LED Lights
Today, almost every home, office, and shop uses LED lights as a primary source of lighting. Their use is not just limited to indoors, but LED lights are now being used as studio lights and in automobile industries as well. You might remember a few decades back when filament or halogen bulbs were at their peak. They usually have very short lifespans, consume a lot of electricity, and are not efficient enough.
After some years, fluorescent lights were introduced, also known as “energy savers.” They consume very little electricity, provide relatively longer lifespans, and are highly energy efficient. However, the biggest drawback of fluorescent technology was that you couldn’t use it anywhere. You have to mold them in a customized hollow tube which is then filled with fluorescent powder. That is why it covered only a few industries such as office and home lighting only.
Of course, you can’t place a whole tube in a car’s headlight nor in any outdoor lights. That’s why fluorescent lighting was a failed technology because it requires a lot of physical space to illuminate and can’t be used as decoration lighting due to its unattractive tubes.
LED Lights
A few decades back, people only used LED lights in motherboards, toy cars, and other small-scale projects. Today, LED lights are the most popular source of lighting when it comes to the automobile industry, outdoor lighting, and indoor lighting as well. Today, automobile manufacturers offer Xenon lights (modern versions of LEDs) in some high-budget cars. They are also popular in decoration lightings such as RGB and diffused lighting systems.
There are numerous reasons why LED lighting technology is trendy and one of the ideal lighting systems. LED technology is at its peak, but most people still don’t know anything about how LED lights work and terms related to LED lighting. That is why in this article, we’ve written an ultimate guide on everything you need to know about LED lights. So let’s get into it!
How LED Lighting Technology Works?
An LED light produces light when a small amount of electric current passes through a semiconducting material, a diode. The diode then produces the photons (light) and emits them out to the atmosphere. The diodes that make the LED system possible always work in DC.
That is why you see most small items that operate in DC always containing LED lighting. Because, besides LEDs, there is no such technology that can work in DC. However, in large-scale lighting systems such as home and outdoor lighting, a transformer converts the AC to DC. Those LEDs that emit photons are incredibly robust.
They don’t run out of energy and produce significantly less heat as compared to other lighting technologies. That is why LED technology is far better than halogen, fluorescent, and filament technologies.
Benefits of Using LED Lights
There are numerous reasons and benefits to shifting your lighting system to LED technology. Below we’ve mentioned some of the main advantages of using LED lights and why it is better than fluorescent and filament bulbs:
Consumes Extremely Low Electricity
The most significant benefit that most people shift towards the LED lights is their low electricity consumption. There’s no doubt that LED technology is one of the most energy-efficient technologies and, currently, no other previous technology can beat it.
Compared to filament bulbs, the LED technology consumes 10x lower electricity but provides the same brightness as filament bulbs (even more). If we compare it to fluorescent lights, LEDs consume 4x less electricity than fluorescent ones. Many automobile manufacturers use LED lighting in the interior, backlights, and headlights to reduce the load in a car’s battery.
Better Luminosity
Just like it consumes a lot less electricity than fluorescent and filament technology, the same thing applies in terms of luminousness. LED technology can provide up to 10x more brightness; then, it can provide any fluorescent or filament technology in the same size with even less power consumption.
The reason lies behind the way LEDs work. We’ll talk about it later in the article. In this process, there is shallow energy loss, and you don’t require to use any converter that gives high luminous energy compared to other technologies. In simple language, light emanates from the LEDs as the main object. While in other technologies, light is emitted as a side effect of a reaction with electricity.
Longer Lifespan
LEDs last significantly longer than any other light technology. The semiconductor diodes used in this system are the reason why they last longer. An average LED bulb has an average life of about 25,000 hours. Whereas a filament bulb offers only 1000 hours and a fluorescent bulb offers 10,000 hours. In a filament bulb, the filament breaks down after a while due to the intense heat generated over time. In fluorescent bulbs, the fluorescent powder inside the tube gets dead; over time, they run out of the ability to emit more photons. However, in LEDs, the diodes last longer because they don’t run out of energy or break due to intense heat.
It can be molded in any shape and size.
The 2nd most significant reason why LED systems are popular is that you can modify them in almost any shape and size according to need. There is no such lighting technology capable of altering but LED technology is the only lighting technology to adapt in any size or shape.
Whether you use RGB lighting for gamers, backlit in keywords and displays, decoration ceiling lights, emitting diodes in the motherboard, notification lights, xenon headlamp in cars, or simple room light, all are based on LED technology but are different in design and working.
This advantage makes the LED system suitable for any industry or machine. However, fluorescent lighting is also capable of modification, but the tube system can take up a lot of physical space.
Important Terms Related to LED Lights
When you go to a market to purchase a new LED lighting system for your needs, you might see some sci-fi terms mentioned on the package. Those terms are the specifications of your lighting system, and they are essential to consider before you buy it! If you’re reading this, then you might not know about those terms. That is why below we’ve mentioned some of the most common words that you should consider before buying an LED lighting system:
Lumens| xK
The Lumens are written in a numerical form with the word “K” at the end. If you have ever read the optics in physics, then you might already know about this, and you can skip it if you want.
Lumens is the term in which the brightness of the light is measured. The SI unit of Lumens is “K” (kelvin), and its prefix is “LM.”
“The maximum distance measures the lumens the photons of that light source can cover.”
In simple language, the xK in the LED light represents how bright your light is. The more lumens the LED has, the brighter and more intense it will be. Usually, a 10-15W room LED bulb can produce about 1600 LM enough to lighten up a standard size room or bedroom. A small and low-watt bulb (3W-6W) can generate 560 LM, which is enough to lighten up a mid-size washroom and large wardrobe. Depending on your usage, you can choose any lumens LED you want!
Heat Production
To tell you that heat in all the lighting technology is produced as a side effect. The more heat is produced by light, the less efficient it will be. Before LED technology, there were many lighting technologies. They all have heat that reduces their efficiency. If you ever used a filament bulb, then you might be aware of the amount of heat generated by that bulb. Even today, many people use the filament bulb as a source of heat in hen farms and for small insect farming.
A cheap and good source of heat for small projects!
The fluorescent bulbs also produce heat but not much as compared to filament bulbs. If you ever studied physics, you might be aware that the more side effects a machine will make, the more inefficient it will be. In LED technology, they have about 13x less heat and 7x less heat than fluorescent lights. That’s why they are more efficient and provide better output.
Conclusion
Today LED technology is at its peak. LEDs are now being used in almost all industries where lighting is required. Whether it is the automobile industry, professional studio lighting industry, hotels or home lighting systems, or small-scale DIY projects, the use of LED technology is everywhere. You probably have an LED light bulb in your home. But most people still don’t know how beneficial LEDs are and their comparison to other technologies. Before you purchase a new lighting system for your house or according to the need, we would like you to read this article. Especially, if you don’t know much about LED technology. That’s why in this article, we’ve written this ultimate guide on LED lighting systems!
