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Introducing The Brightedge^TM LED Light, an intelligent task light system for laboratories!

This one of a kind product is available only through New England Lab. For 25 years our philosophy has been to bring the right solutions to our clients. When forward thinking architects at Payette Associates approached us for a shelf mounted LED task light solution that was smart enough to turn off its own motion sensor, we found there was nothing available on the market. That’s when New England Lab’s design team took over to create an intelligent, energy saving, adaptable, and bright task light solution.

The nutshell: If you don’t have time to read all the details, this is what you need to know. This is a very bright task light designed to be mounted to the entire front edge of a single upper bench shelf. It is housed in a specifically engineered aluminum extrusion that cuts the light off for precise light distribution to the typical 30” deep lab bench. The light gets turned on with the push of a switch and two motion sensor time periods can be preset to help save energy. Continue reading to get the specifics on how it works!

The light – These bright LEDs are tightly spaced at ½” on center to reduce shadow effects. Mounted on circuit boards (not tape), the lights deliver a minimum average of 50 footcandles to the work surface located 54” below. With an energy saving maximum wattage of 8.0 watts per linear foot and a color rendering index (CRI) of 80, these lights have a beautiful color temperature of 3500K with a maximum lifetime color shift of +/- 100K. The minimum estimated life to 70% of light output is 50,000 hours, which means you could leave them on for 5 years without failure. But since this light is smart enough to turn itself off in two different ways, it will actually last much longer!

The light housing - The Brightedge^TM LED Light by New England Lab is made from a two piece aluminum extrusion custom designed with two distinct purposes in mind: one side is a light reflector while the other cuts the light abruptly off the other side to accurately bring light coverage to a 30” lab bench surface without excessive glare for the user. This epoxy powder coated or anodized aluminum light housing captures the LED boards and allows for a standard snap-in clear light lens to keep dust out. The light housing is fabricated to match the shelf length and is designed for a 1” shelf thickness. The low voltage power cord comes out of the light housing at a 90 degree angle making it easy to hide the cord within the shelf.

The LED driver – The factory-programmable driver regulates light output based on the length of the shelf. LED boards are made in 12” and 6” increments meaning the actual LED lights span almost the entire length of the shelf even if you have modified shelf lengths. With the programmable driver, you can create a consistent brightness level per linear foot regardless of how many benches at different widths are adjacent to one another.

The intelligent occupancy sensor – The Advanced Occupancy Sensor (AOS) has two levels of intelligence. First, it works like any occupancy sensor you are probably already familiar with. When you approach your lab bench for the first time in the morning you will need to turn on the light with a physical push-button switch. The standard occupancy sensor immediately takes over, turning the light off when no motion is detected. There are seven preset time lengths for shutting off the light when it does not see any activity, the shortest of which is 5 minutes. If that is your desired preset and you walk away for more than 5 minutes, the light will turn off. It will turn back on when it sees movement again. This is pretty standard functionality for a light with an occupancy sensor switch. What makes this a more intelligent light is that there is a second time period that can be selected to turn off the motion sensor. This prevents costly false triggering of your light. Let’s say you are gone for the afternoon to visit New England Lab’s local office and you had selected an hour as your preset to shut down the motion sensor. Once that hour has passed, the motion sensor shuts down and the light won’t be powered on every time neighboring researchers or cleaning personnel walk by. This could amount to big energy savings over the years. When you come back to work, just push the switch to turn the light back on and activate the motion sensor’s first time period again.

The less intelligent version of this light can be purchased without the occupancy sensor and plug into a switched outlet. That outlet could be controlled by a wall switch or an external room occupancy sensor switch. The result is still a beautiful and bright light fixture, but the Brightedge^TM LED Light with the Advanced Occupancy Sensor is the brightest way to save energy.

For more information about this exciting new product, contact a New England Lab specialist now!