LEDS 101

Description

LEDs 101 –

So What’s all the Hype About LEDs?

LED lighting is a huge leap forward in technology, which benefits both our environment as well as spending on electricity.  There are many different ways that LEDs are used in lighting and the below information ( LEDs 101 ) covers them all.

LED lighting is also changing signage in Australia and around the world.  Significantly and the transition is well underway.  To stay up to date with our new product launches, click through to our FB page

Some of the general advantages

LEDs 101:

• run on 10% of the energy of standard halogen lights. With up to 50% of an electricity bill being for lighting, that’s a huge saving
• produce more light per watt than incandescent bulbs.
• can emit light of an intended color without using color filters that traditional lighting methods require. This is more efficient and lowers costs.
• can be very small (smaller than 2mm2) and are easily populated onto printed circuit boards.
• light up very quickly.
• are ideal in applications that are subject to frequent on-off cycling, unlike fluorescent lamps that burn out quickly when cycled frequently, or HID lamps that require a long time before restarting.
• can easily be dimmed either by Pulse-width modulation or by lowering the forward current.
• In contrast to most light sources, LEDs radiate very little heat in the form of IR that can cause heat damage
•  Mostly fail by dimming over time, rather than abrupt burn-out like incandescent bulbs.
•  have a long useful life- up to 50,000 hours however, the time to complete failure is longer. Fluorescent tubes fail at about 10,000 to 15,000 hours, depending on the conditions of use, and incandescent bulbs at 1,000–2,000 hours.
•  are solid-state components, so are difficult to damage by a shock, unlike fluorescent and incandescent bulbs which are fragile.
•  can be designed to focus its light. Incandescent and fluorescent lights require an external reflector to collect light and direct it in a usable manner.
•  do not contain mercury, like fluorescent lamps.

LED Lighting Colours

LED Lighting is available in many different colors.  We stock 12.  The most common colors are: Warm White, White, and Cool White. The standard for signage is White (6000K) for true color representation.