The Truth about Integrated LED Lights
If you’ve just discovered lighting has changed dramatically in the past decade, you’ll no doubt be in the dark as to the array of options available.
Technical advancements in lighting have been huge, in the past few years some notable efficiencies have come about saving consumers money and helping to save resources for the planet. Whilst many of us now know and understand LED lighting a phrase that often throws doubt is integrated or integral Led. This is when the LED is part of the light rather than a separate bulb, the light source is manufactured into the design.
If you are used to hunting the shops for quirky light bulbs for your lamps and fiddling about replacing a failed light bulb, you can see a benefit to having a light that doesn’t require a light bulb. But oh my: No light bulb at all! an alien concept to lots of us!
Design LED Lighting
Looking at the fabulous styles the aesthetics are appealing. Sleek linear lighting, cultural offset geometrics or swirly fluid shapes anything is possible with the designs. Breathtaking clarity and crispness of light are beyond compare. Design, technology and environmental credentials all in one light fitting teamed with the understated restraint and the best of the modern materials. You may be tempted to buy design LEDs but should you, how reliable are they?
Here at the Lighting Company, we sell plenty of LED lights and people love them. Whilst LED has been around in this form for years when shoppers love the fitting and ask where the bulb goes it makes us smile. People always look quizzical when the integrated LED is motioned.
Yes, they know there are reasons to buy integrated LED 5 of the reasons given for considering LEDs lights.
- Efficient Energy Saving
- Easy Maintenance Free
- No Extra Cost for Replacement Bulbs
- Modern Minimalist Style
- Bright Clean Light
We are all the same we have doubts and uncertainty about new things. Yes, this means you really should do a bit of research before buying an integrated LED fitting. What if it goes wrong? Stuck with a good sculpture but no light isn’t what you want.
And nothing is 100% is it?
Quite rightly you need some assurances a guarantee that the light will work years from now.
Here at Lighting Company we’ve taken consumers’ concerns onboard and offer extended guarantees. We will only work with reputable manufacturers who have thorough and robust testing facilities. We require stringent quality checks. Our reputation depends on quality so we completely understand why being sceptical is warranted not all LED components are equal. We’ll also be able to tell you that the expected lifespan of integrated LED is likely to be as long as the lifespan of the fitting it’s in. They will run for decades.
LED has been around since the 60’s in one form or another yet home lighting did remain very traditional, regardless of the technical advancements. We are slow to adapt to new things. This long time has allowed all the bugs and quirks to be dealt with way back in the research and development stages and LED has been used prolifically in homes for years.
Edison is commonly believed to have invented the light bulb in 1879.
Yet, do you know how long it took before we all used electricity in our homes? Almost half a century later, in 1926 we had electricity supply largely sorted and potential in our homes. To have a light bulb in our homes, light at the flick of a switch. Since that day we have wasted energy in lighting our homes. By the 1950’s “the Edison lightbulb’ after years of improvements to the filament bulbs was assessed as using only 10% of the energy used to produce light. This means a shocking by today’s standards 90% of the energy was wasted!
Incidentally, the life expectancy of that early electric filament bulb that Edison was acclaimed for, was short-lived too, it burned for just 14.5 hours.
Yes of course filament they got better. Though to be fair the old-style bulbs did fail frequently, we simply accepted it was part and parcel of having a light. They typically only lasted 1,000 hours at best. Pop! And then there was dark. We systematically discarded the bulb, and all the valuable materials and bought another equally as wasteful as replacement. Year after year we did this. It seems obscene that level of waste.
Yes, there is affection for the old-style bulbs, in fact, our fondness sparked a resurgence for vintage LED light bulbs that are made to replicate the vintage style. These retrofit bulbs are great for those wanting to replicate antique-style lighting with some of the old-school charms we grew accustomed to as children.
The point I make is we are slow to move away from inefficient lighting for fear of being wasteful and making a mistake. Meanwhile, we are being wasteful and making mistakes. No preaching! We all did this at one time. We simply know more than we did at the time.
Can you imagine how much energy the world would have saved if LED lights had been invented at the time we started using electricity in our homes? And how many light bulbs have filled landfill sites. It is time to switch on to the massive benefits LED lighting brings for us and the rest of humanity. Dramatic but true, we need to do better.
Interesting statistic whilst Edison bulbs gave 10% of the energy to produce light wasting 90% of the energy used to power it. LED is the reverse for a small amount of energy you get at least 90% more light.
Switching to LED lighting is a no-brainer, if you are not using LED lighting in your home make that change today. Even swapping an old CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) light bulb for a new LED version is a great start.
Better still if you are buying a new light opt for an integrated LED design. This modern lighting technology is worthy of consideration. They are much improved and not as new-fangled as you may think.
Just like Edison’s light bulb, LED has been around for some time before being mainstream, and all of the early uncertainty has gone. It is proven to be a far superior form of lighting than any other lighting ever invented.
Is LED lighting reliable?
Yes, it is! No doubt, no debate, proven tried and tested. If you have a light fitting that needs replacing here’s why you should have an LED light fitting and preferably one that doesn’t need a bulb.
- No need ever to replace a light bulb.
- Which saves you time money and effort.
- It cost less to run it that any other form of lighting to date.
- Saving you money and the planet’s resources.
- There are manufactures guarantees, plus The lighting Company’s warranty gives you peace of mind.
- LEDs are small and this means they can fit inside the structure of a light fitting.
- Built-in LED allows more creativity in light fixture designs, your light has a design-inspired style.
The most amazing thing is from a practical starting point, of wanting better efficiency from lighting many benefits have arisen. The creativity and uniqueness of design make many of us want to own a light like this. Sculptural, architectural lighting that is fit for purpose.
The purpose of LED is:
To provide a superior light source.
Save used bulbs going into the bin
To eliminate the need for using materials that are not required. Who doesn’t want…
- To have a beautiful design LED light fitting? Once you have you will start to see the benefits and there will soon be LED lamps and lighting for the living room, bedroom, bathroom, dining room and the list goes on.
- To save energy
- To save money
- To save effort
- Don’t even start me on the possibility of outdoor lighting! It can get even more energy efficient when you don’t need electricity at all to power your exterior lights! Check out solar LED lights for outdoors.
With everything in life, including integrated LED lights there are pros and cons. So what can go wrong with LED lighting?
Mainly the cons are due to, some not understanding LED is not the same as a tungsten bulb, not the same as fluorescent, so needs to be treated a little differently. They are not complicated but when misused will display characteristics of failure.
The main complaint is it doesn’t dim with a dimmer switch. Sometimes people are trying to use all-style dimmers. LED requires a dimmer switch suitable for dimming low wattages. Makes sense really old-style dimmers only ever had to dim high wattages so had a band of say 60 watt to 500-watt capability of dimming. Now with efficiencies in LED lighting the wattage needed to power lighting is much lower so in total all your light may not draw as much power to meet the dimmer’s band of where it will be able to work.
It doesn’t have the claimed Lifespan. They do, however, if as above they are used incorrectly with the wrong style dimmer switch it will affect the components in the fitting. Also, LEDs should not be fitted on the same circuit as fans. Electronics in fans and dimmers for that matter may not be compatible with the electronics within lights.
Because manufacturers have faith in the product they offer a guarantee in most cases 12 months, some more. However, because of the high percentage of early-day cases of misuse, any faults will generally be quick to present themselves.
In summary, LED is the only option for lighting going forwards. Their energy consumption is very low and the light emitted is good quality. The new style fitting is aesthetically pleasing. There is no denying they make sense on every level. For that extra peace of mind, The Lighting Company extends all electrical warranties to a minimum of 2 years.
