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Will this LED track light head fit in the track in my home?

Will this LED track light head fit in the track in my home?

Nov 06, 2020

“Will this LED track light head fit in the track in my home?” We always receive similar questions from potential customer of our online store, though we have clearly described it’s a LED track light head for H type, or J type, or L type track. It seems that many customers don’t understand what’s the meaning of H, J and L, and don’t know what’s the type of the track installed in their home.

Why the track gets these names, H, J, and L? Actually the names are from the first letter of three lighting brands, Halo, Juno, and Lightolier, each brand set up its standard for track and track head, and there is no changeability between three brands. It’s not easy to tell the difference from the track outside, so let’s take a look at the cross-section of three types of track. Unlike J type and L type, which only have 2 strips of wire, H type has 3 strips of wire, the upper one is grounding, and two opposite ones are neutral and live, H type is also the most common track in the market, and is widely recommended for new installation because of easy availability and low cost. The significant difference between J type and L type is the distance between contact measure cross, 7/8 inch for J type, and 3/4 inch for L type.

track-light-head

Accordingly, there are three types of track head adaptor.
Following is an H type LED track head, there are three pins on the adaptor, the top pin is the grounding pin, the opposite pins are neutral and live pin, and the pin to pin distance is 1 inch, which is consistent with the 3-wire system in H type track. 
led-track-light-head

Following is a J type LED track lighting, there are two pins on the adaptor, and pin to pin distance is 1 inch, which are consistent with the 2-wire system in J type track.

The difference between L type track head adaptor and L type track head adaptor is very minor, so keep in mind that the pin to pin distance for L type track head adaptor is only 7/8 inch, not 1 inch for H type and J type track head adaptor. While the L type track system is very few in the market, so generally the 2-wire track system is J type track and J type light head.
 
led-track-head

You may notice that the above three track types we talked about now are all single circuit, which means that you can only control the track heads on one track as a whole group. For most applications, such as accent lighting for wall arts in the living room, or task lighting over the kitchen island, simple on/off and dimming as a whole group is enough. If you want to control the track heads on one track by two groups or to render complicated digital lighting effect, there are two circuits or three circuits track type in the market, and also corresponding track head for that purpose. The major difference from single circuit track is that two circuit track and three circuit track have more strips of wire, for example, two circuit H type track has 4 strips of wire.

So please check the track carefully before selecting the right track head for it. H type, J type or L type, and also single circuit, two circuits or three circuits?