Types of LED Lights : While we are talking about LED lamps in general, there are many options to save money and decorate your home with the latest lighting design.
Although LED lamps are already a few years old, their use is becoming more and more popular, and they are integrated as never before in homes, offices, and public spaces, solving the most varied needs and tastes.
Find out what types of LEDs you can find and join the latest sustainable lighting trends.
When they came on the market, LED lamps were associated with calm and functional lighting. It was about saving energy, and nobody was thinking about decoration. But that changed radically, and today there are all kinds of options.
Whether you are looking to generate a comfortable atmosphere for an environment or to illuminate a workspace properly, it is a technology that offers super complete solutions.
Types of LED Lights
Table of Contents
When we talk about LED lamps, we are not talking about better and worse models but products for different uses. Each provides solutions to specific problems or needs. Let’s see which are the most popular.
DIP LED
They are the first and most essential that existed. We can see them in household appliances, acting as pilot lights in the ignition or “stand by” functions or in traffic lights and other types of road signs, for example.
They are available in different shapes and sizes and are characterized by different colors, such as red, blue, yellow, green, white, etc.
Its design consists of an LED inside a transparent hard plastic housing, from which two connection pins protrude in parallel. The color of this housing will depend on the light it emits.
SMD LED
Surface-mounted light-emitting diodes (or Surface Mounted Device Light Emitting Diodes, in English) are so-called thanks to their main characteristic, which refers to how they are installed.
This type of Led has the diode encapsulated in a semi-rigid resin, which helps it have good protection against shocks.
SMD LEDs are highly sought after because they generate a large amount of unidirectional light. They are much smaller and more efficient than the original DIP chips.
Their use has become common in domestic lighting, offices, and other work environments, producing between 60 and 80 lumens per watt, much higher than in different work environments last DIPs.
But, on the other hand, SMDs generate high temperatures, which does not make them very efficient in needing a prolonged operation.
COB LED
COB (Chips on Board in English) is a new LED technology formed by a set of diodes grouped in series and parallel within the package.
COB luminaires are made up of multiple LEDs concentrated in a silicone-coated lighting module that, when illuminated, look like a panel.
Compared to SMDs, COBs dissipate heat better, do not increase in temperature, and provide greater light intensity but without producing glare or shadows or glare.
This has allowed it to prevail in specific uses of professional and decorative lighting.
Micro LED
MicroLED is a video display technology that employs microscopic-sized LEDs that can produce a viewable image when placed on a video screen surface.
This type of LED chip is increasingly popular in the design of flat screens since it improves several aspects of the previous technology.
MicroLEDs provide better contrast, a shorter response time (latency), and greater energy efficiency than other technologies. Each MicroLED is a pixel that emits its light, produces the image, and adds color.
A MicroLED pixel comprises red, green, and blue elements (called sub-pixels) and can be individually brightened, dimmed, or turned on or off.
OLED
OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode: organic light-emitting diode) is a diode based on an electroluminescent layer made up of organic components: silicon was replaced as a manufacturing material and changed to carbon. Hence the O for Organic.
These diodes also produce light, image, and color and can be individually dimmed or turned on or off.
As a result of this organic production, the ability to generate OLED images declines over time and is susceptible to “burnout” when static images are displayed for long periods.
LED Lighting: Uses
Due to their greater efficiency, LED lamps are used as a replacement for many traditional lighting forms.
For example, they have already managed to impose themselves in the automotive industry due to their multiple advantages and lower incidence of environmental factors on incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs, CFLs. In addition, they also have a longer service life, especially when they are turned on and off many times.
Among the options for home lighting, the proposals are multiplying. Today, you can add to energy savings without sacrificing your desire to have good light and beautiful appliances. We tell you about the different LED luminaires that you can use :
Dichroic LED
This type of LED light allows modern lighting with a wide-angle light output. They are ideal for decorative lighting and general lighting.
It can be used in recessed ceiling fixtures or on light fixture tracks and is ideal for kitchens, kitchen island lighting, living rooms, and dining rooms.
Like all the conventional LED systems, dichroic LEDs offer the possibility of having very different colors of light (temperatures). You can opt for a warm tone close to yellow or cold whitish light, going through alternatives that simulate natural lighting very well.
There are even some types that allow you to change the colors, adapting them to the moment’s needs.
LED Bulbs
The great advantage of LED bulbs over low consumption is that LEDs do not contain any toxic elements and reach 100% of their performance from the moment you turn them on.
This allows its efficiency to be higher and, therefore, energy consumption to be reduced, which in turn will enable you to spend less money on your electricity bill at the end of the month.
These lamps have the shape of a bulb and the thread to place it in any wall where you are already using ordinary light bulbs, so you do not need unique installations to start using them.
Consider that a 14-watt lamp illuminates the same as a standard 120-watt lamp and consumes only 10% of energy.
LED Filament Lamps
A trend that is asserted in interior decoration is the search for warm environments for the home. In this context, LED filament lamps have earned a particular place, both for their appearance and for the soft light they emit.
It is a reproduction of the classic light bulb invented by Edison. With its exposed filaments, it has become the star of modern lighting.
They are vacuum glass ampoules that produce light through a filament that burns inside. If you want to save, you can look for those that have LED technology incorporated.
LED Strips
LED strips are used for indoor and outdoor lighting. You can use them to illuminate specific spaces, such as the underside of kitchen cabinets, or create ambient light. They are used a lot in the “throats” that used to have tubes.
The strips must be mounted on aluminum plates or profiles to avoid damage over time. These plates are essential when the power of the strip exceeds 9W. In general, they need a transformer.
LED Hoses
Very similar in appearance to the strips, you can also get the LED hoses. By having the diodes covered by a silicone hose, they are ideal for decorating outdoor spaces such as parks, gardens, and balconies.
They are widely used for all kinds of events, weddings, birthdays, and, of course, to light up Christmas trees.
Outdoor LED Floodlights
The energy savings that this technology allows makes LED reflectors ideal for illuminating the exterior of your house, both for decorative purposes and to have good light in patios and gardens.
They can stay on for a good part of the night without generating excessive spending, which is why they are replacing traditional halogen reflectors.
They generally have a clamping arm that allows their orientation to be calibrated once installed.
These luminaires come in different powers; the choice will depend on the surface to be illuminated, on the amount of light required for space.
LED Fluorescent Tube
Following the line of this technology, LED tubes allow you to save more than the common ones. A 600mm-18W fluorescent tube with ballast and primer can consume twice its nominal power due to ballast.
We are talking about the consumption of 36W compared to 8 or 12 W of the 600mm LED tube consumption.
If you already have fluorescent tubes and replace them with an LED one, you will have to remove the transformer and the ballast and connect the lines directly to the 220 V network.
LED tubes do not require these devices to turn on. This makes them even more energy-efficient since standard tube reactors consume electrical energy on their own.
LED Emergency Lights
An emergency light is made up of one or more lamps kept off and connected to the electrical network. In this way, the battery you have is charged.
When there is a power outage, the equipment is activated, and the emergency light comes on using the charge stored in its battery.
The advantage of an LED emergency light is that thanks to its lower consumption, the load lasts longer, lighting with the same power as a common one. It can be installed on the wall and the ceiling, surface, or recessed.
LED Flashlight
Whether you like camping and need an alternative for eventual power outages, LED flashlights are an excellent option. They are products of high efficiency, the long life of the LED emitter, and low consumption.
In turn, you can get some so powerful -and relatively compact- that they can double the light output of a car, and all thanks to this system. There are LED flashlights that use batteries and others that use lithium batteries.
LED Beacons
In addition to its use at home, LED lights can help you a lot if you suffer a mishap in your vehicle when you are traveling.
Today there is a wide variety of LED beacons and security lights to indicate that your car is stopped on the side of the road while you change the flat tire or wait for the arrival of the mechanical service.
LED Floodlight
The applications of LED technology are not limited to lighting variants. Another exciting option is for lovers of cinema, series or sports.
Although Smart TVs are getting bigger, a projector can offer, in addition to an even larger size, the possibility of living in your own home a cinema experience for a lower price than television of more than 60 inches.
Specifically, LED projectors have become a pretty good option, as they have several advantages. The important thing is to take into account some considerations:
- To project the image, it is best to do it against a flat wall with 100% pure white without reflections or use a well-tensioned screen.
- The amount of lumens is another important aspect. There are LED projectors that have 1,000 ANSI lumens and perfectly do their job for the home.
- Resolution is another important point. With this, we refer to the number of pixels that the image has. The higher the resolution, the better the image quality, significantly the more significant the projected image.
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