1. What are Energy Saving LED Lights?
All the LED bulbs on this site are energy saving bulbs that can replace existing light bulbs in your home, office or business and dramatically reduce what you currently spend on your utility (lighting) bill. Also, due to extremely longer lifes, you will also be able to reduce the cost of maintaining your bulbs.
2. How do LED Bulbs work?
LED bulbs are essentially high-tech versions of LED technology that you've seen in early calculators and watches. Essentially, they are electronic devices with mini transformers, chip-sets and light-emitting diodes (LED) that converts electricity into light. They do this extremely well and efficiently, converting most of the energy consumed into light and very little into heat. On the other hand, standard incandescent bulbs convert most of the energy consumed into heat and very little into light. That is why a 8 Watt LED bulb produces as much light as a 65 Watt incandescent bulb.
3. What are the benefits of replacing your ordinary bulbs with the Energy Saving LED bulbs?
The benefits are many. An immediate reduction in your electricity bill. Less heat because LED bulbs are very efficient converting electricity into light, unlike incandescent bulbs that convert most of the electricity consumed into heat. LED Bulbs last a very long time, typically 30,000-50,000 hours. Incandescent bulbs usually last 1000-2000 hours. They are virtually indestructible and they don't contain mercury and other hazardous chemicals, un-like Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFL's) that need to be disposed of carefully when their life is over. Also, 90-95% of an LED bulb is recyclable.
4. Can LED Energy Saving bulbs be used with Dimmers?
Yes. The bulbs we sell on our site work well with dimmers that are designed to work with dimmable LED bulbs. However, not all bulbs are dimmable, and therefore, you can only use bulbs that are designed to be dimmed in a dimmable fixture. Using an non-dimmable bulb in a dimmable application will void the warranty and will fail prematurely.
Also, some of our LED lights (highbays, retrofits) work off a 0-10V dimming system. We have both wire mesh node networks and Lutron 0-10V dimmer switches we can provide that work with these types of fixtures.,
5. Do these light bulbs produce a lot of heat?
No. They are extremely energy efficient and convert most of the electricity used into visible light, unlike incandescent bulbs that convert 95% of the electricity consumed into heat. That is why you can replace a 65 watt incandescent bulb with a 8 watt LED bulb. Not only that, but you can't forget that your cooling bill will also decrease when you use LED light bulbs because LED bulbs produce very little heat. 45 incandescent bulbs (65 watts) when turned on can produce as much as 10,000 btu's of heat. And in the summer, this adds to the heat to your home, office or business that you then have to offset with air-conditioning.
However, LED's do get warm, and some of our industrial LED lights will get warm as well. However, they are significantly cooler than the HID lights they replace.
6. Do they contain any heavy metals like Mercury as some other energy saving light bulbs do?
No. LED bulbs do not contain mercury or any other hazardous metals or chemicals. CFL's and fluorescent tubes, on the other hand, do. So you don't have to worry about special disposal procedures when you happen to drop and break an LED bulb (if you can). However, the same can't be said for CFL and fluorescent tubes if they break.
7. What is the color of the light emitted from LED Energy Saving bulbs? Are they the normal yellowish tone or are they white/blue in color?
LED Bulbs come in a variety of colors (defined by the Kelvin Scale), but we chose the most popular colors for normal home and business use. Typically that is our Day White or Natural White color. LED bulbs have come a long way, and they are not just available in the blu-ish white color that was the only option with earlier designs.
Typical range of color temperatures:
- 2700-3200 - Warm White
- 4000-4500 - Natural White
- 5000-5500 - Day White
- 6500-7500 - Cool White
8. What type of bases are available?
LED Bulbs are the perfect retro-fit for your existing light fixtures. We have standard bases, candelabra, standard or edision (E26) , mogul (E39), MR16 and other typical bases that are common with incandescent and halogen installations.
9. What are the sizes of the bulbs? How do they operate in comparison to the original light bulbs?
In most cases, are bulbs are the same size if not slightly smaller than the bulbs they replace. That is because LED technology packs a lot of light in a small package.
10. Are LED Energy Saving bulbs those ugly curly, twisted bulbs that stick out of our light fittings?
No. Those spiral bulbs are CFL bulbs, and they need to be spiral because that is the way fluorescents need to be to work. They need a tube of gas that excites and lights up when electricity is introduced. LED bulbs contain small, solid Light Diodes. No magical twirls and twists here.
11. Will the bulbs come on immediately, and will they have to "warm up" to brightness like the older type energy saving bulbs do?
Instant On. Instant Off. No 2-minute warm up period that is the trademark of CFL bulbs. Also, turning on and off an LED light does not shorten its lifespan.
12. Can these bulbs be used in outside lights?
Yes. Some bulbs are designed with water-proof fittings. Others need to be kept in a water-tight fixture. Read all instructions and manuals before using a LED bulb outdoors.
13. Will the light levels decrease over the life of the bulb?
Yes. They will fade as the bulb gets near the end of its normal operating life. But it is very gradual and hardly noticeable.
14. How should I dispose of a LED Energy Saving bulbs?
Our LED Light Bulbs do not contain harmful metals or chemicals, so you can dispose it like a normal incandescent light bulb. However, over 95% of the bulb is recyclable, so we believe that those who are so inclined to buy LED bulbs are also inclined to recycle. However, it is not uncommon for these bulbs to last over 10 years, so it will be a long time before you will have to be concerned about recycling your LED bulbs.
15. What sort of guarantee do our LED Energy Saving bulbs come with?
Most of our bulbs come with either a 3 or 5 year manufacturer warranty. Warranties only apply for normal use of bulbs and do not include mis-use or usage for which the bulb was not intended to perform.
We have USA Made LED High Bays that are backed with a 7 year manufacturer's warranty.
16. How many lumens do I need to replace 400W MH fixture?
There is a lot that goes into answering this question. DesignLights Consortium has indicated in their specifications that you need at least 10,000 lumens to replace a 400W MH. Other factors come into play, like surface reflectivity, obstructions and other source of light, such as day light. MyLEDLightingGuide designs light solutions. We are product agnostic, we will select the best product that meets your needs.
17. What is all involved in replacing a fluorescent tube in a fixture?
Typically, you remove the fluorescent ballast and fluorescent tubes and rewire the fixture. Our internal driver LED Tubes use AC current, and then converts the power to DC within the internal LED driver to light the LED's. There are some tubes that can be driven from the fluorescent ballast, but we do not supply those tubes as we see fluorescent ballasts as a maintenance item. Ballasts consume about 4+ watts per fluorescent tube installed, so leaving the ballast in place reduces the energy savings as well.
We also can supply externally driven LED tubes. With these tubes, the driver is externally housed outside the tube, and is usually installed where the fluorescent ballast was located. External drivers act the same way as internal drivers; they accept AC power, convert it to DC which is supplied to the LEDs in the tube.
In the case where you have a native DC system (such as solar systems) you are best to look for externally driven LED tubes and forgo the installation of the driver. You will have to make sure the DC power that is supplied to the fixture is compatible with the DC power requirement of the tubes.
18. What is single ended power and double ended power mean in terms of fluorescent tubes?
In single ended powered tubes, you power only one end. This type of installation is referred to as unshunted.
In double ended powered tubes, you power both ends, one with line source, the other with neutral. This type of installation is referred to as shunted.
In most cases, our tubes our single ended powered tubes. It conforms with the latest UL standards for safety. Proper instllation of our tubes in existing UL fixtures maintains the UL certification of the existing fixture.
We can also provide new fluorescent ends (tombstones) so that you can convert over to single ended powered tubes