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Tuesday, June 25th 2013

Led Light Fixtures

There comes a time when change just needs to happen. Just about every home has a dozen or more light fixtures made for medium base incandescent bulbs. Those fixtures have served for many years; but there are good reasons to replace them with LED light fixtures. LED light fixtures can be made in shapes impossible for lights designed to accommodate traditional light bulbs; or they can be made to fit just the same spaces as their counterparts. They use less energy, produce less waste heat, and last many times as long.

LED light fixtures can take advantage of the small size of LED’s. As LED’s become more common, look for LED light fixtures to come in an increasing variety of shapes new to the lighting world. One available desk lamp has a 10” long triangular light bar with half a dozen LED’s giving an even illumination from a space the thinnest fluorescent tube couldn’t possibly fit into. Some under cabinet LED light fixtures are less than ½” thick, and hide invisibly behind the lip of a kitchen cabinet.

Many LED light fixtures for ceilings look like, and fit into, the same spaces as their incandescent and fluorescent counterparts, but can be made much shallower. One common LED ceiling light is 7” in diameter, yet just ½” thick. There are LED fixtures to take the place of standard can lights, LED troffers (lights made to fit modular drop ceilings) and a variety of recessed LED lights, both pivoting and fixed, floodlight and spotlight.

Heat decreases the life of LED’s, and changing 120 volt household current into the 12 or 24V an LED requires produces a significant amount of waste heat. This is why many LED replacement bulbs have large cooling fins in the base. LED light fixtures can address the heating problem in a more efficient way by putting the driver or transformer into a box completely separate from the lights themselves, and thereby keeping that heat source separate as well. It also means the LED light fixture itself can be made much more compact and thin than if the driver were part of it.

An investment in LED light fixtures is repaid in full. The lower energy cost adds up, and the long life of LED’s lets that savings add up for many years. You can expect about 50,000 hours of useful life from a LED light fixture.

The advantages of LED light fixtures are compelling. Energy savings and long life result lower long term costs. The small size of LED’s allows slender LED light fixtures to be installed in places previously impossible; and is beginning a new era in light design. Get ready for fixtures to assume shapes you never thought possible.

Contributor: Joel Zenzic
Posted By: Mary Wecker

By Mary at 4:43:56 AM - Comments

New, Improved! LED Light Bulbs Save a Century’s Collection of Light Fixtures

For over 100 years, the medium base lamp has been the standard light fixture. Ballrooms and bars, farmhouses and roadhouses, gas stations and police stations all have dozens of medium base lamps in them. Generations of people all over the world grew up in the warm glow of these incandescent lights. After a century of service, a challenger has arrived in LED light bulbs. Limitations in early LED light bulbs slowed their adoption, but recent improvements make them an excellent choice, with very real advantages over the competing compact fluorescent light bulbs.

The medium base was standardized before WWI, and there are now over 100 years of accumulated light fixtures made for it. While some may be just old junk, many others are handsome and well-made, good for decades more useful service. Some are genuine works of art, adding grace and beauty to our lives, including the famous Tiffany lamps. Most homes and offices contain dozens of medium base light fixtures, prohibitively expensive to replace. LED light bulbs can extend the life of these fine old lamps into a new century and beyond.

LED light bulbs offer advantages and choices not available with either incandescent or compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs. The low energy use of LED light bulbs (a fraction of either of the other two), and their very long life (several times that of a CFL and 10 or more times that of an incandescent), are well known; but LED light bulbs also provide more choices. They come in a variety of light colors, from the warm white familiar to us in incandescent lights to the daylight white similar to the fluorescents of the office space and various colors. They are also available in a variety completely different from anything incandescent or fluorescents are capable of: color changing. Perfect for parties or just to add interest to a room, there are several LED light bulbs available which can change through the spectrum of colors in programmed patterns, or just shine in one selected shade.

Recent innovations have made LED light bulbs an even more attractive choice. True 75W and 100W equivalent bulbs are now on the shelves. Better, these high output bulbs are omni-directional, meaning they shine in every direction except through the base itself. Now, LED light bulbs really do cover the range of the common incandescent bulbs we all grew up with.

All LED lights have several advantages over CFL’s. LED’s last several times as long. Their lives are not shortened by being switched on and off (CFL’s are). LED’s do not contain mercury, and so may be safely disposed of. They come on at the flick of a switch, with no delay; and they have a consistent color, with no off color tones.

Taken altogether, the advantages of LED light bulbs are conclusive. The best way to bring millions of perfectly sound old light fixtures into the 21st century is to screw in an LED light bulb to replace that trusty old incandescent.

Contributor: Joel Zenzic
Posted By: Mary Wecker

By Mary at 10:09:39 PM - Comments

Flexible LED strips are Flexible!

With just a bit of imagination and ingenuity, flexible LED strip can be used for a host of applications. Skateboards, scooters, sailboats, stairs, cabinets, chairs, gazebos, decks, eaves, porches, mood lighting and task lighting: this is a far from complete list of the applications flexible LED strip has been put to. With a low cost per LED, a sturdy yet flexible mounting with a sticky backing, dimmable, bright LED’s, a very low profile, a simple, inexpensive waterproof option, and easily cut to length, flexible LED strip is the go-to option for a multitude of projects.

Flexible LED strip has been used as accent lighting on a host of vehicles. Since most vehicles run on 12 volt power, LED strip is a natural match. Campers, shells, and cabs are brightened; color-changing strip adds a party atmosphere to limos and vans. Waterproof strip provides a similar service to vehicle exteriors. One customer ran waterproof color-changing strip all the way around the cabin of his 30 foot pontoon boat.

Kitchen cabinets are a natural fit for flexible LED strip. Mounted right behind the front lip, the strip’s low profile (less than an eighth of an inch) leaves it effectively invisible; yet it thoroughly illuminates a counter. Coupled with a dimmer, the light may be adjusted from full work light to gentle night light. For those who love a warm, peaceful kitchen, flexible LED strip in warm white (3000K°) light evokes traditional incandescent-like tones. Those who prefer an efficient, bright workspace may like daylight (5000K°) LED’s, with their whiter, more revealing tone.

Workshops and offices use LED strip in much the same way. On the ceiling, along tool shelves, and anywhere a bit of strip can be stuck, LED strip lights up a work surface. In sensitive locations, the fact that LED’s themselves produce almost no heat can be a real plus.

Anywhere in the house or office, flexible LED strip is excellent for indirect lighting. Its narrow width and low profile fit behind much smaller moldings than any other type of light, yet sheds more than ample light. The sticky backing makes it a breeze to install on almost any surface, whether crown molding, cabinet top or bookshelf.

Waterproof flexible LED strip renders similar service outside the house. Decks, stairs, balconies, eaves and gardens all benefit from an LED glow. For a festive atmosphere, make the strip color-changing RGB (red/green/blue) and add a color controller box. The programmed color changes from the controller liven any occasion. Strip wound around trees and among the shrubbery bring the garden right into the party.

A complete description of all the uses flexible LED strip has been put to would fill volumes. Its cost effectiveness, thin profile and simplicity make it a candidate for almost any project, indoors or outdoors. No matter what you need lighting for, take a look at LED strip.

Contributor: Joel Zenzic
Posted By: Mary Wecker

By Mary at 9:20:43 PM - Comments

LED Traffic Safety Products

Road flares and battery operated incandescent lights have been used for many years, alerting drivers to hazards. Plastic cones fitted over flashlights glow in the dark, guiding pilots and drivers. The standard traffic safety devices have worked well; but they have important limitations. LED traffic safety products do the job just as well, and overcome many of the drawbacks.

Road flares are more than bright enough to warn drivers; but they have three problems. One is that they are strictly single use; once lit, they can’t be reused. Two, burn time is limited to minutes, not hours. Three, they have a very hot flame, not recommended if fuel is pilled. Incandescent lights solve these problems in part; but have a run time limited to a few hours at most. LED traffic safety products solve all three problems. They may used for many years; one set of batteries will last for a day or more of continuous use, and they produce almost no heat.

Traffic safety professionals are turning to LED warning lights for all these reasons. Especially in the case of hours-long road blockages, lights that do not need watching and pose no fire hazard at all are very attractive. They take up no more room than half a dozen flares, and need no maintenance beyond checking the batteries every few years. Small weighted stands can be added to lift the LED traffic safety lights above the roadway and increase the distance at which they may be seen, yet take up only a few more cubic inches.

Traffic control batons are a familiar sight to anyone who has ever watched an aircraft guided into an airport terminal at night; they are also seen everywhere from crowded stadium parking lots to school crossing guards. For decades, batons were made by fitting a colored plastic cone over an ordinary flashlight. This worked well enough; but in LED batons the LED lights are mounted directly in the wand itself, not the handle, so the light is used more efficiently. The major drawback to incandescent light bulbs is that they drain batteries in just a few hours. Over a year the cost will be in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars. LED traffic safety products do the very same job better amd use a small fraction of the batteries, resulting in hundreds of dollars of savings.

From emergency services personnel looking for lights they will use every week or every day, to a driver wanting an improvement for the old road flares sitting in the trunk, LED traffic safety products are the way to go. Safer, more cost-effective, and much longer-lived, LED lights shine a better light in an emergency.

Contributor Joel Zenzic

Posted by: Mary Wecker

By Mary at 6:34:56 PM - Comments

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