Company FAQs
How do I know I can trust Solais' claims when virtually all LED lamp manufacturers claim to have the best product? (top)
At Solais, we pride ourselves on transparency and education. We provide all product information, in full and up front, so that our customers know exactly what they are getting. This includes LM-79 reports and spec sheets in addition to industry white papers, continuing education seminars,up-to-date lamp comparisons and an industry blog to help enable people to make their own informed decisions regarding LED products. With the information we provide, we trust that people will make educated decisions and understand for themselves why Solais products truly are the best on the market.
How does Solais address the stocking issues that often plague other LED lamp manufacturers? (top)
Solais has developed its products over an extended period of time. This has allowed us to fully research and test numerous options for every single component involved in our system, including their availability. As a result, we have built strong relationships with numerous suppliers and have gained the trust of one of the world's largest lighting manufacturers to assemble our lamps. This means that we do not need to fight with other manufacturers over limited supply items, allowing us to stock our product more readily than others.
Is Solais registered as a DOE Quality Advocate? (top)
Yes. Solais Lighting has taken the Quality Pledge for Solid State Lighting Products and we abide by that pledge, including the use of the Lighting Facts label, which will appear for all our products on our website.
Whose LED chips does Solais use? (top)
All Solais lamps use high-quality CREE XPG or Lumileds LXH8 die, which are rated for long useful life with high lumen output and minimal performance degradation.
What precautions does Solais take to ensure the appropriate LED is selected? (top)
Solais lamps are designed with an application-specific target market. The LED die evaluated were based on this criteria and the highest quality, most applicable product was chosen.
Does Solais design-in reliability or does Solais test for reliability? (top)
All Solais lamps begin with a design-in reliability methodology to minimize costly and unnecessary redesigns. The reliability is also tested in the final products to verify their success and integrity. This mixed reliability methodology ensures that the highest quality and highest performance is reached by all Solais lamp solutions and is made available at low consumer cost. For detailed information on our testing protocols, please contact us.
Product FAQs
Does Solais take custom orders? (top)
Solais will evaluate custom orders on a case-by-case basis. All inquiries regarding product customization should be submitted to Solais through your regional sales representative.
Is Solais designing any products for future release? (top)
Yes. Solais is currently developing a super high-output small diameter lamp and fixture. Being a market-driven company, we are also open to suggestions for new products.
What are the benefits of Luxiance thermal management technology? (top)
The Luxiance thermal management system, which is unique to the Solais Lighting product family, allows more power to be delivered to the LED system without reducing useful lamp life. This results in significantly greater light output than our competitors’ passively cooled, heat sinked lamps. The absence of heat sinks also heightens the application flexibility of Solais lamps by not adding unnecessary bulk or excessive weight that can render many passively cooled products impractical for a variety of common applications.
Why should I buy a Solais LED lamp instead of a ceramic metal halide? (top)
Solais lamps offer equivalent lumen output and Center Beam Candle Power (CBCP) to the mean output of a 20 & 39-watt ceramic metal halide lamp, with more controlled and slower lumen depreciation, lasting 2-5 times longer and using 55% less electricity.
What is Luxiance technology? (top)
Luxiance is the patent-pending, industry leading, thermal management system developed by Solais Lighting. This unique actively cooled system enables the achievement of optimal LED lighting performance.
Why should I buy a Solais product instead of a competitor's LED lamp? (top)
Solais lamps use the industry’s best thermal management, which drastically improves performance and light output, making them the only LED lamps able to deliver light output and color quality equivalent to ceramic metal halide and high output halogen sources.
Why should I buy a Solais LED lamp instead of a halogen? (top)
Solais lamps offer light output and color equivalent to halogen sources, but use 77% less electricity and have a useful life 10-20 times longer.
Why should I buy a Solais product instead of a CFL? (top)
Solais lamps are a true directional source and offer a strong high quality beam spread that is impossible for diffuse CFL reflector lamps, resulting in more efficient lighting of the target illumination area. Solais lamps also have a useful life 2-5 times longer than comparable CFL reflector lamps and provide a higher quality light, but with 40% less electricity.
How do I know if I can use Solais products in my home/office? (top)
Solais lamps use a standard E26 screw base and can be used in any 120 volt socket that works with conventional incandescent lamps.
Does Solais provide a warranty for its products? (top)
Yes. All Solais lamps are covered by a 5-year / 25,000-hour limited warranty.
Are Solais products difficult to install? (top)
No. Solais lamps are lightweight, easy-to-handle and screw in just like a typical incandescent bulb.
Do Solais products have a damp or wet rating? (top)
Solais Lighitng's actively-cooled LED replacement lamps are meant for indoor, dry applications only. Solais Lighting's passively-cooled LBR series LED replacement lamps are rated for damp locations. Solais Lighting's passively-cooled LRP series LED replacement lamps are rated for wet locations.
Do Solais products contain any lead or mercury? (top)
No. All Solais lamps are free of lead and mercury and meet RoHS requirements.
Can Solais products be used in recessed and/or track lighting applications? (top)
Solais lamps are ideal for any application that requires high light output, great color rendering and well-aimed directional light. With their light weight, small size and standard E26 screw base, Solais lamps are the perfect choice for any track or recessed lighting retrofit. Since they already entail fully-designed optics, Solais lamps are not recommended for fixtures that utilize totally enclosed glass or lensed trims.
What dimmer works best with Solais lamps and fixtures? (top)
Solais lamps were designed to be truly backwards compatible. They were designed to work on standard incandescent dimmers (forward phase chopped waveform). This means that you do not need to update the dimmer you have been using for the last 80 years to work with Solais products. For a list of dimmers that have been tested with Solais products, please visit our dimmer compatability list under "resources". If you do not find a dimmer you were looking for on that list, please feel free to contact us for compatability.
Will Solais warrant their lamps in an IC rated housing? (top)
Yes, Solais will fully warrant their lamps in an open IC rated housing.
Technical FAQs
Do Solais' products use LEDs that have been LM80 tested? (top)
Yes. The high-quality CREE XPG and Lumileds LXH8 die have been tested according to LM80 standards.
How does Solais do its photometric testing? (top)
All Solais product lines are tested by third-party laboratories following the guidelines established by the IESNA LM-79-08 industry standard. These reports are available on our website.
How does Solais ensure consistent color between lamps during production? (top)
The color consistency between Solais lamps stems from our in-depth multi-reel LED selection process. We use a precise formula to take advantage of CREE and Lumileds' tremendous binning precision, which is 16x greater than ANSI standards. This enables us to determine the correct combination of die from adjacent bins to produce the desired CCT in every lamp.
How does Solais keep the color of its products consistent over time? (top)
Color shifts typically result from high operating temperatures and/or inferior LED die. The combination of high-quality CREE and Lumileds die and Luxiance™ technology ensures minimal color shift.
Will the .ies file give me accurate foot candle levels for the fixtures? (top)
Yes. All Solais lamps undergo extensive photometric testing and the information provided is taken directly from the third-party laboratory data.
What is the expected life of the fan and will I hear it? (top)
The fan used in Luxiance™ technology is the industry-leading MagLev Motor Fan. At our operating temperature and fan speed, it has a rated life of more than 50,000 hours. It is known for its magnetically-balanced and -driven technology that eliminate contact with the central bearing, thereby minimizing friction and noise. The fan operates at approximately 20 decibels, which is classified by the American Hearing Association as two-thirds as loud as a nearly-inaudible whisper. So no, you will be unable to hear it unless you are within a few inches of a surface mounted lamp or a few feet for a recessed downlight.
Is active cooling reliable and has it been used elsewhere? (top)
Most common high-end electronic devices (computers, televisions, stereo systems, processors, etc.) utilize active cooling systems as their primary cooling solution. As LEDs are similar electronic devices, active cooling is the ideal solution for high performance/high-output LED systems. The active cooling components that comprise Luxiance® are of the highest quality and do not increase the likelihood of failure.
Why is active cooling better than passive cooling? (top)
High-output LED lamps use multiple LEDs to produce light. When multiple high-power LEDs and their power supply are placed in the confines of lamp housing, the amount of heat production/buildup is immense. For these types of LED lamps, passive cooling systems such as heat sinks are unable to keep up with the cooling demands needed to protect the LEDs. Heat sinks also add substantial weight and size to the final product, often rendering them almost unusable in track lighting. The only means of providing the appropriate cooling needed to maintain LED performance and mimic the form factor of conventional lamps is an actively cooled thermal management system.
Why is thermal management so important for LED lamps? (top)
As LEDs generate light, they also produce a great deal of heat. Unfortunately, heat is the main enemy of LED performance, reducing useful life and light output dramatically while causing undesirable color shifts. To ensure high LED performance, advanced thermal management is utterly essential.
What prevents the LEDs within Solais products from getting too hot? (top)
Besides our Luxiance technology, which keeps the LEDs within Solais products cooler than competitor's passively cooled LEDs, we have also built Therottle technology into all Solais products. This patent pending technology measures the junction temperature of the LED to determine that it is working within its designed thermal range. If at anytime the LED begins to operate above its recommended thermal range, it will slowly dim itself, until the Solais product gives you the highest output, while keeping the LEDs within their recommended thermal range.
