PRODUCT REVIEW
CENTRIC DAYLIGHT™ Full Spectrum Flicker-Free T8 LED Tube Light
★
Flicker and cause immediate pain
I am a strong supporter of Waveform in general because their CENTRIC HOME Flicker-Free A19 10W LED Bulbs and their SUPERWARM 1700K Flicker-Free A19 10W LED Bulbs actually are flicker-free and healthy for me. I strongly encourage everyone to buy those bulbs and to support Waveform since they are making efforts to manufacture flicker-free lighting products. So it is with great disappointment that I have to report that Waveform has missed the mark with the CENTRIC DAYLIGHT Full Spectrum Flicker-Free T8 LED Tube Light. While their flicker is low, these T8 lights are not flicker-free, as evident in the attached photo, showing a flicker meter reading of 2.679%. While the flicker meter software reports a 120 Hz flicker frequency, there are also additional downward spikes in the light output occurring at a 60 Hz frequency, which is even more concerning than 120 Hz flicker from a health perspective. The T8 tubes were installed in a new fixture without a fluorescent ballast in accordance with the setup recommended by Waveform for flicker-free light output. We were testing these lights in an attempt to find truly-flicker free LED lights for commercial use. I experience serious health effects from any light flicker. These lights were immediately painful for me, with the pain intensifying over the course of the next 5-10 minutes, at which point we aborted the test for my safety. Find my review of the existing scientific research into the health effects of light flicker by searching for FlickerSense Health. I have also shared more details of this and other testing. While I cannot speak for all individuals sensitive to flicker, I can report that these lights are not safe for me and our data show that they are not flicker-free. Please, Waveform, create completely flicker-free versions of these lights and please do not use the “flicker-free” label for lights that flicker. Please provide graphs of light output vs. time along with calculated flicker statistics for your products. UPDATE- Response to Waveform's reply: I agree that these lights fall under the IEEE 1789 "No Observable Effect" (NOEL) recommendation. While the phrase "No Observable Effect" gives the impression that the recommendation was based on studying the health effects of LED flicker and determining what level of flicker is safe for sensitive individuals, this is not at all the case. Instead, NOEL was based on an estimate of the point at which about half of the individuals in small groups of 10-14 normal observers in 3 studies are consciously aware that they can see light flicker, rather than being consciously unaware that the light flickered [Bullough et al. (2012), Roberts & Wilkins (2012), and Perz et al. (2015)]. People in potentially sensitive groups, like those with migraine, dry eye, or concussion were not included in these studies. The IEEE 1789 NOEL recommendation makes the assumption that if less than half of normal control people can see the flicker, then the flicker won't harm human health. There isn't any scientific basis for this assumption. The IEEE report emphasizes the need for further research, but no mechanism was created to define the parameters of such research, to fund the research, or to provide a way to collect reports of adverse health effects of LED lights from the public. I encourage the lighting community to remember that there are not yet any recommendations for flicker that are based on actual health data for LED flicker. I encourage government agencies to create a mechanism for collecting such health data so that meaningful regulations to protect the public may be created. In the meantime, I beg the lighting industry to voluntarily produce safe, flicker-free lighting. Currently, the lighting industry is benefitting from the fact that devices with flickering LEDs are not regulated like medical devices, requiring safety testing before release to the public, even though flickering light is known to have medical effects for at least a subset of people."
