Advantages of LED lamps and high-efficiency lamps

It’s not just about energy savings: CFL’s, LED’s and other SSL types offer aesthetic, labor-saving, and special-application advantages

Compact fluorescent,  and LED and other high-efficiency lamps in the emerging field of Solid State Lighting (SSL) promise dramatic advantages in energy use and control convenience in homes, businesses and industry. Although high-efficiency has been the primary focus in promotion of these lamps, all the new technologies also claim significantly longer lamp life, as well as a variety of other advantages not widely reported.

Read on about CFL and SSL advantages relating to lamp life, power factor, and reduced fading from UV

Cable track lighting systems are elegant, only good for 300 Watts

12V LED lamps save an overloaded track lighting system

I recently encountered a fine mechanical installation of a cable track low voltage lighting system that was electrically overloaded. The cable track cable is good for 300W. That’s six (6) 50W lamps. Many installations will benefit from new high-efficiency LED lamps that provide similar light levels with improved optics at only 10W each. So if you have 40 linear feet of cable track zig-zagging over a public gathering area, you easily position 3 or even 6 lamps per 10′ section, whereas with 50W halogen lamps, each 10′ section would get only one or two lamps every 10′ section.

More on overload for low voltage lighting systems >>

New ceiling fans for summer (and winter)

Summer is a’ coming and ceiling fans are a time-tested green technology that can stand-in for air conditioning at a fraction of the installed and operating costs, or significantly reduce operating cost to achieve a given ‘wind chill’ comfort level for those who have already installed A/C.

2FL Rear: ceiling fan in master bedroom

Replacing the ceiling fan your dad put up?

Some things have changed.

Read more on the options and new pitfalls for ceiling fans and controls in the era of the high-efficiency lightbulb >>

Basement bath renovations electrical

The scope of this electrical contract for bath renovations in a tight basement area was to provide all new point to point wiring and devices/fixtures. Also, to delete a pair of wall outlet locations, move one to coordinate with the new vanity cabinet location and enclosed shower stall, add a new ceiling fixture location and expand switching controls to provide for separate controls on each lighting point, the exhaust fan, and newly-added ceiling heater.

The NEC-required GFCI receptacle at the vanity features GFCI protection from a remote device in the utility room behind the shower enclosure (glass walls not yet installed), avoiding unnecessary button clutter on the devices located in this finished area.

3-gang lighting and fan controls includes a logic-controlled fan timer to conserve energy.

A damp location recessed fixture lamped with new LED technology will not need a lamp change for up to 50,000 hours of lamp on-time. The LED performs particularly well in this application, where the luminaire uses its focused downward beam to the maximum, the diffuser adds a bit of warmth to the otherwise slightly cool 3000K color temperature, and the difficult lamp-change procedure behind a gasketed damp location recess trim could be a nuisance using shorter-life lamps (even CFL's have a rated life less than half as long).

Robert Monk Electric delivered the electrical installation as quoted during coordination on a tight schedule with other trades. A $50 additional charge applied to relocate the heater timer from beside the entrance doorway to beside the vanity GFCI (requested during construction), and the customer approved a $10 charge (cost) for the upgrade to LED lamp for the recessed damp location ceiling light.

See also:

• Utilitech Pro 7.5W LED A19 Lamp Review
• Utilitech Pro 7.5W LED A19 Lamp at Lowe’s
• Lighting controls products

Have LED lamps come of age?

Full-bright in a non-dimmed clip-lamp, these new LED lamps provide bright light. The fact that there’s a hint of glare at an oblique angle to the lamp axis is unfortunate in this installation but a great achievement in LED technology, generally. The LA/LED series lamps may turn out to be an outstanding lamp for recessed lighting applications.

Based on my 8 hours’ experience with it to date, the latest generation of LED lamps may be ‘good but not great’ (as CFL’s have been for more than two years, now). For under $10/lamp, it appears I have my hands on a 50,000-hour lamp with good domestic-use (warm) color temperature and adequate light output from a standard, 120V, A19 lamp base. The lamp claims to be dimmable but that’s a qualified ‘sort of’ based on my initial testing (see below).

This morning, I purchased (12) of a Utilitch Pro 7.5W dimmable, 3000K, 40W-equivalent LED lamp, Model number LA19DM/LED

More on groundbreaking Utilitech LED LA19 bulb, other trends in LED lighting >>