Gone in the blink of an eye
Flickering lights can cause dizziness, nausea, headaches, and in some extreme cases, seizures. It works subconsciously, so you often can’t even identify the reason it is happening.
In the bad old days, when computer monitors were first invented, they were little more than very basic television screens. They had low “refresh rates” meaning that the picture wasn’t redrawn very quickly. If you looked to the side of the image, it would flicker like mad, but looking directly at it fooled your eye into believing it was a steady picture.
It didn’t fool your brain, however, and it gave people tremendous stress; it resulted in headaches, short tempers, and even nervous breakdowns until we finally figured out the cause. We improved monitors to refresh faster and faster until we reached the limit of the technology. That worked (more or less) until we achieved modern day monitors of Plasma, LCD, or LED, which don’t suffer from that problem.
Any Flicker is Bad
If some inexperienced company installs LEDs in your home or business and tells you that your existing lighting system is just fine, they are almost certainly wrong. The wiring is probably adequate, if it goes to the right places, but the other hardware probably isn’t.
A classic example among our clients is when they have added one of those supposedly “fully dimmable” LED lights somewhere in the home. Using a conventional dimmer, it might not work at all! It might flicker like a 1960s movie projector, it might only have a small amount of adjustability, or it could buzz and hum in a way to drive you mad.
Quality Above All
First of all, those “store” bulbs are not top quality. Many of them have operating lives similar to CFLs, of only 10,000 hours. Few, if any, of them approach the 50,000 hour base limit, and none of them are up to the high standard of 100,000 hours.
A 10,000 hour bulb will last a little over 5 years, if it is only used 5 hours per day. It is nice simple math here… a 100,000 hour bulb will last 50 years under the same circumstances.
Buying bulbs from a store is a losing proposition from the start, though it is not really the store’s fault. The manufacturers are only offering them short-lived bulbs to sell in order to sustain the replacement market. Once everyone has lights that will last 50 or 100 years, it’s going to be difficult to sell more bulbs.
Call the Professionals
As we come up on our fourth decade of business, our experience has taught us that certain components must go together and other components must never go together. Often it is an issue of safety, but more frequently it’s a question of pure functionality. And when it comes right down to dollars and sense, it is always less expensive to do the job right the first time!
We’re not ones to toot our own horn, but we’re delighted to let others gush over us. Best of the Best chose to honor us with their National Award, and a video that acts like a free commercial. Sure, it is a bit embarrassing, but we’re willing to put up with it so that you can make the right decision.
Remember, together we can change the world, but let’s not do it one bulb at a time. Stunning lighting looks fantastic and wins awards because it was integrated and designed to work as a synergistic whole. We specialize in whole-house batch LED lighting upgrades and replacements to achieve the desired results. It will look fantastic, work properly, save you money, and it will not ever flicker!
We at Illuminations Lighting are delighted to be located in beautiful Houston, Texas, and while we provide service over quite a wide area, we always love to hear from River Oaks, Memorial, West University, Bellaire, Southside, Heights, and Royal Oaks, or whichever part of town you call home…
Don’t be a stranger—give us a ring at 713-863-1133 and say “Howdy!” We would love to hear from you and get you started on the path to more economical lighting, and a reduced environmental impact!
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