In light of recent tragic events in our community, Custom Electrical Services will be handing out Blue Lives matter bracelets to all our service customers for the entire month of November starting next week.  Our service technicians will also be wearing the Blue Lives matter bracelets.  Our hearts go out to the families of Urbandale Police Officer Justin Martin and Des Moines Sgt. Tony Beminio as well as all affected by these senseless and cowardly murders.  If you would like to make a donation to the families of either Officer Martin or Sgt. Beminio you can do so with through the  Des Moines Police Officers Credit Union.

Categories: community« Attention Homeowners: Do you know…  |  Shining Light On The People Who Brighten Your Homes Everyday! »

Most kids are extremely curious and want to know how things work and will also take items apart if they are able to; it’s no different when they are around electrical fittings, fixtures and appliances. If you have toddlers in your home, it’s best to get electrical safety fittings installed where there are powerpoints and electrical outlets. However, if you have slightly older kids, it’s important that you teach your kids some basic electrical safety; here are some tips you can keep in view:

If you are concerned about your kids playing safely and without any accidents around electrical installations, fixtures and appliances either in the indoor and outdoor areas of your home or in the neighbouring areas, here are pointers you should go over with them:

Across Nokesville and the rest of Virginia, parents and their kids anxiously await the arrival of Spring Break. The school year can be particularly stressful for everyone, both parents and kids, so we hope that you and your family are able to take full advantage of your downtime to relax. If you’re planning a getaway for your family, don’t forget to safeguard your home against potential threats. Getting adequate rest during this time is crucial for finishing out the school year strong. The last thing we want is for you to have to cut your vacation short because something went wrong at home. To get the most of your Spring Break holiday, follow these tips on keeping your home safe!

Whether you’re going to be gone for a few nights or the entire week, ask a trusted friend or neighbor to check on your home once or twice a day. Perhaps your neighbor can even keep a car parked there for the time being. You will also want to have your newspaper and mail picked up, as nothing says “I’m not home” like a driveway full of newspapers and a stuffed mailbox.

If you’re leaving pets behind, it’s especially crucial to have someone look after them. It’s always difficult determining just how much food and water your furry friend is going to need. For the safety of your pet – and for your peace of mind – make sure they’re properly taken care of!

Homeowners often make the mistake of leaving certain lights on at all times. While this may seem like an effective deterrent, it actually does quite the opposite. Wouldn’t you find it strange, too, if the same hallway and front room lights in a home were left on for several consecutive days? The goal is to make it appear as if someone is always home, so you want to follow a normal light pattern. You can do this by installing timers so that you can program your lights to turn on and off at designated times.

In addition to gaining control over your lights, by installing smart controls throughout your home, you can check to see if you remembered to lock the front door, close the garage, or turn the heat off. Even if you do have a friend or neighbor watching over your home, you might feel even better knowing that you can check on it too, even while hundreds of miles away.

The jargon in the lighting world can often get mixed up. Color rending index (CRI) and color temperature are one of the most to be confused with each other. This post is going to clarify what the different between CRI and Color Temperature is so we can end this confusion.

Here is a short explanation why the CRI is more important to focus on before deciding for a color temperature. The color rendering index is the most important feature in certain applications as it determines the appearance of objects, faces and spaces. If this aspect is not relevant, the CRI can be as low as 60 or even 40.

The color rendering index (CRI) is a numeric evaluation of the light color accuracy with the reference of daylight (numbered 100). Sunlight and its broad spectrum will enable a person with normal vision to see 68 different colors in a color chart, but if the chart is illuminated by a light source of one wavelength only, each color from the color chart will appear as a different brightness of that one color. Some activities, such as walking or operating a vehicle, do not require the accurate perception of surface colors while others such as product selections in shops benefit from better color rendering features. Look at the application of the lighting installation. If the visual tasks are easy to perform the CRI doesn’t need to be high. In areas like offices, handcraft manufacturing and surgery, the requirements for visibility, contrast, visual guidance as well as face recognition need to be provided by a lighting system with a good CRI of >80 or even >90.

How much is the light color affecting the space? The term color temperature describes the temperature of objects by which they emit light, modeled through the “blackbody radiator”. When increasing the temperature of a “blackbody”, it starts to emit visible light in a continuous spectrum. The filament of a 60W incandescent lamp heats up to about 3000°F, as a result the lamp emits light with a color temperature of 3000K. Many of our artificial light sources do not create light by heating up a material until it glows like an incandescent lamps. Instead of creating a continuous spectrum, they generate an assortment of color emission lines. A blackbody color temperature cannot be directly given to this non-blackbody type of emission, generated by high intensity discharge and fluorescent lamps for example. For those light sources, a correlated color temperature (CCT) is indicated, based on the blackbody color temperature. A cool white fluorescent lamp has a CCT of about 5000K. The lamps light spectrum is different from a blackbody one but has the same temperature.

The light color influences the atmosphere in a space. The more cozy the ambiance the warmer the light color (lower color temperature) should be and the more dynamic the scene the cooler the light source (higher color temperature). The CRI is the most important factor to watch when choosing light sources. How good is the light source representing faces, colors and contrasts? The easier the visual task and perception the lower the CRI can be. The color temperature needs to be watched second, it is supporting the space’s atmosphere.

Conclusion

There you have it; an explanation of both the Color Rending Index and Color Temperature.

Have anymore questions or thoughts? Comment them down below!