One of the most dominate players in LED lighting, CREE has announced the XP-G LED that will soon be the industry’s “brightest and highest-efficiency lighting-class LED”. The cool white XP-G LED hits 132 lumen per watt when driven at 350mA, for total output of 139 lumens. For PAR demanding reefers, when driven at 1A (~3w) [...]
One of the most dominate players in LED lighting, CREE has announced the XP-G LED that will soon be the industry’s “brightest and highest-efficiency lighting-class LED”. The cool white XP-G LED hits 132 lumen per watt when driven at 350mA, for total output of 139 lumens. For PAR demanding reefers, when driven at 1A (~3w) the XP-G hits 345 lumens. Cree states this is 37% brighter and over 50% more efficient than the widely used XR-E LED.
What is interesting is the XP-G’s footprint. It is 80% smaller than the XR-E! At 3.5mm x 3.5mm and 2.0mm tall. It is even smaller than the Luxeon Rebel. That said, the size of the actual chip has been increased, which can skew stats and comparisons to other LEDs like the XR-E.
Cree showed off the XP-G last month at Lightfair International 2009 in New York City, where they used XP-Gs in an LR6 prototype downlighting fixture. The prototype uses a mix of yellow and red LEDs, consuming just 6.5w of electricity while emitting 665 lumens (102 lm/W) with a power factor greater than 0.9. The color temperature is 3,500K (92 CRI) making it a no-go for reefs, but the XP-G shows promise for both household and aquarium specific lighting.
Chief technologist for CREE LED Lighting Gerry Nagley said, “By using the latest Cree LEDs, the XLamp® XP-G, we were able to achieve this great efficiency…We continue to push the envelope with LED technology—because consumers deserve high-quality light without toxic mercury or wasted energy.” Ouch, nice jab at the CFLs. The XP-G LED is expected to be available in the third quarter of this year.
For more energy efficient lighting, see Luxim’s Plasma bulb over an aquarium.
[Via Cree]
Cover photo by How. Creative Commons.



