LED lights: The Future to Home and Outdoor lighting is here


by Stuart Wintergear - Date: 2007-09-11 - Word Count: 1158 Share This!

History and introduction of LED lightings

LED's have been around since the 60s, but have mostly beenrelegated to showing the time in an alarm clock or the battery level of a videocamera. Its use as a source of illumination was a challenging one forscientists. Light Emitting Diodes or LED Lightings- differfrom traditional light sources in the way they produce light.  In incandescent bulbs, a tungsten filament is heated by electriccurrent until it glows or emits light. In a fluorescent lamp, an electric arcexcites mercury atoms, which emit ultraviolet (UV) radiation. After strikingthe phosphor coating on the inside of glass tubes, the UV radiation isconverted and emitted as visible light. On other hand LED's are diodesmade from semi-conductor materials. This is why they are referred to as"solid state" devices and relies on indium gallium nitride to convertelectricity into photons with help of direct current (DC) instead ofalternating current (AC) There are other types of Lights which on the principleof solid state objects like semi conductor but LED's are the most relevant forgeneral illumination. It consists of a chip of semi-conducting material treatedto create an electric circuit. An LED is usually a small area source, oftenwith extra optics added to the chip that shapes its radiation pattern. The specific wavelength or color emitted by the LED depends on thematerials used to make the diode. It depends on the composition andcondition of the semi conducting material used, and can be infrared,visible,or near-ultraviolet.Red LED's are based on aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs).Blue LED's are made from indium gallium nitride (InGaN) and green from aluminumgallium phosphide (AlGaP). "White" light is created by combining thelight from red, green, and blue (RGB) LED's or by coating a blue LED withyellow phosphor. LED based lights are still under development but it ispredicted it will radically change the energy consumption patterns of the worldover the next few years. As such there's a phenomenal amount of resourcesbeing devoted to improving LED technology worldwide. The U.S. hascommitted an uncharacteristically large amount of industrial policy support forLED research and development. Asia is a hotbed of cutting-edgemanufacturing technology and Europe and Canada have led the way in energyefficient initiatives accompanied by some of some of the most innovative designstyles you can find anywhere.

Advantages and disadvantages of LED lightings

 They have extremely low power consumption. LED lights use upto 90% less power than normal lights, which has many more advantages than youwould ever assume. Firstly electrical running costs are reduced, not onlyreducing the demand placed on your household energy consumption but feel goodknowing you are saving energy and becoming green, the global warming factor. Alongthe same line, the other major advantage of LED lights is that you can connect multiple sets ofLED lights together from only one plug or socket, more setsthan non LED lights due to the lower power consumption. This is notonly practical resulting in the requirement for less power sockets, but you canlit larger multiple area with little drilling of your walls. Just imaginepowering a string of lights ½ mile long from a single electrical socket. With LED's you can use more light than ever before and still save money. Whilethe small energy draw of LED's would indicate many more could be strungtogether, until the UL listing is changed for the standard plug connected lightsets, it is prudent to adhere to the current regulations for risk management.Since LED lights don't contain any energy hungry materials, they are veryefficacious-convert energy to light, not heat as non LED's lights do. Thesemake them intrinsically safe and are generally cool to the touch. LED'slights can provide with 50,000 hours or more of life, which can tremendouslyreduce maintenance costs and time. This means, assuming an average twelvehour night, you will not need to change your LED lights after a good elevenyear. In comparison, an incandescent light bulb lasts approximately 1,000hours.   Fluorescents are rated for 10,000 hours under idealconditions. Along with this LED lights are incredibly bright, 3 times brighter thantraditional lights, this makes them ideal for a wide range ofsituations, offering much greater impact and appeal than subdued traditionalbulbs. The known problem of replacing blown and the inconvenience and undesiredappearance of multiple failed bulbs isn't an issue with LED's. With such a longbulb life you can be sure of a fully functioning set of lights, which can behappily left outside requiring no maintenance and minimal routine care. Furthermentioning the longevity of LED lights, LED's are manufactured as one solidpiece, with no glass or filaments to break. As such these lights are resistantto shock and vibration, which makes them more durable than non LED lights. Plusthey have better quality light output sincethey have minimum ultraviolet and infrared radiation. LED lights have much greater design freedom in terms of color flexibility includingmany "whites" - without the use of filters, fully dimmable, new form factorsfor fixture designs which give us innumerable options to look for.  Lastly themost important benefits if you are environment conscious is LED's unlike Fluorescentand mercury vapor lighting which contains mercury, a  hazardous waste to the environment and must bedisposed of properly, LED's don't contain mercury and are not consideredhazardous waste designating them environmental friendly.

 What to know before buying LED lightings

 LED lights have started flooding the market but beforepurchase see to it what are you looking for. LED lights were initially startedto be used in commercial environments like entertainment shows, theaters etc.Also, LED lights are already the best light source for traffic signals,vehicular tail lights, emergency lighting and flashlights. Increasinglynowadays, Home LED lightings such as accent wall LED lights, task, landscape andeven outdoor LED lightings such as garden Pole LED lightings have arrived in themarket.  After deciding upon the type of LED lighting, check the prices aroundvarious online shop. Price is a hard thing to remain constant since mostcompanies post retail type prices online and are willing to accept your bargaincall for bulk purchases. Your best bet is to have a specific LED lighting typein mind and browse through several LED light shop. Check the kind of warrantiesthe selected shop is giving you in terms of lamp life span and durability ofLED lights. The light output declines over time so at some point, though thelamp is technically lit, it is not providing the same effect as intended in thebeginning. Market pitching shop owner will seem to claim very high lamp life,while more honest LED shop will opt for the lower numbers. A reasonable lamplife for most LED's seen in the market is around 50,000 hours but if it is moresee what kind of warranties and return policy is in place if the claim is notfulfilled by the seller.

As we can see LED lightings have so many benefits comparedto other form of lightings that sooner or later its usage will be common. Morewidespread use could lead to big energy savings and a revolution in the way wethink about lighting. And We at For your Home would be part of theserevolution, would you like to join?

You can also read this article in our news and articlesection at;

http://www.foryourhome.co.uk/led-lightings-lighting-revolution-on-the-way/articles/36.html

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We at For your Home are specialist in helping you makebetter homes and gardens. You are always welcome to visit our online store athttp://www.foryourhome.co.uk and our Home and outdoor LED lighting section athttp://www.foryourhome.co.uk/home-led-lighting/c/373_475.html

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