Control This!, a daylong event expo and seminar series that exhibits energy management and lighting control systems is hosting a lighting PlugFest sponsored by Soraa.
One of the biggest challenges for the adoption of LED lighting today is the incompatibility between LED lamps or fixtures and the installed base of legacy control gear and dimmers, which are mostly designed for incandescent, halogen, or fluorescent lamps.
PlugFests in other high-tech industries are used to test the interoperability of hardware and software products from different companies. New, rapidly evolving technologies like LEDs are disrupting the lighting industry, which is not used to sudden changes in technology. The Lighting PlugFest will benefit the lighting industry, including specifiers, end users, manufacturers, contractors, and installers, and help to accelerate the growth of new lighting technologies, better quality light, and greater energy efficiency.
Soraa will manage and run the testing using a custom-built testing panel that contains an array of commonly used transformers and dimmers and Soraa's 12VAC LED MR16 lamps and also accommodates participating companies' transformers, dimmers, and 12VAC LED lamps or fixtures. The inaugural Lighting PlugFest is limited to interoperability testing of 12VAC LED lighting systems. Each participating company will bring its product(s) to be tested to the booth at Control This! during its allotted 30-minute time slot. If the product is a transformer it can be tested with all the dimmers on the panel and a Soraa MR16 lamp. If the product is a dimmer it can be tested with all the transformers on the panel and a Soraa MR16 lamp.
PlugFests are designed to change the way lighting practitioners and OEM vendors of LED lamps, fixtures, transformers, and dimmers test the interoperability between products from different manufacturers in an effort to accelerate the growth of the entire industry.
"We are excited to host the first ever Lighting PlugFest, which is a 'must attend' industry event", says Control This! Co-Chair Meg Smith, LC, IES, LEED AP, co-chair of the IESNYC education committee, and senior project manager, Philips Lighting Solutions and Services. "Manufacturers benefit because Lighting PlugFest addresses compatibility-an obstacle to widespread LED lamp adoption; designers benefit because they can specify with confidence; and end users benefit because they will know that it works."
Control This! will be held on Wednesday, November 7th, 2012 at The Metropolitan Pavilion in New York, N.Y. For details about the Lighting PlugFest at Control This!, view this PDF.
