When you’re looking for an electrician, look for someone with whom you can form a long-term relationship. It’s going to save you a lot of time and money if you can find someone whom you trust to get the job right the first time and give you the right price.

Find Recommended Companies

You can get recommendations for electricians from friends and neighbors. You can also search on-line for electrician Beverly Hills CA, and so on. If you add the word reviews to your search, you can look through company reviews.

Another approach is to search websites that feature reviews. Reviews appear on many websites including Google Places, Yelp.com, AngiesList.com, and CitySearch.com. AngiesList.com is an excellent source of recommendations for contractors but requires a small annual membership fee. On Angie’s List, you can see how customers rated their contractors, including electricians, and details of how their jobs went.

When looking at customer reviews, take a look at the big picture. Is there one bad review among the many good ones? Is it just a grumpy customer? Is there a company reply that clears things up or says that it has corrected its employee?

Once you have three or so recommended electricians, take a look at their websites.

Check the Electrical Company Website

* Is it presentable and well-maintained?

* Easy to find what you’re looking for?

* Friendly, helpful, and not cluttered with hard-sell advertising?

* How many good testimonials?

If the website checks out, it’s time to interview the electrician.

Interview

When you talk with the Beverly Hills electrician, pay attention to how comfortable you are, including your trust level. I’ve listed questions that you can ask. If you’ve already gotten glowing recommendations or it’s a small repair job like fixing a broken light switch, you probably wouldn’t want to ask them all. But if you aren’t talking with a recommended electrician and you’re planning a remodel, ask away.

Experience with your type of work

Years in business. Most companies which have stayed in business a long time have managed to keep their customers satisfied. They’ve also gathered a lot of useful experience and competence.

* Contractor’s License Number

* Liability Insurance and Workers Comp Insurance. It’s desirable that the company carry at least $1 million in liability insurance to protect your home should their work create property damage. Workers Comp provides for medical care for the electricians should they be injured on your job. Again, this protects you from liability.

* Guarantees. Some companies offer a lifetime guarantee on their work. This wouldn’t generally include the electrical parts that they install – that’s covered by the manufacturer’s guarantee. However, the electrician should give you at least a several-year guarantee on labor. A guarantee up to the life of your home is best.

* Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating. Ask for the exact company name that you should look and in which city. Sometimes, the BBB will use a slightly different name, possibly the formal legal name of the company.

* Pricing

* Website address if you don’t already have it

* Names and contact info for five clients

Take notes on all this, particularly the License Number. If you decide to go ahead, you may wish to check some of what the electrician has said. If you decide not to go ahead, no need to proceed any further with this electrician in Beverly Hills CA. But save the notes so that you can remind yourself later of which companies you’ve already ruled out. The Electric Connection, a licensed Beverly Hills electrician, is a top choice for a dependable electrical contracting company.

Visit our company profile.

LED fixtures, such as

With energy consumption that is less than half of what 150-watt LED parking lot light that is a direct replacement for 400-watt metal-halide (MH) fixtures. That’s 250 watts less for the same amount of light!

The average price of electricity per kilowatt-hour (kWh) is 12 cents. To figure out the monthly cost of running 25 LED parking lot lights for 11 hours per day, use this formula: (combined wattage x monthly hours of use)/1,000 x price per kWh. For 25 LED lights, (3,750 x 330)/1,000 x .12) the total would be $148.50 per month or $1,782 per year.

When the same formula is used for 400-watt MH fixtures, the monthly cost is $396, and yearly cost would be $4,752. So, in this situation, switching to LED fixtures would save approximately $3,000 per year. When coupled with the savings on maintenance, LED fixtures can save $6,470 per year. At that rate, the cost of 25 $340 LED fixtures would be recouped within two years.

Left: LED wall packs; Right: HID wall packs

Unlike LED fixtures that light up instantly, HID parking lot lights require a warmup period of up to 10 minutes before they reach full brightness. They also can’t be turned immediately back on after being switched off; this is called restrike time, and it can take up to 15 minutes before they can be turned on again. Attempting to power on the lights before the bulbs have cooled can damage a fixture’s components and cause the HID bulb to fail sooner.

HID lamps consist of a ballast and a quartz tube that contains gas, metal salts, and two tungsten electrodes. In order to create light, an electric arc passes from one electrode to the other through a gas (most commonly mercury, metal halide, or sodium). The mercury used in this process is dangerous if enough is inhaled or released into the environment. If an HID bulb bursts, all contents should be put into a sealed container or sealed bag and taken to a recycling center or hazardous waste facility. If HID fixtures are used indoors, wall packs and canopy lights, are used indoors, the possibility of ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure should be taken into consideration. HID bulbs emit a substantial amount of UV radiation, but an outer glass envelope prevents the radiation from escaping. However—according to the FDA—”If the outer bulb breaks and the inner tube continues to operate unshielded, intense UV radiation is emitted. UV exposure at this level can cause eye and skin burns, as well as blurred or double vision, headaches, and nausea.” The UV light from an HID bulb with a broken envelope can also lead to discoloration of items and fabric. LEDs emit little to no UV radiation.

In short, LED lights are a better alternative to HID parking lot lights. They offer a great deal in the way of savings, longevity, maintenance reduction, brightness, color, and safety. While it may take a short amount of time to recoup the price of switching to LEDs, all of their qualities make it easy to see why so many businesses have started the process.

For technical questions, don’t hesitate to call us toll free at 866-590-3533. Our customer service and technical support teams are available from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. CDT Monday-Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT on Friday.

When you’re purchasing LED strip lights, there are numerous details and specifications upon which to base your decision. Color, length, and intensity are some of the major deciding factors, but there are many unthought-of product aspects that further customize light strips and what they’ll require when it’s time to install them. For example, a decision between 24-volt strip lights could change the products needed for your project.

While it depends on a light strip’s current draw, LED type, and number of LEDs, 24-volt LED strip lights tend to have longer maximum runs than 12-volt strips. This is because higher voltage carries more power. All strips have a maximum run, which is the length of continuous strip that can be powered without experiencing voltage drop. Voltage drop happens when the supplied energy of a power source is reduced as electric current flows through wire (or any other pieces of equipment that do not supply voltage on a circuit). If a run of strip is too long, reduced energy across the strip will lessen its intensity near the end.

Because they can handle more power, many 24-volt LED strip lights tend to have brighter LEDs, dual-row LED configurations, or single-row configurations of more LEDs. In these instances, maximum run might be the same as a 12-volt strip. However, keep in mind that these are more powerful strips with more LEDs or higher LED intensities. An identical 12-volt LED strip light would have a shorter maximum run.

Make sure to check any light strip’s specifications or description for its maximum run.

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to call us toll free at 866-590-3533. Our customer service and technical support teams are available from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. CDT Monday-Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT on Friday.