AUTHOR’S NOTE, 10/8/24: It has been brought to my attention that there are IP claims and ongoing legal actions occurring around CCT selectability switches. Before adding CCT selectability switches, fully review the IP landscape, claims, and ongoing litigation around this feature. 

One of the strongest trends in commercial lighting has been the onslaught of wattage and CCT selectable luminaires and lamps. It wasn’t long ago that a 3-CCT & 3-wattage selectable product was novel and could replace nine dedicated wattage & CCT product SKUs. Today, I’m receiving promotional emails for products with 5-CCT & 5-wattage selectable luminaires. These can replace 25 dedicated wattage & CCT product SKUs, in theory.

The reason for this trend is pretty simple. Once LED chips got below a penny each, it was very low cost to add multiple strings of different CCT LEDs in a luminaire, creating CCT selectability. Offering wattage selectability is in many ways even easier. The driver is designed to allow multiple current outputs using an on-board dip switch or toggle switch, also at very low cost. The primary benefit of field selectable products is inventory reduction for manufacturers, distributors, contractors, and in some cases even end users. One model replaces many reducing inventory carrying costs.

How much farther can field selectability go past 5-CCTs and 5-wattages in one SKU? In theory there’s no limit, but most luminaires were never offered in more than 5 CCT options, so expanding CCTs beyond 5 choices seems ridiculous to me, and of questionable added value. Some commercial luminaires are offered in up to 10 or 12 wattages / light outputs, so conceivably the wattage choices could continue to rise above 5, but with drawbacks. Accommodating the highest wattage within 10 choices creates a much larger luminaire size than would be needed for one that is 9 wattage choices lower. In addition, using a driver designed for 300W to power a luminaire at 30W, is far outside the optimum efficiency designed for the driver, and adds a significantly higher cost driver than is needed for 30W operations. It is more likely that the manufacturer would offer two SKUs, one 5-wattage & 5-CCT for the higher 5 wattages, and one 5-wattage & 5-CCT for the lower 5 wattages. This is completely doable today and would result in lower cost (for a smaller driver) in the lower wattages model.

Are you seeing any field selectable products going beyond 5-CCTs and 5-wattages in a single model? If so, let me know at david@lightingsold.com.

David Shiller

David Shiller is the Publisher of LightNOW, and President of Lighting Solution Development, a North American consulting firm providing business development services to advanced lighting manufacturers. The ALA awarded David the Pillar of the Industry Award. David has co-chaired ALA’s Engineering Committee since 2010. David established MaxLite’s OEM component sales into a multi-million dollar division. He invented GU24 lamps while leading ENERGY STAR lighting programs for the US EPA. David has been published in leading lighting publications, including LD+A, enLIGHTenment Magazine, LEDs Magazine, and more.

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