Lighting rooms with LED lamps, what they are and what there is to know.

What exactly is the LED?

The word led is an acronym for “light emitting diode”.
The invention dates back to the beginning of the sixties, although to find LEDs on the market as a source of lighting we have to wait until the nineties.
At first the LEDs were produced in different colours, while in 1995 the white emitting ones began to be produced.
The technology of LED lighting continues to evolve even now, setting as a goal a higher and higher level of luminous and energy efficiency.

How the LED is used

In the lighting engineering sector today, LEDs are used in all sectors where environmentally friendly and efficient, but above all economically viable, lighting is needed.

The consumption of LED lamps, in fact, are much lower than those of the devices that preceded them, such as incandescent lamps for example: in addition they require a lower energy production at source.

The modest dispersion of energy is another factor that has a positive effect on the environment, as well as its long life span.
In short, if until recently fluorescent lamps were considered the most advantageous in terms of savings, now the role is played by LED lamps.

How to choose a led lamp

There are several factors that must be evaluated in view of the purchase of a LED lamp.
For example the colour rendering index, which is expressed through a value between 0 and 100.
The higher this value is, the better the colour rendering with artificial light. From a value of 80 or more, however, you can already benefit from faithful colour rendering.
Another aspect to focus on is the luminous flux, which is measured in lumens: it consists of the amount of visible light.
Lumens can be few or many at the same power. When making a purchase, it is best to opt for high lumen output and low power consumption in watts. The watts indicate the rated power.
An 8 W lamp, for example, absorbs 6 W of power from the mains.

Colour temperature

LED lights do not all have the same colour: what differentiates them is the so-called colour temperature, which is expressed in degrees Kelvin. When you have to decide whether you want cold light, neutral light or warm light, it is precisely this aspect that is referred to.

In the case of a warm light you stay below 3,300 K; between 3,300 and 5,300 K, on the other hand, you have a neutral light; above 5,300 K, finally, there is a cold light.

As the number of Kelvin degrees increases, the light becomes whiter and whiter, while around 22,000 K the human eye feels a blue light.

The luminous strips

A very wide assortment of light strips can be found on the market; however, to identify their quality, it is not enough to look at the LED chip in the strip, as it is drowned in phosphorus.

The strips are fitted with double-sided adhesive tape for easy attachment. If the LEDs are not already fitted with a stabilised power supply unit integrated in the luminaire, it is necessary to purchase one: this is the driver, which must be sized according to the load. It should not be forgotten, then, that the LEDs are dimmable, which means that you can adjust and modulate their brightness.

All the advantages of LED

In short, it’s time to say goodbye to the old luminaires and replace them with the latest generation of LED devices: with a choice of this type, not only are positive results achieved in terms of lighting efficiency, but above all you benefit from lower costs.
LED lamps last much longer than other models: so you spend a little more money to buy them, but then you don’t have to worry about replacing them every two by three.

Lamps Equivalence

The lumen is the unit of the luminous flux and indicates the total amount of light emitted by the light source. The wattage indicates the amount of energy consumption of a lamp.

As lights become more and more energy efficient, the wattage linked to the number of lumens becomes lower and lower. For example, to replace an incandescent lamp with LEDs, it is necessary to compare the amount of lumens.

With the table below you can easily compare watts with lumens.

This also means saving money and, above all, respecting the environment.