What’s important to know about the power factor?


What’s important to know about the power factor?


The power factor (PF) of an LED or driver indicates the ratio of the power actually used. This is the amount of watts used by the light relative to the apparent power absorbed in the lamp circuit. So, why is it important?

 

The PF gives a measure of the distance between your charge and that of an incandescent bulb, which has a PF of 1. Historically, incandescent bulbs had an almost perfect power factor. All LEDs and drivers are measured against this base.

 
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A low power factor is also a sign of an inefficient product or light because it consumes more power in the circuit than the load uses. In other words, if you expect to consume only 100 W of energy, you can consume a lot more because of the low PF ratio.

 

When you choose LED devices or conversion units with higher power factors, this minimizes the current capacity of the components in your lighting circuit. This includes dimmers and cables as the product does not consume too much energy as needed.

  

• The lower the current consumed by the LED product (the higher the power factor), the higher the number of LED lamps that can be powered by a circuit.

• A low PF score means you use more energy than you think.

 

A practical example

LED luminaire 100W with PF of 0.5: Power 100W 0.5 = Effective consumption (200W)

LED luminaire 100W with PF 0.8: 100W ÷ 0.8 = current consumption (125W)

 

Are there other problems associated with a low power factor score?

• Electricity is recycled from the LED luminaire to the power source, creating a disturbance.

• The harmonics of the LED lamp degrade the line and affect the performance of other equipment on the same circuit. 

 

So, what is the ideal target that you should look for?

In reality, 0.85 is a good target. Most of the products of the company's range from 0.90 to 0.95.

For more information click here.

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