[RE-wrenches] sources of DC equipment

[Kurt Albershardt]

On Apr 11, 2010, at 9:11 , Darryl Thayer wrote:

> Where are people getting 24 or 32 or 48 volt CFLs?   Are  there any LED now suitable at these voltages? 


Others have commented on the general state of things DC - I have a slightly different perspective coming form a telecom background and tend to use DC for critical systems.  If you run your emergency lighting, control systems, and alarms on DC you get value for money in my book.  24V nominal is probably the best compromise, as 12V has an awful lot of voltage drop and 48V gets you into a different realm with the NEC (note that 24V nominal fits in the <30V category with battery charging and equalization and opens up a whole lot of options there.)

As to LED lighting, I concur that it is best suited to certain things - notably task lighting and low level (e.g. emergency egress) as well as low temperature (refrigerated cases, walk-in freezers, etc.) applications.  A wide range of commercially available architectural LED lighting is available that runs on 12V or 24V (if you read between the lines - look for drivers or PSUs in the product listings) and actually dominates certain segments like display case lighting and track lighting.  I'll be cruising LightFair with a sharp eye towards LEDs next month.