The bright light of an LED flashlight can be an invaluable tool when on a camping or hunting trip, and a potential life saver in a home or car emergency. The power and efficiency of these light sources has made them incredibly popular throughout the world. How did these bright lights become so popular? How does the LED bulb in the flashlight actually work? Science and practicality have come together to create these innovative light sources ? it may just be a good idea to know why.
What is an LED? To understand how an LED flashlight works it is important to understand what an LED light is. LED stands for light-emitting diode. It is a semiconductor diode that emits light when an electric current passes through it, like a simple circuit. This circuit produces electroluminescence, which can be infrared, visible, or ultraviolet, and a number of different colors depending on the make up and condition of the semiconducting material used. These lights are often very small, typically less than 1 mm. Manufacturers usually add special optics or lenses to the chip to help with reflection, creating an incredibly powerful beam for the size of the bulb.
LED lights are embedded in a high-impact epoxy, which makes them virtually indestructible and therefore perfect for handheld lights. There are no loose or moving parts either. LED lights also produce no heat, allowing them to be used for long periods of time without concern of burning out.
LED Light Advantages LED light technology has certain advantages that help it stand out for flashlight and lamp use ? visibility, intensity, color and efficiency.
Visibility LED lights naturally emit a high level of light, called luminous intensity. This visibility is increased by adding chips to the encapsulation or using secondary optics to distribute light. For most LED flashlights or lanterns, there are a number of individual light sources in a single lens.
Intensity The intensity of the light is another characteristic of LED lights. The light output varies depending on the type of chip and encapsulation that is used. Although there is no industry standard for LED brightness or intensity, many manufacturers use terminology such as "ultra-bright" or "super-bright" to describe their lights. These lights have such a powerful beam that they can actually do damage to the human eye.
Color and Wavelength Wavelength and color are other characteristics of LED lights. These lights have a pretty broad wavelength spectrum and thus can produce a number of different colors depending on the phosphorous or other compounds added to the encapsulation. The human eye is most responsive, however, to yellow, orange and red LED lights, probably why many come in those colors.
Efficiency LEDs are solid-state devices with no moving parts. This allows the average LED light to operate for approximately 100,000 hours at relatively normal ambient temperature (25 degrees C). And unlike other incandescent bulbs, they can be turned on and off without undergoing too much wear and tear.
Putting It All Together The basic construction of an LED flashlight is pretty straightforward. A simple closed circuit is used to charge the semiconductor diode, producing a brilliant, cool light. These lights illuminate our pathway in the dark, help us during power outages and signal for help. They are tremendous assets to a home, car or supply boxes.
As a general rule the actual energy cost of lighting, using an LED bulb vs. an incandescent bulb producing the same light, is 85 to 90% less with the LED bulbs. If your business uses, for example, 1,000 60-watt bulbs 11 hours a day 365 days a year assuming a $0.14 per kWh cost, a single incandescent bulb would cost $33.63 per year to keep lit, excluding the cost of labor to change it every 1000 hours of use. An LED 7 watt bulb would offer comparable lighting for about $3.93 for the year. Thus, 1000 incandescent bulbs would cost $33,630.00 in just electricity in a year vs. only $3,930 for LED bulbs. Comparable savings would occur with LED Tubes, LED street lights, LED Floods, basically any kind of LED Lights.
The above figures show that, excluding the cost of the bulbs and the labor to change them, a company running 1000 incandescent bulbs currently, as described above, could save a whopping $29,700 in electricity per year by switching completely to LED all at once. During the course of a year in the example above, each incandescent bulb will be used 4,015 hours and thus must be changed four times. Some bulbs are harder to change than others but on average it seems safe to set a time frame of 10 minutes by the time an employee gets a bulb and a ladder if necessary and makes the lighting change. So changing a bulb four times a year would cost plus or minus 40 minutes in employee time or two thirds of one man hour or $8 if you are paying $12 an hour or $12 paying $18.
A decent 1000 hour incandescent bulb can be purchased for about $1, much less than an LED bulb. Using 4 bulbs a year will then be only $4. So your full cost per lighting fixture socket per year for 4 incandescent bulbs, plus electricity, plus changing them out, would be about $33.63 for electricity, $8 for labor, and $4 cost of bulbs, or $45.63. Your cost for two years would be over $90; for three years around $135 without adjusting for increases in the cost of electricity.
Changing out 1,000 incandescent bulbs all at once to LED bulbs will cost roughly $50,000. Ouch! But, you get back most of that the first year in energy savings from your electric bil! By the end of year two you have saved almost $60,000 in electricity alone. Maintenance costs are down plus or minus $10,000 depending on what you pay per hour, you buy no bulbs year two, which is another $4,000 you save. Your maintenance people have taken hundreds of fewer trips up and down ladders, you are reducing your carbon footprint significantly, you are a part of the solution. By year three there is nothing but an ongoing $45,630 minus $3,930 or $41,700 in savings every year other than the additional savings you now enjoy every time your electricity costs go up, which in year three might well exceed what you are now spending per year on total lighting costs!
If you run shifts or for any reason must operate with "lights on" 24/7, your ROI on adding LED Bulbs is a "no brainer" year one. By year two your savings could easily exceed $100k in the above scenario.
Both Ben Anton & Gene Schwerman are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Ben Anton has sinced written about articles on various topics from Software, Home and Writing. Ben Anton writes for Discount Lights and Knives from his home in Portland, Oregon.Want more information on