Making the right choice
LED lights give you full brightness as soon as you turn them on, just like the familiar filament, or incandescent bulb, that we have had since the late 1800s. The same cannot be said for CFL (Compact Fluorescent) bulbs, which in some cases can take more than one minute to warm up and provide full brightness.
Bulb filaments are actually weakened by thermal expansion and contraction when you turn them on and off. They are most prone to “burning out” when you first turn them on. CFL bulbs, on the other hand, have significantly shortened lifetimes when they are turned on and run for less than 15 minutes before they are shut off again. They consume more power and the resultant cycles of on-and-off these bulbs go through, significantly shortens their ultimate lifetime.
Durable
Because of their design, LED bulbs don’t suffer from these problems. As an added bonus, they are not:
- Glass,
- Particularly fragile, or
- Hot enough to explode or shatter from thermal shock if you get a drop of water on them.
Outdoors
In just about every way they are a superior product. This is particularly true for outdoor applications such as architectural or landscape lighting. Not only are they tough, and designed to be weather resistant, but they provide equivalent or better lighting than you are obtaining now from old-fashioned bulbs, at only a small fraction of the power consumption.
Even more important, if your family spends evenings outside, or you plan on entertaining outdoors, most LED lighting sources do not emit any ultraviolet (UV) light at all (unless there are specifically designed to do so). That means that for the millions of insects out there, LED lights are invisible—they do not attract moths, insects, or bugs. And that makes for a much nicer party, wedding, or BBQ for you or your guests.
There are all these advantages to using LED lights for exterior lighting, but outdoor LEDs are generally far too bright for indoor use. That’s also a waste of resources because these bulbs are weatherized, making them slightly more expensive than an indoor LED bulb.
Indoors
Knowing how to use the correct Kelvin temperature of light can make your residence more “homey”. Depending on your color choices and décor, your ideal Kelvin temperature might range between 2700 and 4000 in your den, dining room, great room, or living room.
In order to spotlight a piece of art, however, it might be necessary to use subtle, hidden, or phantom daylight lighting (5700K) to make sure the colors are represented properly.
Our expertise and years of experience provide us with the necessary skill to orchestrate this sort of lighting. The light integrates and blends seamlessly without hampering the beauty of your art. Visitors won’t notice the lighting, but they will notice the stark beauty, the vivid colors, or the subtlety of tone and texture, exactly as you intended. It is even more impressive if you visit our Gallery of Fine Art Lighting to see samples of our accomplishments.
The Takeaway
Installers that don’t know the difference between Kelvin temperatures, and who believe all LEDs are the same, or that “any LED will suffice”, are definitely not your friends. If they haven’t invested in the time, training, and continuing education to make themselves true experts, then they have no business in your home.
Worse yet, these armatures almost always underload circuits, and try to get by with conventional dimmer switches and power supplies that aren’t suitable for the task. That’s when you get the buzz, humming, and headache-causing flickering, followed by a string of revisits to fix things and up-charges to make changes.
It is better, faster, and less expensive to do the job right the first time. That’s why you’ll want to talk to us at Illuminations Lighting. If you need further proof, check out our testimonials page.
We are experienced, licensed electricians, not some fly-by-night outfit that wants to turn a quick buck at your expense. There’s so many ways do a job incorrectly, so we urge you to call us, because… We’ll do it right!
While we are located in Houston Texas, please remember that we provide commercial lighting systems and house lighting plans in Austin, Beaumont, College Station, Dallas, El Paso, Midland, San Antonio, and points beyond.
Give us a call today at 713-863-1133. We’d love to hear from you!
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