All You Need to Know About LED Backlight Panel Lights vs Edgelit LED Panel Lights

Backlit and edge lit LED flat panel lights are both very popular these days for commercial and office lighting. The new technology allows these flat panel lights to be manufactured very thin, and open up options for end users to choose how to light up the spaces.

Direct lit and Edge lit LED Flat Panels are all the rage these days for retrofitting ceiling lighting.  When it comes to lighting a commercial operation or office building, LED flat panels can offer solutions to many different lighting problems. Once you try them out, you may find that you want to replace all your lighting with LED flat panels, and we wouldn’t blame you.

What’s the difference between the edge-lit and backlit panel lights? And what are the advantages and disadvantages of them? Let’s take a look here.

Edge Lit LED Panels - Thinner, "shadowless"

The common design theme that you will see with edge lit flat panels is an aluminum housing around the edge of the panel. This is where the LED light sources live. From the edges of the fixture, the LED lights are able to pass light into the middle. In the middle of the fixture, there is a medium that redirects the light to the surface of the light fixture.

The effect of this light redirection is another reason that many people prefer the edge lit flat panels to their direct lit counterparts. The light dispersion creates an incredibly even light that has been deemed "shadowless". That is a bit of a misnomer since anything that blocks light will create a shadow. However, an edge lit flat panel throws light from such a broad area that the shadow is illuminated and does not appear.

For many offices and other commercial applications, these edge lit flat panels can be the perfect light source for their various spaces. The even, well-dispersed light allows work surfaces to be illuminated all across the room, which means you won’t get dark shadows where you can’t see what’s going on. This can be very helpful to employees that need to use every part of the space as part of their job.

Direct Lit LED Panels - More efficient, less expensive

Direct lit LED flat panels will look similar to an edge lit flat panel when mounted. However, when the panel is not mounted, you will notice the light source sticking off the back. The LEDs are housed there, and they shine on to a light diffusing medium that is at the front of the panel. Since the light source is all in one place (whereas it is all around the perimeter in edge lit), direct lit flat panels are slightly more energy efficient. They are also a bit less expensive per unit, reducing your upfront investment.

When you consider these cost savings, direct lit LED flat panels can start to look like a better option. Although they don’t produce that “shadowless” light that many people love about the edge lit LED flat panels, they still produce a consistent, powerful light that will effectively illuminate your commercial office building or manufacturing space. Plus, their increased efficiency means that large scale replacements of fluorescent troffers won’t break the bank.

When you consider the fact that many buildings are looking to replace a majority of or all of their thicker ceiling troffers with more efficient LED flat panels, direct lit LED flat panels start to look like the better choice, at least from a purely monetary point of view.


Post time: Sep-05-2020