What is lighting maintenance?

All light sources lose brightness over time, whether LED, fluorescent, incandescent etc. - this is known as lumen degradation. The lumen degradation of LED lights is primarily dependent on chip quality, the current flowing through the chips (known as drive current - lower is generally better) and temperature. One of the primary differences between high and low quality LED fittings is thermal design - high quality LED luminaires are designed to radiate heat effectively to keep components cool and slow lumen degradation. An LED luminaire's lifetime is commonly modelled as its L70 point -i.e. the point at which lumen output has reduced to 70% of its initial value. Most good quality LED fittings should have an L70 value of at least 50,000 hours.