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Replaces 1000W HPS Cobra Head Street Light.
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Replaces 60W Incandescent Bulb
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Replaces 100-400W MH/HPS Fixture.
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Replaces halogen and incandescent bulb.
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The tradition of Christmas lights is rooted in the lone candle that was left burning in windows to indicate a place for devout Christians to meet. Today Christmas is celebrated with gusto all over the world. Recent developments – both in the financial situation across the country and in the belief of people about how resources in general and energy in particular should be consumed have led to a search for energy efficient Christmas lights. LED Christmas lights with electricity consumption that is a tenth of that of incandescent bulbs are the ideal solution for lighting up on Christmas without getting a nasty shock at the end of the month in the form of humongous electricity bills.
The Ideal Christmas Light
A good Christmas light should
- Have a long life – Nothing is more irritating than to take a season old light strings to find that half the bulbs are out of order. The filaments generally break due to vibrations when putting and taking the bulbs out of storage. With LED light strings you don’t need to find that the bulbs are not working after one has painstakingly unfolded the string and plugged it in. These solid state light bulbs do not have filaments and are not susceptible to breakage due to minor vibrations.
- Have good electricity wires – The thin wires of conventional Christmas lights handle vibrations well but the insulation gives in to UV light exposure. The plastic becomes brittle and breaks in outdoor use conditions.
- Use as little electricity as possible – A single mini incandescent bulb uses 0.5 watts. But when you have 1,000 bulbs decorating your property the consumption multiplies to 1000 X 0.5 = 500 watts per hour. Every night that the bulbs remain lighted 5 kWh of electricity is consumed. If you are one of those who use 10,000 bulb lights the consumption is 50 kWh per day. Over a month the electricity consumption balloons to 150 kWh for 1000 bulbs and 1500 watts for 10,000 bulbs!
Below is a comparison of incandescent bulbs, mini lights and LED holiday lights. Whether you are concerned about energy consumption or the carbon footprint of your Christmas lighting decision, LED technology is by far the best choice. The impact of these tiny wonders is 100 times less than 5 watt incandescent bulbs!
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Comparison for 4000 bulbs
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(5 watts/ bulb)
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(0.5 watts / bulb)
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(0.05 watts / bulb)
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KWH per month / 4000 bulbs
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6000 |
600 |
60 |
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Cost per month ($) / 4000 bulbs
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720 |
72 |
7.2 |
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Savings ($)
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$648 (over incandescent bulbs) |
$712 (over incandescent bulbs)
$64.8 (over mini lights)
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Carbon emission per month/ 4000 bulbs
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5 |
0.5 |
0.05 |
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Comparison for 10000 bulbs
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KWH per month / 10000 bulbs
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15000 |
1500 |
150 |
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Cost per month ($) / 10000 bulbs
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1800 |
180 |
18 |
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Savings over incandescent lamps
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$162 |
$1620 |
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Carbon emission per month/ 10000 bulbs
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12.5 |
1.25 |
0.125 |
Safety and Versatility – It should be possible to use the lights for illuminating anything – roof top, façade, stone sculptures, snow sculptures, wire sculptures and Christmas trees. The problem with incandescent lights is that they are either too fragile or too hot for some of the applications. Given the amount of heat that they produce a snow sculpture illuminated with incandescent lights may turn into a puddle of water! In other applications the heat of the bulb may cause accidental fires. Cool burning LED lights are compact, rugged and do not heat up solving many of the problems one associates with traditional Christmas lights.
Possibility of using round the year and suitability for DIY projects – A wide range of DIY projects can be attempted with Christmas light strings. LED strings are better for these DIY projects as they use very small amounts of currents (possible to attach several strings together and suitable for battery powered applications), produce very little heat (safer to work with) and are long lasting (can be kept running for longer hours). Using LED strings round the year as accent lights, decorative lights or mood lights increases the return on your investment many fold.
Savings in electricity are not the only reason why LEDs make sense as Christmas lights. More than a century ago when Edison’s partner used incandescent bulbs to illuminate his Christmas tree it marked the beginning of the light bulbs era. Today, the way LED holiday lights are being adopted portends the domination of LED lighting technology in the coming future. With Christmas trees being lit increasingly by miniature LED bulbs and the impending demise of the incandescent light bulb the future is beckoning.
Indeed LED lighting technology today illuminates a wide range of products including thin laptop and mobile phone screens. LED bulbs are used in flood lights in parking lots, lights in schools and offices, grow lights, surgical lights and exit signs in hospitals.