A little over a year ago we wrote about the BridgeLux Helieon fixture offering a snap-in, interchangeable LED light fixture and today we’ve gotten news that BridgeLux has teamed up with Molex to bring this interchangeable LED closer to market. Right now most LED lights for the home cost a heck of a lot of money and are using the tradition screw-in Edison base.
Since the LEDs run on direct current, screw in LED bulbs needed to have the AC to DC power converter and driver to match the current. This meant in the past that changing the LEDs meant you have to match the circuitry to the existing driver. The new BridgeLux Helieon will incorporate the driver right into the LED component. This is significant as you’ll be “future proofing” with ability to upgrade the LEDs without worrying about matching the driver.
Although the pricing still might be prohibitive for residential use, the immediate future is in commercial lighting where the payback from installation can be seen in as little as a year. Once the market demand catches up, the costs will lower making it more affordable for home use.
Another perk to this is the ability to add networking into the light system to allow for smart monitoring and control of your lights. Lights could easily be controlled via a computer or even your smartphone. Coupled with the Android@Home technology we saw earlier, this could be a real game changer.
We would love to see this come about in the aquarium lighting where you could mix-and-match Helion modules to build your own system. As new, more powerful LEDs come to market, you could snap them in and instantly upgrade your light. Having the LEDs become the “interchangeable” component means lighting fixtures aren’t the disposable part of the product. A good fixture could last you well over 10 years allowing the upgrading to come in a more cost effective manner.
BridgeLux and Molex plan on bringing the first Helion modules to market next year.
[via CNET]
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