In Europe an LED’s life is measured once the lamp reaches 70% of its initial light output. This is called L70. Other Countries, like Japan, insist the measurement is L90 in other words 90% of its lumen output. For an example take the Megaman 6w dimmable range of GU10 LED lamps. At L90 the life is 25000 hours whilst at L70 the life is 50000 hours.

Many imported LED lamps are given spurious life times with no reference to the L70 or L90 ratings and this is clearly for a reason. The life times are at best a guestimate. Unlike filament lamps you cannot accelerated life test an LED lamp, you can only offer actual testing. 30000 hours is a shade under 4 years continuous use so, given the rapid pace of LED chip development the lamps are basically obsolete within a few months so this length of testing is just not feasible hence the “guestimate”.

Poor colour renderings, SMD multi-chip lamps, flickering, non-dimming compatability and odd beam angles make shopping for the product online a lottery. Here at The Lamp Company, if you want to see a picture of one of the LED products working please let us know and we will send you over the details by email. We are fully independent and only distribute items we feel meet the clients need.

There is plenty of confusion for the consumer as many are price driven. With LED technology you do get what you pay for. Our energy saving calculator is an honest calculation of any energy saving lamps performance whether it’s LED, CFLi or Halogen E/S. You can use it on every LED lamp and energy saving lamp we list.

Finally another statement passed down from my Father is also very apt when buying cheap LED lamps – “If it’s too good to be true it probably is!”

I hope you find this article of interest but should you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact our Sales Office.

Ian Fursland
Managing Director
The Lamp Company Ltd

Image courtesy of The Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity Blog

The new Morgan Stanley Clinical Building, the first part of the Mittal Children’s Medical Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital has been specially designed to make a stay as stress-free as possible for patients and families. The redevelopment has taken into consideration the increasingly recognised view that art and design, through the relaxed and calm environments it can create, plays an important role in healing. Artworks have been specially commissioned throughout and include The Wayfinding Project, an LED Nature Trail installation and The Choral Forest display.    

Understanding that going into surgery can be a traumatic time, the hospital has fitted the Nature Trail installation, designed to distract and engage, along otherwise nondescript theatre corridors. Created by the Jason Bruges Studio in the UK, the installation is made up of 70 panels with bespoke graphic wallpaper and 72,000 motion sensitive LEDs. The LEDs interact with passers-by, illuminating to reveal running horses, hidden deer, soaring birds, playful frogs and scurrying hedgehogs within the woodland scenes. Lights are fixed at various heights along the trail to ensure it is accessible by all children aged 0-18 in the hospital. For doctors, patients and families the trail offers a unique tranquillity and the positive impact it has already had means it will be extended in the coming years.

Image courtesy of the BBC

Lighting Company Philips has revealed a prototype LED tube it claims is the most energy efficient in the world. The tube which is due on the market in 2015 will initially be used in office and industrial applications which account for over half of all lighting worldwide.

According to Philips the tube will be able to offer the same level of light as an equivalent fluorescent tube but at half the electrical consumption, resulting in substantial reductions in energy cost. Comparatively, the prototype tube produces 200 lumens per watt whereas an equivalent strip bulb produces 100 lumens per watt. To put this in perspective, a traditional bulb only operates at around 15 lumens per watt; this is because incandescent bulbs produce a lot of heat as a wasteful by-product of the light production process.     

Although Philips are yet to announce the cost of the product, they have indicated that the price will not be out of line with the LED tubes already available on the market.

Chief Executive of light source and electronics at Philips, Rene van Schooten described the tube as ‘a major breakthrough in LED lighting.’ He went on to say this ‘will further drive the transformation of the lighting industry. It’s exciting to imagine the massive energy and cost savings it will bring to our planet and customers.’

In America, office and industrial lighting consumes approximately 200 terawatt hours of electricity every year. If the LED tubes were used Philips estimates a saving of £7.8 billion and 60 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide could be achieved.

The Energy Saving Trust, a charity who offer advice on carbon reduction have been cautiously optimistic about the new product. Technical Development Manager, James Russill, said ‘the typical performance of LEDs we have trialled and tested before has typically been in the range of 50 to 70 lumens per watt which is significantly better than traditional lighting – so if this new Philips product can perform as claimed then it represents a huge leap forward in performance.’

He went on to say ‘it is also good that this product is aimed at office environments, where lighting is often left on for 24 hours per day – the potential for reducing electricity demand is therefore very high.’

Like The Energy Saving Trust and many around the world, here at The Lamp Company we eagerly await the launch of the new product and hope it can live up to the expectations! If you require any advice on energy saving lighting please contact us by phone on 01462 490066, fax 01462 491166, email lamps@lampco.co.uk or visit www.easy-lightbulbs.com and we will be happy to assist.

Image courtesy of CPSC

The Consumer Product Safety Commission yesterday recalled over half a million LED light bulbs after they were deemed a fire risk as a result of over-heating. The move comes after 8 people reported smoke or fire caused by the bulbs and a further 68 cases of product failure which included melted fixtures, damage to light sockets, burnt floor and circuit damage were reported.  

The bulbs recalled are Par20, G25 and A19 in form, all 120 volt and 6 or 8 watt LEDs equivalent to 40 or 50 watt incandescents. All of the bulbs were made in China though some final assembly was carried out in Mexico or Florida during 2010 and 2011. The brands effected are Definity, EcoSmart, Westinghouse and Sylvania and it is believed the products have been sold and distributed by various retailers and supply outlets.   

The Consumer Product Safety Commission advises all customers to remove the bulbs from their fittings as soon as possible and contact the Lighting Science Group Corporation for replacement bulbs.

This serves as a reminder that there really is no substitute for good quality lighting and here at The Lamp Company we stock a full range of LED products from all the major manufacturers including Philips, Megaman, Bell and many more. Should you require any advice relating to LED or any lighting issue, please call 01462 490066, fax 01462 491166, visit www.easy-lightbulbs.com or email sales@lampco.co.uk and we will be happy to help.

We attended the Letchworth offices and undertook a lighting survey, taking readings of the light levels. We asked staff questions and their opinions about the lighting of which, we identified their concerns. The main issue related to the feedback of the outputs and colour rendering. We then spoke with the Manager Lisa Hall and gave a brief visual demonstration of the different types of colour rendering and how they can affect the view and feel.

We then proceeded with a trial to exchange lamps at each end of the office space, one end with ‘warm white‘ lamps and the other with ‘daylight’ lamps keeping the centre section as it was. Immediate feedback suggested the warm white colour was being favoured and felt very relaxed. However, within hours the surrounding area appeared too warm and reading became uncomfortable therefore we replaced the lamps to the original standard white colour. Meanwhile, at the other end of the office, the daylight lamps were being well received  with comments such as “a clean look, more natural and detailed appearance”.

Shortly afterwards Simplyhealth asked us to undertake a complete lamp replacement using the daylight lamps that were trialled. Technically we did not increase or reduce consumption but by changing the lamp colour, the feedback of increased output and an overall improved office environment.

Lisa Hall has commented that “working with the team at the Lamp Company was made easy and the results for our team have been exceptional. Getting the lighting right has proved challenging so to have now found a resolution that supports our team is brilliant”’.

Here at the Lamp Company we have a wealth of knowledge and experience giving sound advice even demonstrating sometimes you do not need to go to great expense of replacing everything. Our service in this case offered the client a full package to include evaluation, demonstration, proof and installation of the new lamps in all the offices as an entire package.

Should you have any issues or concerns with your lighting, then please feel free to contact the Lamp Company who will be happy to advise and guide you as to the best solutions available. Call on 01462 490066, fax 01462 491166, email sales@lampco.co.uk or visit www.easy-lightbulbs.com.

Sainsbury’s all LED store in Leek. Image courtesy of www.luxmagazine.co.uk

Last week Mark Hawker, Head of Engineering at Sainsbury’s, revealed to the Retail Lighting and Energy Conference in London that half of lighting suppliers who speak to him ‘don’t understand their products.’  

Of the two or three new lighting suppliers who contact Hawker every month he said: ‘when we interview suppliers, 50 per cent don’t understand their product, or their business case is over-inflated or just plain wrong. In some cases all of the above.’      

Hawker emphasised the need to check the background and supply chain of a company each time a new one approaches him. He advised the 200 lighting and retail professionals in attendance to ‘check their business case. Don’t take it as gospel. Ask yourself, will this company be around as long as the warranty?’

Looking at Sainsbury’s lighting outlay and energy consumption figures it is clear to see Hawker knows what he is talking about. Impressively, lighting accounts for only 20 per cent of the supermarket’s energy consumption, this is down 6 per cent in recent years despite an increase of 23 per cent in floor area. In total they have managed to cut their carbon footprint by 31 per cent over the past few years.

Sainsbury’s have now started to use daylight bulbs and training staff about energy saving behaviour has become a key initiative. Hawker also stressed the improving business case for LED lighting, citing, better colour rendering, longer lamp life and cost ‘continuing to go down’ as key factors. He explained that a useful advantage over fluorescent is that they are ‘fairly agnostic’ to temperature. Originally the supermarket used them in cold rooms but this has now been extended to car parks, offices and feature lighting. The new Sainsbury’s all LED branch in Leek has seen a 59 per cent energy saving in lighting, an example many more stores look set to follow.

Image courtesy of ABC News

It was supposed to be one of the most technologically advanced airports ever built, a platform to showcase German engineering to an estimated 27 million people every year, but the new Brandenburg International airport in Berlin is still, after eight years of construction, a very long way from such dizzy heights. Unbelievably, construction workers are still trying to work out how to turn the lights off.   

The airport’s technical director, Horst Amann said: ‘it has to do with the fact that we haven’t progressed far enough with our lighting system that we can control it.’ Reports suggest that as a result the light bulbs are burning constantly and consuming up to £4,000 of electricity every day.

Since construction began in 2005 the project has experienced a myriad of problems: design faults, concerns over safety equipment, construction issues and technical glitches. The site is currently undergoing a full evaluation; 200-300 workers are taking down ceilings and walls so the design structure, cables and ventilation can be inspected. It has been reported that the entire building may have to be torn down and then rebuilt, but Horst Amann dismissed the speculation as ‘complete nonsense.’

After missing the scheduled opening date of October 2011 contractors are now refusing to guarantee a completion date and the cost has spiralled to an estimated £3.7 billion. Unsurprisingly the German media have voiced their discontent and in January 2013 Chief Executive Rainer Schwarz was dismissed. Whoever the new Chief Executive may be they have a monumental challenge on their hands. Finding the light switch must surely be top priority.

As a proud sponsor of the event The Lamp Company would like to congratulate all the runners who took part, especially the 427 who completed the race, as well as all those involved putting on the event and the supporters who turned out despite the cold weather to cheer the runners on. I think everyone would agree it was, like the inaugural race in 2012, a roaring success.  

The course, designed by Chris Choghlan, infused road running with picturesque woodland sections and tough uphill climbs with relieving downhill stretches. This made for a challenging but beautiful undulating course with potential for a personal best.   

A special congratulations must go to Stephen Harrison who completed the 13.1 mile course in an impressive time of 01:12:57 at 5:34 min/mile and finished the race in first place. Well done also to Madeleine Pritchard who was the first female finisher in a great time of 1:20:49 at 6:10 min/mile.  

As a Baldock based company we think it is important and rewarding to take an active part in your local community; we currently sponsor four local teams and plan to further our contribution in the coming year. We hope to see even more people involved next year for the third annual Baldock Beast!

Image courtesy of the Daily Mail Online

The decorative incandescent bulb which has six twisted filaments is a product of the Ediswan factory established in 1881 by British Physicist Sir Joseph Swan and American Thomas Edison. Both men are credited with work towards the invention of the light bulb. Swan pioneered the use of a vacuum inside an incandescent bulb. This allowed the filament to glow white-hot and give off light without catching fire. Meanwhile Edison ensured the light bulb become a commercially viable product.  

Britain’s oldest light bulb was originally owned by Florence Crook and then passed down to her son Kenneth. The bulb is now owned and still used by Kenneth’s widow Beth who when asked about it said: ‘it’s a real talking point. There is no substitution for craftsmanship. The new eco bulbs take weeks to warm up and hardly give off any light.’      

Meanwhile, the Guinness Book of Records have credited Fire Station 6 in California with having the oldest light bulb in continuous use, after an impressive 109 years of service.

Any lamp collectors who are interested in The Lamp Company’s old collection of obsolete lamps please email sales@lampco.co.uk or call 01462 490066 for more information. We have around 1.4 million light bulbs in our warehouse and our product range is expanding all the time. You can view our products online here.

Our remit was to even out the undesirable light outputs and reduce or eliminate the dark upper wall areas which were created by the old obsolete Cat2 lay in modular fittings. The focus was on light outputs, improving colour, energy efficiency and maintenance throughout. Whilst we discussed the various options of output and beam spread etc, it was clear that the LED route would be the most suitable for their requirements. We then submitted details to EMS comparing the original lighting with the proposed lighting, demonstrating clear evidence of the advantages.  By replacing the old 2ft, 4 x 18w (80w) switch start tubes in the modular fittings with modern 60w, 30,000 hour, high output LED panels with improved daylight colour, their showroom appearance was dramatically improved.

Other fitting improvements included replacing 50w halogen GU10 down lights with 4w high output LED also in daylight colour. After a short trial, EMS were so impressed that one of the Director’s offices was added to the project. Mick of EMS said: ‘I am absolutely delighted by the input, advice given and the service provided from the outset. We are really pleased with the results, overall light outputs and energy savings to date, so much so we would like to proceed with stage two for the lower offices and entrance with a view to installing more LED panels.’

You can see from the images below some of the results.

We are particularly happy that this free initial consultation and service provided has resulted in EMS having a better understanding of lighting and how the energy savings have been calculated. This has resulted in a clear well lit showroom providing excellent overall effect.

If you require a consultation and service on similar projects or advice on a wide range of lighting products, then please call us on 01462 490066 or email sales@lampco.co.uk. To discover online how much you could save in money and carbon emissions by switching to more efficient, energy saving light bulbs use our Energy Saving Calculator.