LED lighting recommendations

The following is from our Director of Preservation and Conservation, Rick Kerschner, regarding our use of LEDs at Shelburne Museum:

I believe the best track light LED fixtures are the LumeLEX from Lighting Services, Inc. We have used them in three of our galleries and are very pleased with the color rendition as well as their flexibility regarding beam angle and accessories. We have lit exhibitions of paintings, quilts, works of art on paper, jewelry, and three dimensional artifacts very well using these fixtures. LSI supports their products very well.

For in-case lighting I like Prolume strip lights (Prolumeled.com). We have used them in doll cases, to make light boxes behind glass objects, and to evenly light large jewelry cases. They are custom made to length and utilize several different types of LED’s for different light levels and illumination angles. The folks at Prolume are great to work with.

We have about 725 Phillips EnduraLED’s MR16 4W 12V (20Watt replacement) to light historic houses with low ceilings. They have held up well for 4 years, but I am having problems finding 40Watt equivalent replacement in 24⁰ or wider spread. It seems like LED manufacturers are driven to make brighter LED’s so now the MR16’s come in a 50Watt equivalent. I need them to put out less light for the safety of the objects. I would appreciate information on where to purchase MR16 20Watt equivalent LED’s if they are still available (3000⁰K)

We have also used Sylvania PAR 20 and PAR 30 50Watt equivalent LED floods installed in old cans. The PAR30’s installed in some tight, unvented cans have failed after 1 and 2 years (about 20 out of 200) but have been replace by Sylvania under warrantee. When we use PAR 20’s in a PAR 30 can, they seem to be well enough vented so that they do not fail.

We have had our galleries and historic buildings lit with LED’s for the past 4 years.
For the MR16’s, 3 of 725 have failed. Some are in bare-bulb fixtures but most are in tight cans with minimal venting through the back.
For the PAR 20’s, 2 of 290 have failed. They are in bare-bulb fixtures, not in cans.
For the PAR 30’s, 18 of 280 have failed, probably because of the heat buildup in the tight cans.

Hopefully this information is useful to some of you out there who are looking into LEDs!

Thanks for posting this great response forwarded from Mr. Kerschner (long time proponent of this important technology) to a question originally posted on the PACCIN listserve.