saves the costs associated with replacement.

The risk of surge-related damage is even greater today, due to LEDs being more complex than in the past. Dimming and other functionality have resulted in more parts and circuits that can be damaged or destroyed by a lightning or power surge.

So, how can you protect your investment, while still utilizing state-of-the-art lighting technology?

GRE Alpha’s Solution to Power Surges

The GRE Alpha SEL-20kA Surge Energy Protector provides maximum protection by providing effective coverage against both direct and indirect lightning strikes. The SEL-20kA Transient Surge Energy Protector is potted, making it an ideal fit for indoor or outdoor use—this means surge protection that is ideal for various applications, including street lighting and signage. Complying with UL1449 Type 2 SPD, this cUL/UL Listed device provides 20kA max and Voc 20kV, L-L and L-G protection, offering comprehensive protection on various transient and direct surges.

Additional Ease of Installation when Paired with GRE Alpha Dimming Modules

The GRE Surge protector is the ideal accessory for multiple uses and works well with other components. Using GRE’s own patented driver housing as an example, Richard Fong, Director at GRE Alpha states “Our housing design not only saves on installation costs but simplifies wiring and allows for the addition of accessories such as surge protection and our dimming modules for tuning lighting recipes.”

Unlike many products, GRE Alpha’s lighting solutions keep the LED power supply, dimming functionality, and protection circuitry separate. This lets you decide which functionality is most important to you. For example, the SLD SMART-DIM MODULE can be added onto existing lights, making them dimmable when you’re ready.

Wiring can be done within the product's wiring compartments without the need for external junction boxes to house the wiring and the LED driver. GRE Alpha’s patented driver has integral wiring compartments as part of the core design. As a result, the Smart Dim Module:

• Takes three times less time to install than a competing solution
• Increases reliability due to fewer open connections with exposed wiring

The modular approach offers numerous advantages. Other solutions in the market already incorporate all functions in one product, which leads to feature creep and forces the customer to buy features that they don't necessarily need. According to Mr. Fong, “Our approach allows us to separate the module and to make sure our products do each thing well without compromising on cost or performance.”

Attendees of October’s Hong Kong International Lighting Fair will be able to see these products at Booth No. 1CON-003, ED-TSO and make the comparison themselves.

About GRE Alpha

GRE Alpha offers the latest in LED technology— from LED drivers, surge protectors, to dimming modules. To learn more about unique, state-of-the-art LED solutions visit their website, grealpha.com. To receive the latest news about their products and industry happenings, sign up for their newsletter.

If you have attended a trade show recently, the buzz surrounding LEDs and the incorporation into luminaire design is inescapable. Previous generations of LED luminaires attempted to incorporate LEDs into essentially the same design as their traditional counter parts. This limited both performance and possibilities. As the demand for energy efficient lighting increases integrating LEDs into design becomes less of an afterthought. LED luminaire design is very different from traditional fixture development. LED luminaire design requires a systematical approach that balances competing requirements such as:

• Optics
• Mechanics
• Power supply
• Heat management
• Controllability
  
  

Innovations in Optics and Mechanics Improve Design

LED lighting is known for its efficiency but even the most efficient light sources would be judged inadequate without high-quality optics. A compact fluorescent lamp, for example, can lose up to 70 percent of its light if paired with an inappropriate optic, says Nadarajah Narendran, director of research at the Lighting Research Center (LRC), in Troy, N.Y. Likewise, the touted efficacy of LEDs wouldn’t exist without the right optics. (archlighting.com) As efficiency and thermal performance in LED packages continue to improve, they pose design advantages. Fewer LEDs may be needed to satisfy light levels and optical distributions. This allows even greater flexibility in optical and mechanical design. This empowers lighting manufacturers to create lighting solutions tailored to meet the most demanding field requirements and yield maximum supply chain value.

Luminaire Design Functionality

While luminaire designers are making tremendous leaps using technology, there are some practical considerations to keep in mind. Supplying power to these innovative light sources requires specialized LED drivers. LEDs are designed to run on low voltage (12-24V), direct current electricity. Conversely, the most common power supply is at a higher voltage (120-277V) using alternating current electricity. An LED driver rectifies this problem. Secondly, protection from voltage or current fluctuations come into play.

Too much or too little current can cause light output to vary or degrade faster due to higher temperatures within the LED.

Heat dissipation is and has been one of the primary challenges with LED technology. LED junction temperature must be kept below manufacturer specified levels to achieve long life. Luminaires with smaller form factors tend to have poorer thermal performance. This can lead to compromises such as a lowering the intensity of the light or sacrificing some longevity in favor of intensity.

Controllability

Updated energy codes require efficient, bilevel lighting. This tips the scale toward units that low in power and often offered with 0-10V dimming control standards. Greater energy savings are achieved through occupancy and daylight dimming controls. As digital light sources, LED lighting fixtures can be precisely controlled with dimmers, push-button devices, wireless touchscreens, smart phones or integrated into a structure’s IT system. Digital Multiplex (DMX) and Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) protocols have become widely adopted. While the initial priority focused on making commercial lighting more controllable, popularity has increased and it is now used in various applications, including hotel, restaurant, and residential settings.

GRE Alpha’s Patented Solutions Elevate Luminaire Design

GRE Alpha has a wide array of products that elevate luminaire design.

The GRE Alpha XLD 75 and XLD 200 both offer dual modes, giving you constant current and constant voltage options. Furthermore, both the output current and voltage are adjustable, letting you get the most optimal performance from your light fixtures. And as the only UL listed LED drivers on the market, you can use them to drastically reduce your approval times and agency approval costs.

Both of these models are easy to install thanks to our patented enclosures, which simplify wiring requirements. Fast to install and capable of working in temperatures ranging from - 40°C to -60°C, both options will have users remotely controlling their lighting in no time, no matter the environment.

The DALI Dimming Module and SLD-DIMTW Tunable White Dimming Module give users even more advanced customization and control of their lighting. Both capable of being incorporated into your existing LED drivers, these solutions offer customization with an extremely small form factor, high efficiency, and competitive cost. Easy to install and inexpensive, this simple upgrade can be implemented on new lighting projects, or retrofit to your older fixtures, enabling them to support industry standards like 0-10V, DALI, DMX, TRIAC, wireless and more.

Getting the Latest in LED Technology

GRE Alpha is committed to innovation and to delivering high-quality, leading edge LED lighting solutions. For more information about LED drivers, dimming modules, and accessories, or to speak with a GRE Alpha product expert, visit the Enquiries page and fill out the Enquiry Form. Sign up for the GRE Alpha newsletter to stay up-to-date on new products and for early access to other GRE Alpha news.

Horticultural lighting has recently seen rapid growth, especially as horticultural LED and LED grow lighting systems have become more mainstream. New products regularly released in the LED industry, and an increasing number of urban farmers—and individuals able to farm from less traditional or less fertile locations—join the market every day. As such, the focus of the industry is shifting. Horticultural LED systems no longer need to simply function, but must be able to tailor and fine-tune lighting recipes to grow plants more efficiently.

Modern Farming with LED Grow Lighting

Plants need nutrients, air, water and the right temperature to grow. LED grow lighting helps achieve these growing conditions, but with less energy and better overall yield than traditional grow lighting systems. This is because LED lighting can be dimmed, tuned and tailored to fit the specific needs of different crops.

GRE Alpha boasts a wide range of powering and lighting control solutions for horticultural and grow lighting applications. Lighting environments require stability and often must operate at elevated temperatures—temperatures that are ideal for plant growth conditions. GRE Alpha’s LED powering solutions provide a robust and flexible power platform for powering horticultural LED, and lighting control models can be further added for color tuning applications.

The horticultural lighting solutions provided by GRE Alpha offer universal input (90-305 VAC), 60W to 300W multi-channel output options, 60 degrees Celsius/140 degrees Fahrenheit operating temperature without de-rating, IP65 splash-proof and moisture-proof design, user-adjustable output current and voltage, high efficiency design to maximize photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) and available color tuning module upgrade. The products are also UL/cUL Class 2 listed, PSE and CB registered, and fit well in grow lighting, horticultural LED and constant voltage (CV) and constant current (CC) applications.

Top-Notch Horticultural and Grow Lighting Solutions

One such product in the GRE Alpha horticultural lighting suite is the easy-install XLD Series—the industry’s first and only UL Listed LED driver that supports both CC and CV mode operation and can work with a wide range of temperatures. The XLD Series features universal AC input, integral wiring compartments for reduced installation costs, user-adjustable output voltage and current, 1-10V dimming options with the SLD Smart Dim series dimming module, up to 92 percent efficiency, active power factor correction (PF > 0.9), heavy duty design to withstand harsh environments up to four combinable output channels, and built-in SCP, OTP, OVP and OCP protection. It is CCC and PSE certified, making it suitable for use in Japan and China. The XLD Series’ patented housing design not only saves money and time related to installation costs, but also simplifies wiring and allows for addition of accessories such as surge protection and GRE Alpha dimming modules for tuning lighting recipes. These attributes make the XLD Series an optimal element of an horticultural LED lighting system.

Similarly, GRE Alpha’s SL-DIMTW Tunable White Dimming Module is a CV tunable white LED dimming module that boasts 0/1-10V control signal acceptance, smooth dynamic color temperature shifts of 2000K to 8000K, and a plug-and-play design that, depending on application situation, can create eye-catching, color temperature-changing effects without color distortion. With customized dimming curves that allow for lighting recipe adjustments and ease of control by using a simple PWM dimmer of a 01-10V dimmer, the Tunable White dimming module is a pioneer in the LED market, opening up ease of upgrade and options for color tuning applications that improve dynamics of light—elements that are important to integrating a product into an LED grow lighting system.

Constantly Innovating in LED Technology

GRE Alpha is committed to innovation and to delivering high-quality, leading edge LED lighting solutions. For more information about LED drivers, dimming modules and accessories, or to speak with a GRE Alpha product expert, visit the Enquiries page and fill out the Enquiry Form. Sign up for the GRE Alpha newsletter to stay up-to-date on new products and for early access to other GRE Alpha news.

GRE Alpha is proud to announce the addition of Japan-based Asty Corporation to its distributor list. The distribution partnership was made official in July.

Asty Corporation is a leading electronics company and LED driver distributor located in Tokyo, Japan. The company prides itself on providing LED lighting solutions and professional technical support to satisfy customers’ requirements—including engineering support services, specialized LED signage, street lighting, sign-board advertising solutions, and next-generation intelligent lighting systems in the IoT industry, complete with sensors and camera solutions.

"Japan is a growing market for us, and I am excited that our partnership with Asty Corporation will enable us to extend our market reach and better our service offerings to our Japanese customers," said Richard Fong, Executive Director at GRE Alpha.

GRE Alpha® Electronics, Ltd. specializes in the design and manufacture of solid-state lighting power supplies and lighting control accessories—items that are the lifeblood of indoor and outdoor LED lighting systems.

With more than two decades of power conversion expertise and a commitment towards innovation, GRE Alpha engages with industry pioneers to deliver highly efficient, installation-ready, and agency-approved LED power conversion products for a wide variety of industry applications.

"GRE Alpha is committed to providing top-quality sales and engineering support to our customers worldwide,” Fong said. “I believe our partnership with Asty Corporation will greatly enhance our ability to provide better service and technical support to our customers in Japan."

For more information about GRE Alpha LED drivers, dimming modules and accessories, or to speak with a GRE Alpha product expert, visit the Enquiries page and fill out the Enquiry Form. Sign up for the GRE Alpha newsletter to stay up-to-date on new products and for early access to other GRE Alpha news.

For more information about GRE Alpha’s list of trusted professional distributors, visit the Distributors page.

In a world where lighting management components manufacturers are constantly working to get the upper hand in innovation, collaboration, not competition, can be a great push forward. Protocols and standardization organizations like the Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) are helping to create a space in which components can work together to create stronger, more efficient LED lighting systems. GRE Alpha is at the forefront of such innovations, creating and offering DALI-compliant products that will help push the LED lighting movement into new spaces.

DALI: A Standard for Professional Lighting

DALI is known as the “true standard for professional digital lighting and lighting control.” A protocol set out in the technical standards of IEC 62386, DALI includes a list of parameters to be considered. These parameters include brightness and glare, color control, color rendering, light color and presence sensing, among many, many other criteria.

DALI offers the only“open standard” to promote uniformity and interoperability with a range of system components, enabling systems to utilize DALI-compliant components from many different suppliers. The uniformity involved in DALI products allows companies to manufacture different elements of a system, and each element seamlessly works to support the other pieces.

Because DALI’s purpose is to ensure the right quality of light in any given application setting, it is becoming increasingly important for building management systems. Leading lighting companies are launching DALI-compliant solutions for building management to offer better solutions for consumers. In fact, one such lighting company, Philips Lighting, recently listed the GRE Alpha DALI dimming module on its website. For a comprehensive list of DALI products on the market, visit DALI’s Product Finder page.

GRE Alpha in the DALI Age

Two of GRE Alpha’s products can be easily paired with existing lighting systems to upgrade them to DALI protocol compliance. These products include the SLD-DIM DALI and GLD-DIM-DALI dimming modules.

The SLD-DIM DALI dimming module offers wide-range DC input (8 to 48V), DALI control input, integrated strain relief and terminal cover, spring-loaded terminals for easy installation, 255 dimming levels, zero to 100 percent dimming range, duplicate terminals for parallel connection and up to 97 percent efficiency. The SLD-DIM DALI is Class 1 and Class 2 UL-listed, as well as FCC Class B and SELV. Designed to meet the newest standards in DALI lighting control protocol, the dimmer provides flexibility and ease-of-use for smart home lighting automation projects.

Similarly, the GLD-DIM-CC DALI Dimming Module boasts constant output for dimming strips and linear lighting, add-on for GLV series independent type, easy snap-on to GLV independent type LED drivers, wide range DC input (10 to 48V), zero to 100 percent dimming range, switch and DALI versions (0-10V and 1-10V), spring-loaded terminal for easy installation in luminaires and up to 97 percent efficiency.

The SLD-DALI supports constant voltage LED lighting products, whereas the GLD-DIM-CC DALI supports constant current. Additionally, the GLD-DIM-CC DALI comes with current selectable output of 350mA, 500mA, 700mA and 1050mA.

DALI Support and Innovation from GRE Alpha

As a member of the DALI organization, GRE Alpha offers DALI-compliant products that pair well with most DALI systems on the market. Several GRE Alpha products and solutions support the DALI, including the Six-in-One Dimming Module and the Seven-in-One Dimming Module.

The GRE Alpha Six-in-One LED Dimming Module offers a multi-colored status LED indicator, user-adjustable linear or logarithmic dimming transfer functions, integrated strain relief and terminal cover, spring-loaded terminals for easy installation, dimming controls (switch, 0-10V, 1-10V, VR, DALI and PWM), zero to 100 percent dimming range, wide range DC input (8 to 48V), 97 percent efficiency and up to 1023 dimming channels for high resolution smooth dimming.

GRE Alpha’s Seven-in-One Dimming Module is a single channel, 240W constant voltage dimming module that provides full-range, zero to 100 percent, high resolution dimming performance for constant voltage LED dimming applications. Flexible and easy-to-install, the unit comes with a multi-colored LED indicator, integrated strain relief cover and linear or logarithmic dimming characteristics that can be set for a wide variety of dimming applications. Each Seven-in-One Dimming Module comes with a built-in thermal shutdown with auto restart and overload protection.

Top-of-the-Line Offerings in LED Technology

GRE Alpha is committed to innovation and to delivering high-quality, leading edge LED lighting solutions. For more information about LED drivers, dimming modules and accessories, or to speak with a GRE Alpha product expert, visit the Enquiries page and fill out the Enquiry Form. Sign up for the GRE Alpha newsletter to stay up-to-date on new products and for early access to other GRE Alpha news.