LED light bulbs buying guide How to choose the right lamp

13 Pages·2016·0.68 MB·English

09/09/2016 LED light bulbs buying guide: How to choose the right lamp?
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LED LIGHTING PRODUCTS
 
LED and how it di﷒ers from
ENERGY USAGE CALCULATOR
incandescent bulbs and CFLs?
Calculate your lighting energy usage and
compare with our products to 鴖nd how much can
LED lighting is highly-ecient and most eco-friendly
you save.
lighting source in the market; what’s more, it o﷒ers so
many varieties to choose from. We are here presenting
CALCULATE
helpful guidelines to help you make the perfect choice.
For years, people have only one style of light bulb – the LIGHT REQUIREMENT CALCULATOR
incandescent. Over the time, there was need of energy-
Calculate Number of LED lights and Total Lumen
ecient lighting, and CFL bulbs came onto the scene, as or Watt required for your room type and size.
a cheaper, more energy-ecient lighting option.
CALCULATE
One step ahead, now we have LEDs o﷒ering bene鴖ts like
low energy usage, low heat emission, and low impact on
the environment when discarded.
Do you know lighting accounts for 10%-30% of a typical
household’s energy bill in India? So, this is right time to
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H$L2 LED Downlight
09/09/2016 LED light bulbs buying guide: How to choose the right lamp?
make change, and go for highly ecient lighting – LED –
and save money, energy and also our environment.
There are many types of LED bulbs are available in the
market today. So choice is dicult and people generally
wonder, how to choose the right LED bulb? We will solve
your confusion, but let 鴖rst have an overview of what is
an LED lamp?
For over 150 years, 100-watt incandescent light bulbs
have been in use to light up hallways and bedrooms
while 60-watt Incandescent have been used in reading
lamps and closets. They are well-known for producing
yellow glow and became the most prominent electrical
lighting choice for generations after generation.
Problem was that they were unproductive, and were
wasting lots of energy as heat. It’s really sad that only
about 10% of the electricity used is actually converted to
light while 90% is given o﷒ as heat. They soon became
obsolete as energy-ecient competition arrived.
CFLs have been around for a while, and become an
energy-ecient alternative to incandescent bulbs. In its
寃uorescent technology, electricity is used to excite
mercury gas inside the tube to produce ultraviolet light,
which then passes through a coating of phosphor on the
insides of glass tubes, giving o﷒ visible light based on
the principle of 寃uorescence.
CFLs use much less energy compared to incandescent
bulbs – about 75% less to produce the same amount
light, but the main disadvantage to CFL lights is that CFLs
contain toxic mercury in the bulb. Mercury is very
dangerous heavy metal. Generally, this is not a problem,
but if the bulb breaks, then proper cleanup and disposal
of CFL bulbs is critical.
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09/09/2016 LED light bulbs buying guide: How to choose the right lamp?
It’s time for making the best choice with the advent of
new LED technology. LED bulb is next generation option
in energy eciency. LED bulbs are made out of clusters
of small light emitting diodes instead of 鴖laments,
harmful mercury, or gases.
This technology has been around for decades and most
commonly, it has been used as the small indicator lights
on electronic devices. For now, LED bulbs are grouped in
clusters with di﷒user lenses to expand its adoption for
home, oce, and commercial use.
If you compare c寃 and led bulbs, LEDs are highly energy
ecient and use very little energy than incandescent
bulbs and CFLs. LED technology is advancing rapidly with
modern bulb styles available. They are more expensive
than other lighting options, but the price of LED bulbs is
going down every year as its manufacturing technology
continues to improve. The main advantages of LED
bulbs over c寃 are low energy usage, low running cost
and longest life time.
Performance of LED bulbs vs.
Incandescent bulbs vs. CFLs:
First important thing to consider in comparison is
performance.
LED light bulbs use only 2-17 watts of electricity that is
about 1/6th to a regular incandescent bulb and 1/2 to
CFLs. Traditional incandescent bulbs use a lot of energy
to produce light however 90% of this energy is given o﷒
as heat. Here lost energy is money we are throwing
away. On other side, using LED bulbs, you can save 85%
in energy costs.
Low power consumption means far lower energy bills.
Generally, lighting accounts for roughly 25% of the utility
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09/09/2016 LED light bulbs buying guide: How to choose the right lamp?
bill. So this is really a big deal, not only for individuals
but also for larger properties like warehouses &
factories, public schools, hospitals, local governing
bodies, etc. which can hoard huge monthly bills. LED
o﷒ers really big savings for their electricity use.
Comparison based on other important bene鴖ts that
LED o﷒ers:
Life span: Another big advantage of using LED is
that it lasts longer. Our GlowUP LED bulbs last for
an average of 50,000 hrs, around 15 years (at 9
hours/ a day) under normal household use. This is
roughly 30 times longer when compared to
incandescent bulbs as well as 5 times longer than
CFLs.
Big saving of energy and money: LEDs are initially
expensive, but the cost is recovered quickly in
electricity and replacement savings in the long
term. It o﷒ers considerable ongoing savings for
many years to come, as LED bulbs last for an
average of 50,000 hrs means no hassle of replacing
bulbs. On considering its low-power usage and
long life, it helps you save a lot than incandescent
bulbs and CFLs.
Highly durable: LEDs are extremely durable; as
they do not have a 鴖lament means they can work
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09/09/2016 LED light bulbs buying guide: How to choose the right lamp?
even if dropped or fell down like incandescent
bulb. Being solid with aluminum body, they also
hold up well to jarring and bumping.
Less heat: LEDs don’t get hot, even after being on
all night. They just feel warm to the touch while
Incandescents and CFLs get really hot to work by
their very nature. LED lights do not cause heat
build-up. They come with metal heatsinks to draw
the heat away from the LED chip itself. That means
it’s safer to operate as well as it can cut energy
costs along with cut air conditioning costs in the
home, preventing heat build-up.But if the heat sink
is not perfect in size, poorly connected or of a poor
design, the LED will be overheated and burning
out. Here thermal management is the single most
important factor in the successful performance of
an LED product over its lifetime, as higher the
temperature at which the LEDs are operated, the
more quickly the light will fail and the shorter the
useful life.
Eco-friendly: LEDs notably reduce carbon
emissions, so praised as the best eco-friendly
lighting option. Every year, power plants using
Incandescent bulbs emit 80 million tons of CO2
into the atmosphere for generating electricity to
light US homes. Now replacing all those bulbs to
LED, carbon emissions is reduced to only 12 million
tons comparable of taking 2,500,000 cars o﷒ the
road.Even LED bulbs don’t contain harmful
mercury like CFLs. Mercury is a toxic heavy metal
that damages the environment as well as becomes
poisonous when breathed in by humans. As LEDs
use low power, there would be lesser demand for
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09/09/2016 LED light bulbs buying guide: How to choose the right lamp?
electricity that resulted in less power plants means
less pollution.
CRI – quality of a bulb’s light: Color rendering
index (CRI) is important factor for any led lighting
product. General use bulb for home requires CRI of
80. With High CRI > 82, Charlston’s GlowUP LED
lamp helps you see the actual color of the objects
more accurately.
Suitable to decorate any corner: LED bulbs would
be nice lighting choice for e﷒ect and decorative
purposes. As LEDs lights are directional, they are
excellent for lights under cabinetry, in the kitchen
over your workspaces and over the home oce
desk.
Quick light: LEDs are instant on like incandescent
while CFLs take a minute to warm up on turning
on.
Dimming Capability: The main di﷒erence between
c寃 and led bulbs is that, CFL lamps cannot be
dimmed. With dimmable LED bulbs, you can not
only save money but also increase life span of
bulb.
Calculating the cost of electricity:
Here is given a simple example to know how much you
exactly save for using LEDs. For this, you must
calculate the costs of electricity to run light bulbs.
At 鴖rst, take scenario of 3 bedrooms, each having a light
bulb in the ceiling. Fix 60W incandescent regular bulb in
鴖rst bedroom, a 20W CFL for the second, and 9W
GlowUP LED bulb for the third one. All these bulbs
would give the same light level in the room.
Now to calculate the cost of running the light bulbs for a
year, 鴖rst you have to make some assumptions like
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09/09/2016 LED light bulbs buying guide: How to choose the right lamp?
usage of light bulb and how much are you charged for
electricity?
Suppose light bulb in your room is used for about 6 hrs
a night, means about 2000 hrs of use every year. Next
assume that you pay for electricity 7 Rs. (Indian rupees)
per kWh( 1 Unit). Also, get the bulb’s wattage in 1000W =
1kW means 40W bulb is 0.04kW.
Use formula: hrs x Rate x Wattage = Total yearly cost.
So, a yearly running cost
for the 60W incandescent bulb is 2000(Hrs) x 7(Rs) x
0.060(Kilo Watt) = Rs. 840/-
for the 20W CFL it is 2000(Hrs) x 7(Rs) x 0.020(Kilo Watt)
= Rs. 280/-
for the 9W LED it is 2000(Hrs) x 7(Rs) x 0.009(Kilo Watt) =
Rs. 126/-
You can use this formula for any types of bulbs.
Another way to count on savings of LED lamp is take a
quarter of your bill – did you know that lighting account
for 25% of a home’s electricity usage. Now, reduce that
quarter portion by 85% if you want to go from
incandescent bulbs to LED or by 50% if you want to
switch from CFL to LED.
How to calculate total cost of replacing
bulbs?
What if there will be any replacement of light bulb, you
couldn’t get the right 鴖gure based on common usage.
Knowing cost of replacing bulbs over a particular period
helps you count exact saving for LEDs.
As claimed, our LED bulbs last 50,000 hrs, CFLs last 5000
hrs, and the incandescent bulbs last only 1000 hrs.
Suppose there is 2000 hrs a year of usage; then within
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09/09/2016 LED light bulbs buying guide: How to choose the right lamp?
20 years, you’re only going to have 1 LED bulb, while you
need 8 CFLs and 40 Incandescent bulb.
Another important thing is the money spent on light
bulbs. On assuming prices stay the same, 9W LED Bulb
costs 750 Rs. and its 20w CFL equivalent costs 200 Rs.
and 60w incandescent bulb costs around 20 Rs. That
means over a 20-year period 1 LED bulb will cost 750 Rs.,
8 CFLs will cost 1600 Rs and 40 incandescent bulbs will
cost 800 Rs.
Cost of electricity per year to run those light bulbs, as
calculated above
9W LED Bulb = Rs.126/yr
20W CFL Bulb = Rs.280/yr
60W Incandescent Bulb = Rs.840/yr
Cost of electricity over 20 years:
126 x 20 = Rs. 2520 for LED
280 x 20 = Rs.5600 for CFL
840 x 20 = Rs.16800 for Incandescent
Total cost over 20 years (Cost of electricity over 20 years
+ Cost for the bulbs used within 20 years):
Rs. 750 + Rs. 2520 = Rs.3270 for LED Bulb
Rs. 1600 + Rs.5600 = Rs. 7200 for CFL
Rs. 800 + Rs. 16800= Rs. 17600 for incandescent Bulbs
Check the Incandescent vs. CFL vs. LED light bulb
comparison chart below showing annual running cost,
energy usage and lifetime.
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09/09/2016 LED light bulbs buying guide: How to choose the right lamp?
Role of Lumen in lighting output as well
as eciency:
Lumen is unit to measure the total amount of visible
light that your bulb and other lighting object produces.
You can easily compare lumens between all
incandescent and CFL bulbs, as higher lumens on the
box, the brighter the bulb’s light output. But it is
meaningless if you compare lumens between an LED
bulb and a CFL to an incandescent bulb. On measuring
lumens, you also have to consider useful lumens. If a
light bulb emits light in every direction similarly over and
beneath, then light that going up can get trapped in the
light 鴖tting and totally wasted.
It is reported that about 50% of light emitted from a CFL
or incandescent bulb is trapped inside the 鴖tting and
never makes it out. That trapped light is just gets
absorbed and wasted as heat. That means from all the
lumens that bulb produces, only about half actually
lights the room, these are called as the useful lumens.
When it comes to LED bulb, its little LED chip is mounted
to the body of the bulb and all the light coming out are
all pointed in the one direction, basically pointing down.
As bulbs in your ceiling are pointed down, all of the light
produced by the LED bulb makes it into the room.
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09/09/2016 LED light bulbs buying guide: How to choose the right lamp?
See the Incandescent vs. CFL vs. LED light lumens chart:
Wattage Lumens Useful Lumens
LED 9W 800 lm 800lm
CFL 20W 1000lm 500lm
Incandescent 60W 1000lm 500lm
Here you can say that the 9W LED is higher in light
output levels to the other two. All the lumens produced
by LED bulb are useful lumens, while only about half of
the lumens from the CFL and incandescent are actually
usable.
Ecacy is another important thing to decide the
performance of the LED bulb in terms of lumens. It
points out e﷒ectiveness of the light bulb at converting
electricity into visible light based on watts used by the
object while turning on. Thus, ecacy is total lumens per
watt. For ex. our 9W light bulb comes with lumens of 800
has an ecacy of 90lms per Watt.
What to look for Quality in LED Bulbs?
Light quality and temperature are also important
consideration to make on comparing bulbs. Both
important things are measured by CRI and CCT
respectively.
CRI – Color Rendering Index: CRI is a measure of light
quality, showing how well a light source replicate color
to the human eye relative to daylight. White light is
made up of all the colors in the light spectrum. We can
see the color of every material object when light being
thrown on it. Natural daylight has the highest CRI rating,
while arti鴖cial light sources can’t produce all the colors
of the light spectrum. CRI of 80 is the standard
requirement for general home use. With CRI > 82,
Charlston’s GlowUP are best to render natural colors.
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