Zhaga

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Singapore, 13^th June 2014

A good day to talk about Zhaga. While I am working through some decisions in relation to light fitting specification the issue of interchangeability of the LED modules is always one that comes up. This, specifically in relation to an alternative retro-fit option. Zhaga is an industry wide collaboration between companies from across the globe which include luminaire manufacturers, LED module makers, suppliers of materials and components and testing labs. Their aim is to develop guidelines and standards in the design and integration of LED modules into luminaires. When I was at the Light Fair in Las Vegas last week I saw several booths referring to Zhaga and I believe there was even a Zhaga stand. The initiative stems from the old conventional technologies where there were the lamp manufacturers and the luminaire manufacturers. Lamps were individual products that all conformed to specific guidelines in terms of its mostly physical appearance. The key was interchangeability; when the lamps fails you just replace the lamp, unlike today’s LED technology where you basically have to change the whole fixture if the LED fails. Couple that with the cost of the complete LED system and it is understandable that if a way could be found to replace just the LED module it would make life easier…or will it?

We have steered away as much as possible from the retro fit options simply because the many issues we encountered with the compatibility between the new and old technologies. The question is do we want or need the LED module interchangeability? A complete integrated system is in principle full proof, assuming everything is properly installed and connected, introducing interchangeable components may open the door to compatibility problems, but then that is what Zhaga is trying to resolve. Nearly 250 members from all walks of the lighting industry life have already signed up, amongst which all major players. Several guidelines (or books as they are called) have been developed. It will be interesting to see how this works out over time as there are of course huge commercial interests involved which may slow down the process…

Light watch 5-100: Zhaga…