Dial up the brightness with these 100W replacement LEDs

The lighting aisle at your local hardware store has seen a lot of changes over the past few years, with incandescents getting phased out in favor of more efficient options. That's led to a rapid rise in LED options, including some increasingly affordable bulbs in the 100W replacement category. LEDs like these used to cost $50 or more, but today's crop won't cost you even half that. Here are five you might want to consider, along with full reviews to help you split the hairs between them.

Rigid LED strip manufacturers underscore improved luminous efficacy

Companies are releasing models with 2835 LEDs to widen reach in the indoor illumination market. They are positioning the line for the switch from fluorescent tubes. China makers of rigid LED strips are adopting diodes with higher luminous efficacy to expand their selections and boost penetration of the indoor lighting segment. A number are tapping 2835 LEDs with up to 100 lm/W and lower attenuation compared with mainstream 5050, 5630 and 5730 versions. Suppliers such as Shenzhen QCG introduced models last year. The company’s 12W units feature 90 lm/W, and come in white, warm white and cool white.

Multicolor smart lamp can display notifications and adapt to your music

Witti Design, the company behind Notti, is a Hong Kong-based startup that made another smart light called Dotti not too long ago. Notti does all thes same things Dotti does, but features a different design. The light is shaped like a strange polygon that looks like a large ice crystal. It’s white until you light it up and then you can choose from as many as 16 million colors, according to Notti.The lamp sports a 3 watt LED that lights up when you want it to.

EP municipality to use LED in all street lamps

The Eastern Province municipality (Saudi Arabia) has announced plans to use energy-saving illumination technologies (LED) in street lamps with a view to cut down electricity consumption. The new technology will allow for controlled consumption of power through a system of computers and remote controls leading to more efficient means of saving energy. Mayor of the Eastern region, Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Jubair, said: "The use of LEDs is one of the most prominent projects provided to the region to reduce electricity consumption by a system of computers and remote controls which will also monitor the contractor's performance and achievements." He added that the new technology will at the same time help to monitor the network and fix problems if and when they crop up.

New lighting system to be installed in Shaw’s Brow car park

Modern, energy-saving LED lights are likely to be installed in Shaw’s Brow multi-storey car park in the centre of Douglas in the near future. The new lights will cost the council £42,000 to fit but a report given to the council said the cost should be recouped within three years because the new units would be more efficient, saving electricity costs. The decision comes after a report compiled for the council looking at ways of improving lighting in Shaw’s Brow car park and reducing power costs.

New Clay Paky Stormy Fixtures Arrive at Main Light Industries

Main Light Industries, Inc., which offers lighting equipment rentals to the professional entertainment business from its base in Wilmington, Delaware, has taken delivery of 34 new Clay Paky Stormy fixtures.  A.C.T Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of Clay Paky products in North America. Main Light Industries, Inc., which offers lighting equipment rentals to the professional entertainment business from its base in Wilmington, Delaware, has taken delivery of 34 new Clay Paky Stormy fixtures.  A.C.T Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of Clay Paky products in North America.

Stadiums begin to embrace the advantages of LEDs

For years, sports stadiums have used metal halide lights to illuminate playing surfaces. But now, arenas are turning to LED lights, which have already made inroads in everything from city street lights to Christmas lights. When the San Francisco 49ers were investigating light options for Levi’s Stadium in 2012, LED lighting was still an uncertainty among sports teams. According to a 49ers spokesman, broadcast networks raised concerns about the readiness of LED lights for use in a major stadium. While the team looked at a few LED prototypes, it ultimately opted for the safe and traditional metal halide lights to illuminate the field.

LEDs attract 50% more insects and could damage ecosystems

Blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been receiving positive attention after its inventors were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics last week. They use around 90 per cent less energy than incandescent bulbs and last for 100,000 hours compared with 1,000 hours for tungsten filament light bulbs. But while they may be good for the environment, a new study claims that the discovery may a problem for insects, which are more strongly attracted to the LED spectrum of light.

A Squeezable Light Bulb That Slurps Up Color

In the last couple of years, color detecting sensors have finally become cheap enough that we're starting to see a whole host of interesting gadgets that can incorporate Pantone swatches into their functionality. But we haven't seen anything that looks as fun as the Colorup

Government to offer Rs 400 LED bulbs at Rs 10 soon

Indian households will be able to buy energy-efficient LED bulbs at a steeply discounted price of Rs 10 following a business plan developed by group of government entities along with electricity distribution firms. The move is part of the government's ambitious plan to boost energy efficiency by providing Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology-based lighting solutions at affordable cost.

Sixty Watt Colored LED Wall Pack Light Released by Larson Electronics

Larson Electronics announces the release of a new low profile LED wall pack light with an optional red, blue, green, amber, purple, pink and white color output. This 60 watt LED light offers high light output from a compact form factor and is designed to provide a more durable and long lived alternative to halogen and metal halide units.

The LEDWP-600C from Larson Electronics produces a wide flood beam without the high heat, fragile construction, or high energy costs of incandescent lighting. The light assembly consists of forty-five LEDs paired with high purity optics to produce a wide light distribution overpowering that of a 500 watt quartz flood light. This light is constructed of three angled boards that help provide a wider spread. Instead of the light shining forward, the center board is concentrated to go straight out while the boards on the side are 45° offset. The LED lamp assembly is protected by a shatterproof polycarbonate lens which is secured to the housing with a waterproof seal. A ½” waterproof connector provides a secure and sealed power connection point and rounds out this unit’s weather resistant construction.

This LED wall pack is designed to withstand demanding conditions and is waterproof, vapor proof and built to resist the damaging effects of an outdoor environment. Mounting hardware for this wall pack light consists of a stainless steel coated bracket with stainless steel screws to provide secure mounting and resistance to rust and corrosion. The mounting assembly provides 360° rotation and 180° of up and down tilt to allow the user to position the unit as desired once mounted. This unit is designed to operate with voltages ranging from 110V AV to 277V AC, providing versatile power connection options. The LEDWP-600C provides an efficient and highly durable alternative to standard quartz and halogen wall pack lights that produce a longer reaching beam while using only a fraction of the power. 

Korean team makes flexible LEDs with GaAn micro-rods on graphene

A team of resarchers from Seoul National University in Korea have reported growing GaN micro-rods and coaxial quantum-well heterostructures on graphene films for applications in flexible optical devices. Graphene films were grown on copper foil by means of chemical vapour deposition, and then used as the substrates for the growth of the GaN micro-rods, which were subsequently transferred onto SiO₂/silicon substrates.

The Zuli Smartplug shrinks geo-fencing to room-fencing, for precision control of your home lighting system

Most smart-home systems rely on a central hub to manage light switches, wall plugs, door/window sensors, and other devices. Zuli has a different idea: Its smart plugs use Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) to form a mesh network. The network uses your smartphone to determine your location, so it can turn a light on when you enter a darkened room, and turn it off when you leave. The clever concept enjoyed a successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year, and more recently caught the attention of several seed-round investors, including Logitech.

Sorry Thomas Edison, Here's Why LEDs Are the Better Bulb

Because of the “New Light Bulb Law,” Jan. 1 of this year marked the beginning of the end for America’s most popular source of light — the incandescent bulb. Even though these bulbs have lit homes around the world since the late 1800s, energy-inefficient incandescents are being phased out in favor of new types of bulbs that bring more light for less power. Taking their place is the LED (short for light emitting diode). When LEDs were first introduced, they were primarily used for traffic signals. Now, we see them in lamps, flashlights, cell phone screens, computers, automobile headlights and more.

Bright, Bendy Gallium Nitride LEDs

When it comes to light-emitting diodes, both inorganic and organic devices have found their niches. Inorganic LEDs, which beat organic ones hands down in brightness, energy efficiency, and durability, reign in lighting. Organic LEDs, on the other hand, can be tiny and are cheap to manufacture, so they take the prize for large-area, high-resolution and flexible applications such as displays and wearable sensors. Researchers have now combined the best of inorganic and organic LEDs. They've made bendable inorganic LEDs by growing micrometers-tall gallium nitride rods on graphene.

A guide to selecting power supplies for LED lighting applications

Thanks to their energy savings, long service life, durability and design flexibility they offer, light emitting diodes (LEDs) are rapidly replacing incandescent and fluorescent technologies in both indoor and outdoor luminaires. But choosing the right LED is only part of the design equation. In order for your solid-state lighting design to realize its full efficiency, durability, and longevity, you'll need to choose a power supply with characteristics which closely match the requirements of your application and the LEDs you're using. This brief tutorial offers some helpful pointers on what you'll need to consider during the selection process.

How the Blue LED Changed the World, and Won a Nobel Prize

Their inventions have found their way into bedside lamps, television screens, and smartphones, and have the potential to give light to the 1.5 billion people who don’t have access to electricity grids, according to the Nobel Assembly. In recognition of this, scientists Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura, whose invention of blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) “triggered a fundamental transformation of lighting technology,” were awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics, the Nobel Assembly announced Tuesday.

Efficient, useful blue-light LED draws Nobel Prize in physics

Baffled by Higgs bosons, quantum mechanics, and the accelerating expansion of the universe? This year's physics Nobel Prize is for something that's reassuringly understandable and useful: the blue LEDs used in everything from home lighting and headlights to TV screens and traffic signals. Three researchers helped revolutionize lighting with vastly better energy efficiency and brightness. The light-emitting diodes also are used in data storage, TVs, and smartphones.

High-temp-high-power LEDs may enable lower solution costs for lamps & light engines

Cree's XLamp MH-B LED series reflects an interesting strategy for helping manufacturers control their total component costs without having to slash too deeply into Cree's part of the BOM. Besides making it easy for manufacturers to cut assembly costs by moving from large arrays of mid-power LEDs to fewer, higher-powered LEDs, Cree says that their MH-B devices' higher operating temperatures enable designers to use smaller, lighter heat sinks which dramatically reduce product's total BOM cost. While this is a very practical and viable approach for some products, it's not exactly novel and, as we'll see, the savings do come with a price.

Nanotechnology leads to better, cheaper LEDs for phones and lighting

Princeton University researchers have developed a new method to increase the brightness, efficiency and clarity of LEDs, which are widely used on smartphones and portable electronics as well as becoming increasingly common in lighting. Using a new nanoscale structure, the researchers, led by electrical engineering professor Stephen Chou, increased the brightness and efficiency of LEDs made of organic materials (flexible carbon-based sheets) by 57 percent. The researchers also report their method should yield similar improvements in LEDs made in inorganic (silicon-based) materials used most commonly today.

BoscoLighting lights up BEAMS festival in Sydney with vivid lighting effects

BoscoLighting Pty Ltd worked with several leading lighting designers and event planners on the BEAMS festival, one of the most spectacular art events in Sydney. An associated event of Art & About Sydney, the BEAMS festival focusses on the creative aspects of installation, interaction, multimedia, sound and lighting. About 15,000 people attended the event that day, and Lord Mayor Clover Moore was complimentary about the successful show.

LED displays are going to get much clearer thanks to a plasmonic cavity

A plasmonic cavity sounds like technobabble straight out of an episode of Star Trek, but it could be the key to making LED displays clearer and more efficient. The plasmonic cavity is a nanostructure originally developed by Stephen Chou of Princeton University to boost solar power efficiency, but he realized it might have applications in emitting light as well as absorbing it. That could mean better screens on your devices.

Customers Stock Up on Christmas Lights at 1000Bulbs.com

It may seem a little early to be talking about Christmas, much less Christmas lights, but not for lighting retailer 1000Bulbs.com. Companies, municipalities, and homeowners alike are all currently stocking up on Christmas lights. They are taking advantage of great pre-season pricing while securing the lights they need before they become difficult to find and match later in the year.

Buying Christmas lights early and in bulk is necessary to ensure they are consistent in color and quality. Although purchasing only one or two string lights at a time may seem more cost-efficient, there’s no guarantee the same lights will be available when they are needed closer to Christmas. Moreover, the performance and color characteristics of lights can vary not only between manufacturers, but also from generation to generation. While this is true for all lights, this is especially important for LED lights.

When manufacturers make LEDs, they typically sort the individual diodes into separate bins grouped by color and brightness. This is called binning. Because binning requirements can change between seasons, it’s easy to end up with mismatched LED string lights. But when all LEDs are purchased at the same time, the lights are more likely to be of the same caliber. Not to mention it’s less likely for consumers to purchase lights with the wrong bulb type, string length, or spacing if they order all their lights at once.

“Customers continue to shop with us every year because we have such a wide selection to choose from,” says 1000Bulbs.com CEO Kim Pedersen. “We expect Christmas this year to be bigger than it ever has been at 1000Bulbs.”

Each year the demand for Christmas lights increases as more homes and businesses choose to use the lights to celebrate holidays and for general decoration. 1000Bulbs.com has made a significant investment to address this growing demand, especially among its selection of LED mini string lights, C7 and C9 bulbs, and LED C9 string lights. Everyday Account Managers work with new and existing customers to answer questions and provide product recommendations across the wide array of Christmas lights available on the site. These are just a few reasons the company anticipates seeing a 40% growth in their Christmas category this season, and why they are already well prepared to meet consumer needs.