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Frequently Asked Questions
Purchasing, Warranty and Quality
- How do I purchase lamps from Leapfrog Lighting?
- How do I make a warranty claim?
- What makes your LED lamp-testing regime one of the toughest in the lighting industry?
LED Lighting Technology
- What are the main components of an LED lamp and what do they do?
- Can I use my Leapfrog Lighting LED bulb with a dimmer switch?
- What are the environmental benefits of LED lights?
- What other benefits do LED lamps offer?
- What regulations are LED lamps required to meet?
- What is CRI?
- What is CCT?
- What does “Lifetime 40,000 hours” mean?
- How long is 40,000 hours?
- What is lumen depreciation?
- Does turning an LED lamp on and off reduce its life span?
- Are your products UL certified?
Purchasing, Warranty and Quality
How do I purchase lamps from Leapfrog Lighting?
If you would like to speak directly with one of our sales staff, see our Contact page.
How do I make a warranty claim?
Our warranty is posted on this website and included in the box with each lamp. In the unlikely event of a problem, it’s easy to make a claim. Simply contact us and provide your name, company and contact details, the model and serial number of the lamp and a brief description of the problem. We will respond within one business day to arrange next steps.
What makes your LED lamp-testing regime one of the toughest in the industry?
In the lighting industry, standards for performance and measurement are set primarily by two organizations: the Illumination Engineering Society (IES), and the Commission Internationale d’illumination (CIE). The IES dictates how to measure LED-based lamps and luminaires for such parameters as light output, intensity, lamp reliability and lifetime.
The CIE sets standards for defining color performance and measurement. All manufacturers use these standards to test and verify their products during design and development.
At Leapfrog, however, we conduct even more testing. We verify every single lamp that we sell using our own NIST-traceable optical test systems in our own facilities. Our systems are regularly calibrated by independent, internationally recognized test houses.
We do this testing for two reasons. First, to ensure that you get the high performance product we promise—that each lamp delivers the light output, efficacy and color temperature posted in its specs.
Second, our testing helps us maintain tight control on product quality through our supply chain; in short, it keeps our suppliers on their toes. It’s part of the monitoring that takes place during planned and unplanned site visits and audits.
By the way, we deal only with companies that are ISO9001 and ISO14001 approved, and we sell only LED lighting technology that is Underwriters Labs (UL) qualified.
LED Lighting Technology
What are the main components of an LED lamp and what do they do?
The central component in LED lamp technology is the light-emitting diode semiconductor chip, which produces the light. A small power supply is required to convert electricity from AC to DC. An optic helps shape and aim the light emitted from the LED. And because LED chips produce heat—although only a fraction of the amount generated by traditional incandescent light bulbs—a heat sink draws excess heat away from the LED and allows it to run cool.
Can I use my Leapfrog Lighting LED bulb with a dimmer switch?
Leapfrog’s LED lamps are compatible with most industry-standard LED dimmers. We’ve tested our lamps with dimmers from leading companies including Leviton, Legrand, Cooper, and Lutron.
We keep a list of known compatible devices and continue to test as new dimmer products and lighting controllers become available. If you require information about a specific device, please refer to our product data sheets or contact us and we will respond quickly.
What are the environmental benefits of LED lighting?
Compared to conventional lighting, LED lamps have many environmental benefits. Since LED energy consumption is so low—up to 90% less energy than other types—they’re ideal as energy conservation lighting, since LED lamps help reduce carbon emissions associated with power generation.
There are more environmental benefits of LED lamp technology. Unlike CFLs, LED lamps contain no mercury. LED lamps also last up to 40 times longer than other types, which means fewer end up in landfills. What’s more, LED lamps are commonly made with up to 80% post-industrial recycled material and can be completely recycled at end of life—generally 20 years or more after installation.
What other benefits do LED lamps offer?
Other benefits of LED technology include the absence of ultra-violet (UV) emissions. Unlike halogen lamps, for example, LED-generated light emits no UV radiation and will not harm manuscripts, artwork or artifacts. The absence of UV emissions also makes LED lighting technology a wise choice for food-service and exterior applications, since these lamps do not attract insects.
What regulations are LED lamps required to meet?
LED lighting technology must meet the same safety standards as all other electrical products sold in North America and around the world. In addition, however, a new range of standards have been defined to ensure that LED lamps deliver the potential power savings and environmental benefits the technology promises.
For example, standards bodies such as Underwriters Labs, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Energy Star permit use of their logos and labels only on products that have been successfully assessed through independent, third-party testing.
Buyers are well advised to look for the accreditations of these standards bodies on LED lamps, since they help verify product performance and warranty. All Leapfrog Lighting products meet or exceed the standards established by these organizations.
You’ve probably noticed that an object’s color appears slightly different depending on the source of light under which it’s viewed. Color Rendering Index (CRI) is the measure of a light source’s ability to render color accurately compared to that of the sun. A perfect CRI would be 100, meaning the light source renders color the same as the sun; however, good color rendering is considered to have been achieved with a CRI of at least 85.
CCT is Correlated Color Temperature, expressed numerically in Kelvin units (K). It’s an important measure of the color of light. A candle’s warm yellow glow measures approximately 1850K. Daylight is approximately 6500K. At around 3500K, a lamp is considered to be emitting a neutral white light.
What does “Lifetime 40,000 hours” mean?
Lamp lifetime is considered to be the number of hours the device will operate until its light output drops below a defined percentage of its original output. Research suggests that we notice a drop in light levels when output dips to 70 percent.
The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) defines this metric as L70—the useful life of an LED lamp. Thus, a lifetime of 40,000 hours means that under normal conditions, a lamp will operate for 40,000 hours before its light output drops to 70%. All Leapfrog Lighting products have been verified by accredited, independent third-party laboratories to achieve L70 life consistent with IESNA specifications.
One of the main benefits of LED technology is the extraordinary lifetime of high quality LED bulbs. Each lamp has an estimated life span, expressed in hours. The actual life of a lamp in years depends on how often it’s used. Here are a few estimates based on the number of hours a lamp is operated per day:
- 24 hours a day = 4.5 years
- 18 hours per day = 6 years
- 12 hours per day = 9.1 years
- 8 hours per day = 13.7 years
- 4 hours per day = 27.4 years
LED lamps don’t burn out the way incandescent and fluorescent lights do. LED semiconductor chips gradually lose the ability to generate light over many thousands of hours of use. This is called lumen depreciation—the reduction in light output over time. Currently, the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) dictates that lamp life ends when an LED reaches 30 percent lumen depreciation.
Does turning an LED lamp on and off reduce its life span?
No. Unlike incandescent and fluorescent lamps, which will fail sooner when switched on and off more often, LED lamps are unaffected by being switched on and off.
Are your products UL certified?
Yes. All our LED lighting products are UL certified. You can view our UL certification in the Download Center under Miscellaneous.
