What if Every Light Bulb on the Las Vegas Strip Exploded?

A handful of luciferous anecdotes aside, your average bulb or neon tube is designed to not explode. A dropped or defective bulb or, in very rare cases, a bulb that’s twisted too tightly in its socket so that electrical arcs weaken the glass might shatter, but those are relatively rare instances. Still, imagine if you will a pressure change or surge shattered every bulb on the Las Vegas Strip. People would immediately start to upload photos to Instagram, but what would happen after that?

LED Engin claims flux record for RGBW lighting LEDs

Led Engin is claiming a flux density record  with a combination of red, green, blue and white die that deliver 3,800 lm from 25 die in a 6.2 x 6.2 mm square on a 12 x 12mm substrate. Power input is 80W, leading to the claim of a "new world record in both flux and power density for high power, multi-color LED lighting".

Driver Creates Short, Powerful Pulses with LEDs

Providing high-brightness, rapidly pulsed, multicolor light, a novel LED driver could displace more expensive lasers and other light sources in scientific, industrial and commercial uses. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have already used it in imaging studies aimed at creating cleaner, more efficient engines that could help improve local air quality and public health and reduce the impacts of climate change.

Self-rolling LED 'Boogie Dice'

If I ever get too lazy to roll my own dice, it's truly time to put me out to pasture. That's what I thought when I was first approached about reviewing a prototype pair of "Boogie Dice," six-sided cubes now on Kickstarter that roll themselves in response to noise. Then I got the dice and started playing around with them. While the dice can replace any six-siders in games you may already own, the real benefit of Boogie Dice is that specific games will be made for them. You change the way the dice bounce and roll, and how long they stay lit, with sounds such as clapping your hands, snapping your fingers or even shouting or banging on a table.

Osram and Google join forces in smart LED lamps

As Osram seeks new owners for its lamp business, it has smartened up its product offerings, making its Lightify range of smart LED lamps compatible with Google's Nest home control system. Osram said the Lightify line has joined the “Works with Nest” program in the UK and Ireland, with other countries to follow soon.

Swimming Pool Dance Floor Enlightened With Leds

In a well documented blog entry, Loren Bufanu presents a project that lit up a glass dance floor covering a swimming pool with RGB strips. We mentioned a video of his project in a Hackaday links but didn’t have any background information. Now we do. The project took around 450 meters of RGB strips controlled by two Rainbowduinos and driven by sixty-four power Mosfets, sixty-four bipolar transistors, and a few other components. Running just the white LEDs draws 8 amps of power.

Huntsville’s New Shopping Development Features LEDs

Solar- and turbine-powered lights line the exterior of the Whole Foods store in the Shops at Merchants Walk, a new shopping development in Huntsville, AL. Each of the lights features a 200W turbine and a 230W solar panel. That power supplies a battery that lights an 85W LED. Energy for the lights can be stored for five days, according to WHNT.com.

Nova Scotia Tabs Silver Spring Networks to Manage LEDs

Halifax will use a control system from Silver Spring Networks to managed 43,000 new LED street lights in the city and outlying rural areas, according to LEDs Magazine. The control system – which is expected to cut costs and improve effectiveness – also sets Halifax up to add sensors for smart city applications. These could include water and electric meter reading, traffic monitoring, water monitoring, traffic counters and advertising panels, the story says. The LEDs were provided by LED Roadway Lighting.

LED headlamps evolve in form and function

Despite some shining examples of LED application in automotive headlamps, adoption rates are still not growing as fast as one might expect especially relative to the surge of solid-state lighting (SSL) for general illumination. The automotive application presents a unique design challenge and costs remain relatively high. LEDs, however, promise to add unique functionality in headlamps. And we will present a design option that can yield a headlamp system with robust functionality.

Bright prospects for connected LEDs as consumer IoT takes off

A new report from the research firm Berg Insight ranks connected LEDs as one of the most promising vertical market segments in IoT.  The global shift from inefficient traditional light bulbs to energy saving LED technology is creating a massive window of opportunity for adding connectivity to the next generation of lighting systems. Between 2014 and 2023, the global share of lamps sold based on LED technology is expected to rise from 15% to 74%.

LIFX launches improved version of its flagship Wi-Fi color LED smart bulb

LIFX told its customers last week that it was going to lift the curtain on something “new” very soon. That something is the Color 1000 smart LED bulb. The Color 1000 replaces the LIFX Original, the Wi-Fi color-tunable LED bulb that this Aussie startup’s first product that  we reviewed in April. It’s an evolutionary upgrade that retains pretty much everything there was to like about the first-gen model, while making a handful of key improvements.

Can switching your light bulbs really save you £100 a year?

The clocks go back next Sunday and, as the nights draw in fast, you can save money on your energy bills by switching light bulbs. Homeowners can knock £100 a year off their electricity bill by removing old light bulbs and replacing them with modern energy saving alternatives. Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs make ideal replacements for ceiling and wall-fitted spotlight halogen lights while traditional bulbs can be changed for Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL).

Halloween is a holiday that screams for LED light bulbs

Back in the day, glow sticks were the best Halloween accessory. You could toss them in your jack-o’-lantern to give it a sickly green tinge or use it as a somewhat weak flashlight while trick or treating. But technology has evolved way beyond the glow stick’s short-lived chemical reaction. These days, smart LED light bulbs and strips can cast an eerie glow on command. LED light makers know this, and they’re taking full advantage this Halloween. Sengled’s combo bulb and speaker, Pulse, can sync up with Pandora or Spotify to dim or darken in time to the playlist. Up to eight bulbs can plunge your house into blackness in response to cues from the music, like Pandora’s Spooky Symphony channel.

Xicato Expands Distribution of Smart LEDs in Europe.

Xicato, a leading manufacturer of intelligent light sources, announced that it has expanded the distribution of its LED modules in collaboration with highly regarded distribution partners throughout Europe. “With Holders Components in the UK and German regions, ECE in Italy, Ağustos Technology in Turkey and Luxendi in the Benelux and France regions, we can offer our customers the best possible service with highly customer-centric organizations throughout Europe,” says Menko de Roos, CEO at Xicato. “Our distribution partners have the best technical expertise and offer complementary products and services to facilitate the implementation of smart lighting solutions based on Xicato Intelligent LED modules.”

Kauai utility to retrofit 3,500 streetlights

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative said Friday it will use energy-saving LEDs to retrofit 3,500 streetlights that are owned by Kauai County and the state. KIUC said it received approval from the Public Utilities Commission to retrofit the lights. The cooperative said work to retrofit the streetlights will begin in 2016 and be completed in about a year.

Awesome Stuff: The Light Non-Switch

One of the definitions of "elegance" in interactive design is the ratio of depth to complexity. This is easily understood in the world of video game design, where there's a constant goal of providing a huge amount of gameplay depth to be explored without bogging the player down in endless complicated controls and options — but the same notion can be applied to something as simple as a light switch. You've normally got a ratio of one simple function to one moving part, but the Lightbox has uncovered a new level of elegance by having no moving parts at all.

Prashant Sarswat/University of Utah U. team makes LED lights out of tortillas, soda

Food and beverage waste could shine in the LED lights of the future, thanks to researchers at the University of Utah. Two professors made carbon quantum dots — the tiny luminescent crystals that give LEDs their light — out of discarded bread, tortillas and soft drinks, according to a recently published report. Researchers said using food waste as material for LEDs could reduce costs and eliminate the need for toxic chemicals while benefitting the environment

Xcel Energy wants to replace 100,000 Minnesota streetlights with LEDs

Streetlights are about to get brighter, cheaper and more energy efficient in a wide swath of Minnesota. Xcel Energy, the largest electric company in Minnesota, said Thursday that it intends to replace all of its 100,000 streetlights across the state with energy-efficient LEDs — part of a proposed $100 million, five-year streetlight upgrade in all eight states it serves.

A tipping point for LEDs

The city of Eugene plans to spend $1.7 million to convert about half its street lights to LEDs, or light-emitting diodes. The switch was going to come eventually, as the declining cost and increasing efficiency of LEDs makes them the most economical choice in an increasing number of applications. Governments, businesses and households worldwide are making the same calculations as part of the greatest revolution in lighting since the invention of the incandescent bulb. A 60-watt incandescent bulb — the kind that is familiar to everyone, and is the cartoon symbol for an idea — emits 16 lumens of light per watt, and lasts about 1,000 hours.

HyLite Introduces High Wattage LEDs

HyLite has expanded its line of Mini-Cob lamps with HyLite retrofit solutions for applications to 1000W HID. The press release explains that facility and maintenance professionals are using LEDs instead of HID systems, which it claims are inefficient and unreliable. However, HyLite found that there is a lack of higher wattage systems on the market. Therefore, it introduced 150W and 200W high performance and high output LEDs for applications up to 1000W HID.

Cree LED high bay fixtures light Bowling Green field house

Cree has announced a solid-state lighting (SSL) project at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) located near Toledo, OH involving the university's Perry Field House athletic facility. The university had contemplated replacing the metal halide (MH) lighting in the facility with T5 fluorescent lighting but found that the Cree CXB Series of LED high bay fixtures would provide better lighting, better meet the university's sustainability goals, and match the fluorescent alternative in payback period.

Bowling Green had joined the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (PCC) back in 2012 requiring that the university pledge to achieve climate neutrality. In support of that commitment, students created the Student Green Initiatives Fund involving voluntary $5 per semester contributions from students. That fund would prove important to the SSL project.

LumenFlow optical and LED technology powers Light-Speed's horticultural lighting

Partnering with two other Michigan companies, Grand Rapids-based LumenFlow has designed and developed an advanced photonic LED solution that ensures the uniform distribution of light with a specific spectral profile that encourages plant growth. This technology was used by Light-Speed USA, which was recently announced the winner of NextEnergy Lighting Challenge, a statewide competition designed to drive technology innovation and economic development in Michigan.

“Our task was a challenging one: Develop an LED solution that would incorporate spectral requirements and project uniform, high-intensity light for use in an urban commercial greenhouse setting,” said Brian Zatzke, chief operations officer at LumenFlow. “Simply adding conventionally configured LED arrays and off-the-shelf optics wasn’t the answer – those approaches are inefficient and create hot spots or shadows, which would not be conducive to uniform and predictable plant growth.

Lightbulb sculptures auctioned

The artist behind Illuminating Lincoln: Lighthouse stood with her fists together near her face at the top of the stairs at Haymarket Park Friday night. She stared at the auctioneer as she rattled off bid prices on the first lightbulb sculpture, her excitement growing with each bid. Sold! Liz Shea-McCoy clapped as a grin lit up her face. She, along with co-founder and president of Lincoln Lighthouse Peter Allman and Lighthouse executive director Bill Michener, coordinated the public art project.

Chauvet to showcase blinder fixture for LED entertainment lighting

A pair of 4s might not get you very far at the poker table, but there are two “4s” you can bet on to be big winners in Vegas this fall: CHAUVET Professional’s STRIKE 4 and Synapse 4, which will be showcased at LDI 2015, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center October 23-25. Along with sharing in common the number 4 in their names, both products are outstanding examples of CHAUVET Professional’s commitment to providing innovative solutions to lighting professionals’ design and technical needs, and they will be on display at the company’s LDI Booth #539.

 

Independence LED provides commercial LED panel lights for quick-serve restaurant

Lighting consumes a significant amount of electricity for Quick Serve Restaurants (QSRs), especially for ones running 24/7 such as this sample Burger King location. Like many similar Burger Kings that are about 2,400 sq. ft., this one has 35 troffer fixtures that are 2’x4’ with four 32 watt T8 fluorescent tubes, totaling 128 watts per fixture. At 8,760h/year the fixtures each used 1,121 kWh/year. With an electricity rate of $.083/kWh, the lighting cost was $93 per fixture per year and $3,257 for all 35 fixtures.

LED Low Bay LED Lights

Super Bright LEDs—a leading online retailer for LED lights—is happy to announce the arrival of two LED lowbay lights. The two and four foot LED lights are brighter, more efficient, longer lasting alternatives to traditional tube light fixtures—greatly reducing costly repairs, disposal fees and the need for replacements. These heavy duty, weatherproof LED light fixtures are perfect for lowbay industrial, commercial, warehouse, shop, parking garage and tunnel lighting.

Wait…. Don’t write off the incandescent light bulb

LED bulbs are fast encroaching on incandescent light sources because of their far higher efficiency when producing visible light. But Junichi Takahara, director of photonics at the Advanced Research Center (PARC) of Osaka University, points out that incandescent bulbs are actually very efficient electron to photon converters if you take both visible and infra-red emissions into account.

DOE Detroit's Street Lighting Conversion Report Show LEDs Cut Energy Consumption by 60%.

The U.S. Department of Energy has released a new report on the comprehensive street lighting restoration currently being undertaken by the City of Detroit, which includes transitioning the existing high-pressure sodium (HPS) sources to LED. Entitled Restoring Detroit's Street Lighting System, the report provides an objective review of the circumstances surrounding the system restoration, the processes undertaken and decisions made, and the results to date.

By mid-2013, the year Detroit declared bankruptcy, it was estimated that as much as half of the city's 88,000 installed HPS units were not in reliable operating condition. In addition to repair and replacement of most of the streetlights, much of the associated wiring and supporting electrical infrastructure also needed replacement, due to its deteriorated condition. The previous number of fixtures, which included alleyways and residential areas where the population has significantly decreased in recent years, was deemed excessive from a budgetary standpoint, so the new system will be limited to approximately 65,000 LED streetlights.

Lumileds adds 23-mm COB LED for street and high-bay lighting

Lumileds has announced the Gen 2 Luxeon COB 1216 LED that delivers 15,000 lm and is available over the range of 2200K to 5700K CCT. The chip-on-board (COB) LED is targeted at applications such as street and area lights and indoor high-bay luminaires with such solid-state lighting (SSL) products being capable of replacing 100W to 150W HID lights.

The new 1216 COB LED is an addition to the Gen 2 Luxeon COB Core range, and as the model name implies, the products are the company's second generation of COB LEDs. Back in the summer, Lumileds announced the first group of Gen 2 LEDs covering light-emitting surface (LES) diameters from 9 to 19 mm.

LEDs Can Control Food Contamination without Chemicals

In what promises to be an alternative food preservation technology, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have proven their potential in killing foodborne pathogens, without the need for any chemicals. A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore has demonstrated the efficacy of LEDs in inactivating foodborne pathogens such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella Typhimurium and Listeria monocytogenes.

Shedding a Light on Marijuana Growth

In August, The Wall Street Journal highlighted Illumitex’s focus on providing lighting for the growth of medical marijuana. The post said that LEDs can be customized to produce wavelengths that promote growth of specific plants. Illumitex’s LEDs generally are used to grow tomatoes. The company said, however, that medical marijuana is a new specialty. That strategy helped the company secure $16 million in funding during the spring, the story said.

New HomeKit-enabled Philips Hue lights and bridge box already available to buy online

As we reported earlier, Philips is readying new HomeKit enabled smart home accessories, including new lights with better color reproduction and a HomeKit-compatible bridge box, for early October launch. However, it seems that some of the new products have appeared on sites like Amazon and Best Buy a bit prematurely, as Philips is yet to officially acknowledge the new devices.

Subway going all in with LEDs

Subway has upped its commitment to sustainability.  As a part of the restaurant chain's ongoing goal  to make its restaurants and operations more socially responsible, the company has made LED lighting the standard for all new and remodeled restaurants.  The upgrade will provide energy-efficient lighting that, in 2014 with a small percentage of stores participating, saved 21.9 million kilowatt hours – enough energy to power 1,996 households in a single year.

Doubling Down on a Big LED Display

Last year at the 2014 NC Maker Faire, Manical Labs brought a large LED display. Blinking LEDs and pixel animations are always welcome, but at 24 inches square this build was impressive, but it wasn’t impressive enough. This year, [Adam] at Manacal Labs wanted to go bigger. Much bigger. This build is called Colossus, and at two square meters and with 1250 individual LEDs, this LED display is a colossal build. When building a big LED display, an enormous amount of planning pays off in dividends. The backbone of this project is a sheet of 3/8″ plywood, ripped down to 1 meter by 2 meters.

Watts the Deal with All These Light Bulbs?

Deciding on a light bulb nowadays isn’t as simple as just choosing a light fixture; a lot more goes into it than a sense of style. This is thanks to the energy efficient laws that went into effect a few years ago. With the new laws came new bulbs, and all the different choices available at the store have left some people in the dark on what to choose. So watts the deal with all these light bulbs?

How LEDs will light up your life

Because Burning Man Needed More LEDs

There are a lot of blinky glowy things at Burning Man every year, and Mark decided he would literally throw his hat into the ring. He built a high visibility top hat studded with more RGB LEDs than common sense would dictate. It’s a flashy hat, and a very good example of the fashion statement a few hundred LEDs can make. These LEDs are driven by a Teensy 3.1, with a Bluetooth transceiver, a GPS module, a compass, and gyro/accelerometer attached to the microcontroller.

Next-generation LEDs -- bright in more ways than one

New LEDs -- light-emitting diodes -- can do more than save energy and slash electric bills.
They can help drivers find an open parking space, deliver personalized coupons to shoppers' cellphones, stream movies and call 911 for an elderly person who has fallen in the shower. New lighting technology can include embedded control systems capable of gathering and analyzing data and responding to that information to improve everyday life "just like the Google car has sensors that can drive -- and some would argue drive better than people," said Bob Karlicek, who directs the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. At the core of that LED technology is a solid-state semiconductor, which resembles a smartphone's minicomputer.

Karnataka to switch over to LEDs

Using an LED (light emitting diode) bulb can curtail your electricity bill by almost 85%. Power starved Karnataka will soon make available LED bulbs at subsidized cost for all its electricity consumers.  "An LED bulb worth Rs 400 will be given at Rs 100 under the Centre's domestic efficient lighting programme (DELP)," said energy minister D K Shiva Kumar. That's not all. Karnataka government will also embark on a plan to replace all the street lights with LED bulbs.

LG Innotek announces 3.5-mm packaged LEDs that hit 182 lm/W efficacy

LG Innotek has announced the H35C4 LED Series with what the company claims is the highest efficacy on the market. The 3.5×3.5-mm high-power LEDs can be driven at up to 5W and are squarely targeted at high-output general solid-state lighting (SSL) applications such as street lights and high-bay fixtures. LG says that the LEDs will ship in volume production during October.

The new packaged LEDs arrive with a maximum efficacy claim of 182 lm/W when driven at 350 mA and forward voltage rated in the 2.7V to 3V range. The company stated the maximum efficacy is 10% higher than any competitive high-power LED products from other manufacturers and 13% better than its prior offerings in a similar form factor. At 700 mA, the efficacy drops to a still respectable 152 lm/W at a junction temperature of 85°C.

Go Green LEDs Is Revolutionizing The Indoor Grow Light Industry

LED grow lights are very popular these days. I remember when LED lights first started to really court cannabis growers. The lights left a lot to be desired. Over time people started to realize the difference from simple LED lights versus LED lights that were specifically designed with the needs of cannabis cultivation in mind. While there are still a lot of LED lights on the market that suck, there are also ones that I have seen people use that produced terrific results. Something that a lot of my grower friends have been excited about lately are LED lights that use Cree chip on board (COB) technology. A company called Gro Green LEDs makes some stellar ones. Their LED grow lights can outperform HPS lights, and use half of the power while producing one fourth of the heat.

Raleigh Will Replace 30,000 Streetlights With LEDs

Duke Energy will begin replacing Raleigh's 30,000 conventional high pressure sodium and mercury vapor street lamps with more energy-efficient light-emitting diode—LED—streetlights this week. Duke Energy spokeswoman Meredith Archie says several North Carolina cities are making the switch, including Wilmington, Henderson and Cary.

LED rollout would cut 2.3% of global emissions

If the world leapfrogged to LED lamps in all sectors, global electricity consumption for lighting would be reduced by more than half (52%), with 735 million tons of CO2 emissions avoided each year  That's according to a new report, titled 'Support The Big Switch', which has been launchedby The Climate Group. The report refers to The Climate Group's 'LED = Lower Emissions Delivered' campaign, which encourages cities to realise the carbon and cost benefits that come with switching to LED.

Handyman: LED light bulbs are here to stay

Light-emitting diodes (LED) were once looked upon as a novelty, in part because they weren’t available for most lighting applications and the cost was often 10 times higher than a comparable light bulb. Fast forward to today, and the LED replacement bulbs are becoming more popular thanks to their advancements and lower cost. Take a look inside any new automobile and you’ll probably notice LED light sources where incandescent bulbs were just a few years ago.