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Average Light:
Average life is a figure given to show how long a particular light bulb will last in multiples of 1000 hours. Your usual halogen bulbs will last, on average, around 2000 hours which is equivalent to 1 year if the bulbs are illuminated for 4 hours a day. Whereas LED bulbs are estimated to last around 30,000 and 50,000 hours which is around 15-25 years.
Base:
The base is the fitting at the bottom of the lamp, usually this is printed on the base of the bulb or on the packaging. The base is often described by an alpha numeric code.
Beam Angle:
The beam angle describes the spread of light emitted. The beam angles will vary from a wide beam angle to a narrow beam angle. A narrow beam angle will create a very focused ray of light, usually used in task lighting, like kitchen cabinet lights, or for decoration. A wide beam angle will create an open, soft spread of light, which makes them the ideal choice for your kitchen lighting and bathroom lighting.
Binning:
Binning is a method used by chip manufacturers to sort LEDs with similar characteristics by colour, light output and voltage.
Colour:
The colour appearance of an LED refers to the degree of warmth that is associated with the light emitted. Bulbs of low correlated colour appearance give a warm white light, whereas high correlated colours emit a cool white light.
Colour Temperature:
The colour temperature refers to the type of light that is emitted, which is measured in Kelvin (K). The most common types of colour temperature are 'Warm White', which are usually favoured in bedroom and living room lighting. Secondly there is 'Daylight' or also known as 'Neutral'. This is the most popular as the colour temperature is between cool and warm, which gives the purest and whitest form of light. Finally there is 'Cool White', which is more of a crisp white light with a blue tint. These are more likely to be used as the bathroom and kitchen lighting, as it creates a clear illumination.
Constant current driver:
Constant current drivers are electronic components that are used with LED luminaires. Their purpose is to maintain a constant current to the LEDs (in contrast, a tranformer maintains a constant voltage). Drivers can be built into the luminaire or mounted remotely, and they often incorporate other functions such as dimming.
CRI:
Short for colour-rendering index, CRI is the ability of a light source to show the colours of objects accurately. The higher the CRI, on a 0-100 scale, the more accurately the lamp will render colours. Lamps with poor colour rendering will distort some colours, so you may end up with brown sock when you wanted green ones
DALI:
DALI, or also known as Digital Addressable Lighting Interface, sets the global standard for lighting communications.
Dimmable:
A dimmable LED bulb is one in which the brightness can be varied by the use of a suitable dimmer. A dimmer is the device used to reduce the brightness of a single bulb, or a series of light bulbs.
Emergency Lighting:
Emergency lighting is lighting, usually with a back up power supply, that will turn on or continue to function for a specified time in the event of power failure.
IP Rating:
An IP rating tells you the amount of protection a piece of equipment has against things getting in. This includes dust, dirt, water and also hands and fingers. For example, an IP22 rating will prevent the insertion of fingers, and will not be damaged if exposed to dripping water.
Kwh:
The Kilowatt-hour is a unit of energy equal to 1,000 watt-hours. That's what a 1,000W device uses in one hour – or what a 1W device uses in 1,000 hours. It's he 'unit' that shows up on your electricity bill.
Leni:
The Lighting Energy Numeric Indicator – a measure of the energy predicted to be used by a building's lights, taking into account daylight, operating hours and controls
LM80:
LM-80 can be a useful tool for lighting professionals who are looking to analyze LED products; however, it is not a measure of LED system performance or reliability. It only describes how to measure how one part of an LED luminaire—the LED light source—performs over a period of time and under certain set conditions.
Lumens:
A Lumen (Lm) is the international unit of luminous flux – meaning it is a measure of visible light. Due to LEDs using so little power, measuring these bulbs in Watts is not effective. So instead Lumens are used, as they help indicate the brightness of the bulb.
Lux:
Lux is the international unit of illuminance – a measure of how much luminous flux (in lumens) is spread over a given area ( in square metres).
Size:
The size of the bulb is referring to the length and diameter. A majority of the time, the LEDs are a 'retro-fit', which means they are designed to be a direct replacement for their halogen equivalent.
Voltage:
A volt is a unit of electricity, and can be measured as energy consumption of one joule per electric charge of one coulomb (1V=1J/C)
Wattage:
A Watt is a way to measure power, it is equivalent to one joule per second.