Have you ever been busy in one part of your house and really needed to get talk to someone at your front door, in the kitchen or out in the garage? If that sounds like something that happens to you often, an intercom system may be the perfect solution. This is a project an electrician in Glendale can easily tackle for you, saving you the time and hassle of doing it yourself. Learn more about what intercom installation entails and give Electric Connection a call today.

First, when installing an intercom system, you must figure out what rooms in your home you may want to connect to the system. Generally, you will have a speaker at the front door and a place in your home you spend a significant amount of time—perhaps the kitchen. However, you may want additional receivers in the bedrooms or basement.

Each receiver you install will require both wiring and construction work to enable it to work correctly and look good. The most difficult part for many is installing it into the wiring of the home. This will involve working with the circuits and tapping into the wiring already in your walls. The construction aspect is tricky too—unless you know how to work with drywall, plaster or whatever substance of which the wall is constructed.

Finally, there are many different types of intercom systems, from basic to systems complex enough for large corporations. If you are unsure which one will work best for you, this is another reason to work with Electric Connection, the electrician Glendale residents trust. Give us a call today and we will be happy to discuss your needs for an intercom system today. Our team of experts can get started and have your home and family more connected than ever before.

constant-current LED driver or constant-current driver is used to regulate the amount of current that is supplied to an LED or LED array to maximize LED lifetime. If current is not regulated, LED brightness can fluctuate and life span can be shortened. The constant-current driver is used for LEDs or light fixtures that require a stable output current and operate within a range of voltages. Most finished LED products already have a constant-current driver or resistors to regulate current. If you’re building an LED fixture or replacing a constant-current driver, it’s important to verify that the output current and voltage of the driver is compatible with the LEDs’ current and voltage. If your LED product already has a constant-current driver or uses resistors in the LED array, you might need a constant-voltage power supply.

If your LEDs are dimmable and you want to change their brightness, choose a Magnitude Dimmable Power Supplies. These dimmable power supplies work by varying the power on the AC input side of the power supply by means of a TRIAC dimmer. This change in power on the AC input side will vary the voltage on the DC output side and control the intensity of the LEDs. TRIAC dimmers are common hardware store and household dimmers, which include brand names such as Lutron and Leviton.

Pulse-Width Modulation Dimming: Pulse-width modulation (PWM) dimming can be used to control dimmable power supplies such as Mean Well LPF Series. This type of dimming control adjusts the output current based on the duty cycle. As the duty cycle increases, current will increase and the LEDs will be brighter. Conversely, if the duty cycle decreases, the current will decrease and the LEDs will be dimmer. Pulse-width modulation for these drivers is based on a 10-volt signal level with a frequency between 100Hz-3KHz. The MLD-5A are compatible for this application.

Resistive Dimming: Resistive dimming can be used to control dimmable power supplies such as 12-Volt Mean Well HLG-40-240 Series or 12-Volt Mean Well HLG-600 Series or here.

The efficiency of a power supply or driver indicates the percentage of power that goes toward making your LED product function. An efficiency of 80 percent or higher is recommended for operating LEDs. 

When choosing a driver or power supply, the size of an LED product’s housing or area of installation is important. If you wish to put a constant-current LED driver inside of a product, the driver must be small enough to fit in the product’s housing. Similarly, if the driver or power supply is used outside of the product’s housing, it should fit the area of installation. Drivers and power supplies are available in a variety of sizes to suit your needs.

A Class 2 driver or power supply is in accordance with limited power levels defined by the National Electric Code (NEC) and fulfills the requirements of Standard UL 1310. Output is limited to 60 volts DC and 100 watts. Because power sources with this rating have limited output, it might not be possible to power as many LEDs or lights as those that don’t have a Class 2 rating. However, these power supplies and drivers provide protection from fire and electric shock.

A Class II rating refers to a double insulation layer between AC input and DC output wires. These drivers and power supplies do not require a ground connection.

We tend to get a little bit of cabin fever towards the end of the winter months. While the weather isn’t too terribly cold, it still isn’t exactly ideal to be out gardening or tending flower beds in January. Your desire to improve your home by making little changes is normal and many people resort to taking care of the inside of their home during winter. This is an excellent time to take care of those little projects like switching out that bathroom faucet, painting the spare bedroom or maybe adding a new ceiling fan. A Beverly Hills electrician can help you with the ceiling fan. In fact, it is best to hire a professional to take care of any home improvement jobs that involve electricity. You can rely on The Electric Connection to provide reliable and knowledgeable electricians.

A ceiling fan can really change the overall look of a room. There are so many different styles to choose from you are sure to find one that matches your current décor. Because most fans include lights, this is another way to change the ambiance in a room. Ceiling fans are not just for the living room or dining room. They make excellent additions to bedrooms and remodeled basements as well. The fans can be used to replace a current light fixture in a room. This is definitely something you will need to leave to your electrician. Beverly Hills residents will appreciate knowing the wiring to the fan has been installed by a professional who knows the proper way to hookup a fan.

Along with adding a certain aesthetic appeal to a room, ceiling fans can actually help reduce the cost to heat and cool your home. It is like getting a bonus! The fans can be used during the summer to help create a cool breeze while circulating the cool air throughout a room. During the winter, the fan pushes the warm air that rises to the ceiling down into the actual living space. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your fan installation.

1) Totally Tubular

We’ve seen words written on walls in LED rope, but never with this kind of frame. How clever! As the evolution of LED rope continues, I would expect to see even more eye-catching wire frames. It’s all about making something that looks good even when rope is not illuminated. This DIYer is definitely on the right track.

3) LED Rope with a Side of More Rope

It seems to be true. She wore garments with integrated LEDs at the Grammy’s and loves to have LED lighting on stage with her. Here, we can see how cool LED rope can be on the stage. There are innumerable shapes and symbols that could be constructed or outlined with LED rope to make a musical performance more visually appealing. Rock on!

5) Wrap Your Porch like a Present

Using rope to play with LED rope has become wildly popular during the past year or so. I love the way this piece displays what I think of as a controlled tangle. This lighting application is artistic in the way it arrest attention and invites questions. Like, “What is the point of this?” And you’re led to answer yourself: It’s a source of light that serves a function while it conveys a unique look. Good stuff.

7)  LED Rope for Starting Seedlings

This is another application that is not new but should be restated. LED rope is a great, relatively inexpensive way to install cove lighting. This is great in residential and commercial settings and needs to be restated because cove lighting creates such a dramatic transformation for any space, and LED rope is just an excellent way to achieve it.

When it comes to crime, it’s evident that there’s an appeal to darkness. Less visibility means less chance of getting caught. The 2014 National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)—an annual Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program publication that’s released by the FBI—includes detailed crime data, such as time of day and type of offense. More than 18,000 law enforcement agencies participate in the UCR Program and provide data voluntarily. NIBRS’ Crimes Against Persons data shows that of the 1,093,466 incidents reported in 2014, 562,104 (51.4 percent) were between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Crimes Against Property data shows a lower—yet significant—39.4 percent of 3,493,904 reported incidents taking place between those same hours.

In an attempt to lessen crime and increase energy savings, many cities and businesses have started replacing traditional high-intensity discharge (HID) lights with LED bulbs, light engines, and fixtures. These actions have paid off. In 2008, Los Angeles began a project to retrofit 215,000 lights with LED lights. Since implementation of the project, color-rendering indexes (CRI) than HID fixtures. CRI refers to how accurately a light source reveals the true colors of objects, people, and surroundings. The CRI of an HID bulb can range from zero (high-pressure sodium) to about 65 (metal-halide). LED fixtures are capable of having CRIs of 75 and higher. Lights with a CRI of 80 or higher are considered to show colors most accurately and increase visibility, which is especially important for security purposes and parking lot surveillance.