A few words about the LED are required. These electromagnetic diodes measuring several millimetres offer conclusive technological advantages. Complete and efficient, they produce all possible lighting inventions and they can replace part of your old incandescent, halogen or flu-compact light sources.
A little history:
LED is the English acronym for Light Emitting Diode. The LED is an electronic component capable of emitting light when an electric current runs through it. It has been used for about forty years for sign applications (luminous warning lights). Just a few years ago, LEDs did not exceed a few milliwatts (mW) and they were only available in red, green or yellow.
A revolution has started:
The spectacular increase in their power some years ago has opened up an immense field of applications in lighting. This technological development provokes a real revolution in the lighting industry and will inevitably change our habits and our way of understanding light. It is more than likely that lighting with LED technology will prevail over all the other technologies in the next 5 to 10 years.
A technology with multiple advantages:
LED bulbs and spotlights do not contain Mercury or any other gas, unlike the fluo-compact (so-called low-consumption) bulbs which depend on this mercury gas to function! It is admitted that mercury (a heavy metal) is extremely harmful to the human being and our entire ecosystem. LEDs consume an extremely low amount of electricity. In fact, with the same amount of light, the energy consumption is 10 times less than with a classic incandescent bulb and 5 times less than with a fluo-compact (so-called low-consumption) bulb
• LEDs have a long life span. Due to their design, LEDs have a life span that can last up to 50,000 hours. But, be careful, for these life spans are only expected of very specific products (often only for the professional market). It is considered that a life span of 25,000 hours is much more realistic for products meant for the general public found on the shelves of shopping centres.
• Who has not become annoyed at the fluo-compact bulbs that take up to 3 minutes to produce the maximum lighting power? You would never have to criticize your LED sources for this, for their light is instantaneous and they produce 100% of the maximum lighting power immediately.
• Turning off the light, putting it back on again and turning it off again is a common, regular thing. The LED bulbs and spotlights are totally insensitive to these repeated light on and light off cycles, regardless of their frequency or the number of times they occur. This is not the case, for example, of the large majority of fluo-compact (so-called low-consumption) bulbs and spotlights.
• Among the other multiple advantages of light sources with LED technology, the fact that they give off much less heat than incandescent and halogen bulbs can be mentioned. You are no longer running the risk of burns (important for children). Let us also mention the fact that they are insensitive to temperature changes. Even when it is -10°C, they produce the same luminous power. This is not the case of fluo-compact luminous sources which function very badly at low temperatures. Finally, they do not emit neither UV nor infrared radiation.
