Can Outdoor LED Lighting Eliminate the Driver?

Today, most outdoor lighting fixtures use LED light sources, and one of the most critical components inside these fixtures is the LED driver. The importance of the driver is unquestionable—without it, LED luminaires simply cannot operate. However, despite being essential, the driver is also relatively costly and is one of the major contributors to the overall cost of outdoor LED lighting fixtures. In addition, the quality of LED drivers available on the market varies significantly, which often leads to unstable luminaire performance.

This brings up an interesting question: Is it possible to eliminate the LED driver entirely? If we remove the driver, manufacturers could reduce production costs while eliminating one of the major sources of product failure. At first glance, this seems like an ideal solution: lower cost, fewer failures—perfect, right?

In reality, industry experts had already explored this idea many years ago, and some manufacturers even implemented driverless designs. However, very few companies in the industry use such solutions today. Why? Because in actual use, although the cost of driverless LED luminaires decreased, the failure rate did not—and in fact increased. In most cases, the LED light source would burn out directly.

Although LED fixtures generally have a long lifespan under normal operation, early driverless outdoor LED luminaires failed frequently. The main reason is that these luminaires used linear LED boards, which had very low voltage tolerance—typically no more than 500V. Such linear light sources could only be used in environments with very small voltage fluctuations.

However, outdoor luminaires operate in open environments where natural lightning events can easily generate voltages far exceeding 500V. Even a regular lightning strike could instantly destroy the linear LED board.

Therefore, the key to reducing the high failure rate of driverless LED luminaires is to solve the voltage tolerance problem. Unfortunately, the technology available many years ago could not fully address this issue.

But with advances in modern technology, the industry now has the means to overcome past limitations.

First, the rectifier bridge inside LED boards now has a much higher withstand voltage—up to 1000V, compared to only about 500V in earlier designs.

Second, surge protection technology has significantly improved. Modern surge protective devices (SPDs) can reduce the residual voltage after a lightning strike to extremely low levels—sometimes even below 40% of the rectifier bridge’s maximum withstand voltage. This breakthrough fundamentally resolves the vulnerability that previously caused early driverless LED luminaires to fail.

To meet the growing market demand for outdoor driverless linear LED lighting solutions, Shenzhen Greenway Electronic Co., Ltd. has developed the M998 Series dedicated surge protectors, optimized specifically for outdoor driverless LED luminaires. The series offers two models rated at 10kV and 20kV, and has successfully obtained major international safety certifications, including:
- TÜV (Germany)
- ETL (United States)
- CQC (China)

Conclusion

We are fully capable of providing a complete, mature, and reliable driverless LED lighting solution for outdoor lighting manufacturers. Our solution not only reduces overall fixture cost but also greatly enhances product competitiveness in the market.