Spotlights that surprised me. Test and review of Gauss QPlus

In the fall of 2019, Gauss released a new version of Qplus flat LED spotlights. I tested all the spotlights in this series and was surprised at the results.

AT series seven spotlights: 10, 20, 30, 50, 100, 150, 200 W. All spotlights have semi-frosted glass and a long half-meter wire. Floodlights are designed for outdoor use at temperatures from -40 ° to + 40 ° and have IP65 protection.

A ten-watt spotlight next to a two-watt one seems tiny.

In fact, just two hundred gigantic huge: 44×35 cm and more than 4 kg in weight. To assess the size of the photo with a conventional filament bulb.

I’m already used to the fact that the vast majority of LED products of domestic brands have lower power and luminous flux than declared, so the measurement results surprised me.

The measured power was close to the declared one (it differs by less than 5%), but the luminous flux was much higher than the declared one, and the more powerful the model, the greater this difference. Floodlights 150 and 200 watts give 41% more light than stated. The measured luminous flux of the two-hundred-watt model was 28,200 lm (claimed 20,000 lm).

I was so surprised by such results that even the suspicion crept in that the manufacturer gave me “gold samples” with improved characteristics that differ from serial models. To check, I bought two floodlights of 20 and 30 W in the online store

In terms of the measured parameters, they turned out to be exactly the same as those received from the manufacturer, so everything is honest.

The color temperature of all spotlights is slightly lower (1-4%) of the declared 6500K. It’s even good – the light is a little less “cold.”

The color rendering index of all spotlights is 73-74. This is not enough for lighting residential premises, but it is quite enough for street lighting, for which such light sources are intended.

The light ripple coefficient of 30-200 W projectors is about 20% – this is a “fee” for an ultrahigh power factor, which for these models is higher than 0.99. Such a ripple is indistinguishable by the eyes, but is clearly visible through the camera of the smartphone.

For 10 and 20 W projectors, the ripple is zero, but the power factor is about 0.5. In general, these spotlights differ from all the others in both electronics and LEDs.

The range of operating voltages 200-240 V is indicated on the packaging of 10 and 20 W projectors, 175-265 V for projectors 30-200 W. Indeed, when the voltage is reduced to 195-203 V, the brightness of 10 and 20 W projectors decreases by 5%, while 30-200 W projectors shine without diminishing brightness when voltage is reduced to 130-150 V, depending on the model. This allows you to use a 30-200 W searchlight even where the voltage in the network is unstable and can decrease significantly – unlike cheap searchlights, these will always shine with the same brightness and not respond to voltage surges.

Thanks to the massive aluminum housings, Gauss Qplus floodlights provide good heat dissipation from the LEDs. After an hour of operation, the temperature of their bodies was 41-59 °.

The manufacturer gives three years of warranty and claims a life of 35,000 hours. It can be assumed that they will really work for a long time.

An important point. I tested the new version of Gauss Qplus floodlights. They were released in October 2019. In some places on sale you can still find the old version Qplus, released in 2018, and these are completely different floodlights. They are easy to recognize by the box (for new ones it is made of matte kraft cardboard, for old ones from glossy and more yellow) and by wire (for new ones it goes down, for old ones back). When I bought floodlights for testing, I got one old 10 W – look at the difference in the appearance of the boxes.

For an example I will give spectra and results for projectors of 150 and 20 W.

Luminous flux, color temperature, and color rendering index were measured using a two-meter integrating sphere and an Instrument Systems CAS 140 CT spectrometer, power consumption and power factor with Robiton PM-2, pulsation with Uprtek MK350D. The minimum operating voltage, at which the luminous flux was reduced by no more than 5% of the nominal, was measured using a Lamptest-1 device, a Stabil Instab 500 stabilizer and a Lantra Suntek TDGC2-0.5. Before measurements, to stabilize the parameters of the lamp, they were heated for half an hour.

When testing the heating of the spotlights, my cat Glafira surprised me. She calmly sat down in front of the spotlights and enjoyed the “artificial sun”, while a total of 78 thousand lumens shone on her from a very close distance. I even had to work with one spotlight in dark glasses, and the cat didn’t confuse such a huge brightness.

Searchlights Gauss Qplus cost from 360 rubles for a 10-watt model to 4,500 rubles for a 200-watt. This is more expensive than cheap spotlights, but do not forget that for this price the buyer will receive honest power, luminous flux higher than stated, good cooling, high quality workmanship and a three-year warranty.

© 2020, Alexey Nadezhin

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