What Is The Difference Between Edge-lit And Back-lit Led Panels?

LED Panels have come leaps and bounds in recent years.  We thought it a good time to explain how the new backlit technology improves the performance and longevity of LED panels for commercial office installations.

Lets first look at the old edge lite design of the LED Panel.  An edge-lit LED panel is made of a row of LEDs attached to the frame (or circumference) of the LED panel, shining horizontally into a light-guide plate (LGP). The LGP directs the light downwards, through a diffuser into the space below. Edge-lit panels are sometimes also known as side-lit panels.  A major downfall with edgelit LED panels is the discolouration of the diffuser after a period of time.

A back-lit LED panel is made up of an array of LEDs fitted on the back plate of the LED panel housing, shining vertically down through a diffuser into the space to be illuminated. Back-lit panels are sometimes also known as direct-lit panels.  This design is much for efficient and provides better efficacy for the LEDs.

This new backlit design of the LED panel ensures the failure point of the Gen1 panels (edge-lit) where the diffuser discoloured overtime, doesn’t happen again.

Another major benefit to the new backlit design is the availability of low UGR (Unified Glare Rating), which controls the amount of discomfort-causing glare produced by a lighting installation.  Typically for LED panels this is <19.

Caribou produces our EAGLE LED Panels, which are all backlit in design and we offer the low UGR (<19) as an option, along with dimming options including Phase Cut and DALI.