What is an electrical transformer? Well, chances are you’ve seen one before, possibly without knowing it. They come in all shapes and sizes and there’s likely one in your neighbourhood or possibly even in your toy train set. And no, we’re not referring to any type of extraterrestrial robot. Larger ones are usually grouped together and can often be found enclosed in isolated, fenced-off areas or power plants. Although at some point in time, you’ve probably been told not to get too close to one, their function might still be unclear. We get more in depth about their overall purpose below:

Electrical transformers are electrical devices used to transfer electricity from high voltages to low voltages and vice versa. Most electrical transformers are built for the latter. Without getting too technical, the process used to transform this energy is known as electromagnetic induction which utilizes magnetic fields throughout the process.

There are many different types of electrical transformers that serve different purposes depending on the size of the task. Everyday uses around the household may include powering appliances, equipment and even children’s toys. The power that stems from large power plants is usually too powerful for its intended use; therefore, an electrical transformer is used to downsize the electricity into an appropriate voltage that is then transferred through coils.

Aside from powering our home appliances and equipment, electrical transformers have an enormous impact on our everyday lives. Many homes and businesses aren’t located within a close enough proximity to a power plant. So how do these homes and business’s get enough energy to operate? That’s where electrical transformers come in handy. The technology behind these transformers allows them to transfer energy from far away at an impressive speed. The next time you heat up a meal in the microwave or flick on the lights in your house, you’ll know exactly where that energy came from!

For more information on electrical transformers and professional electrical services, contact a licensed electrician at Expert Electric today or call us at 604-681-8338.

CaseStudy Design, has become locally popular for their unique light fixtures that are made out of … wait for it … books! If you’re as surprised as I was when I first learned about CaseStudy Design and its owner/founder/designer Chall Gray, who are engaged in the practice of upcycling old things like books into lovely light fixtures, then read on for an interesting interview with a book-lover turned lamp designer.

1. Hello, Chall, and thanks for talking with me. First, can you tell me a little about your background and upbringing?

I’m a native of western North Carolina, and grew up on a farm out in the country. Design was something that gradually became more and more central to my life and predilections the older I’ve gotten.

2. So you’ve grown up surrounded by upcyclable things. That makes me wonder: Why books? Why not make lamps out of tissue boxes, skulls, or aluminum cans?

4. What are your goals with Case Study Design? What does the future look like?

I currently work full-time as VP at Thirsty Monk, where we have a series of beer and cocktail bars and a brewery, so I’m only able to devote so much time to CaseStudy, but it’s a central passion of my life, and luckily production doesn’t depend on my schedule because our Production Manager crafts the lights in our shop in West Asheville. As of this week our lights will be on display in Downtown Books & News, a great used bookstore in downtown Asheville, and we’re also working on a design collaboration with a local audio company on a set of home speakers, actually, which is a fun side-project. I’d love to grow the business to having a larger retail presence over the next couple of years, but really, we’re having a blast just designing and building lights.

6. Who are some of your favorite designers, lighting or otherwise?

My influences are pretty varied, but a few touchstones are the architect Tom Kundig, whose work I go back to time and time again, the shoe designer John Fluevog, and watchmaker George Daniels. The great modernists of the 20th Century, Frank Lloyd Wright, Saarinen, Eames, etc. And in terms of lighting, Ingo Maurer and Ilse Crawford immediately spring to mind.

Conclusion: Chall Gray and his CaseStudy Design Firm are doing impressive things with upcycled materials and here!

LED foyer fixture from Artcraft

Saving on energy costs and outfitting your home or office environment with new lamps and light fixtures should be at the top of your home improvement project list.  Not only do new light sources deliver a superb quality of light, they are the key components in decorative and energy-efficient lighting design.

It is an exciting time in the lighting industry.  New products are being developed every day, and LED (light emitting diode) and SSL (solid-state lighting)*  lamps and light fixtures are at the core of future illumination.

What’s more, the integration of LEDs into building and electronic communication systems is bringing everything together and enabling total control with the ease of a smart phone!

Here are some guidelines to help you answer those questions and invest wisely toward one of the greatest home improvement projects of the decade:

WHAT YOUR LIGHTING DESIGN CAN AND SHOULD DO FOR YOU…

In addition to providing optimum levels of brightness, good lighting design must also…

•Eliminate glare

•Increase comfort

•Provide continuity

•Deliver good color rendering

•Allow for adjustability

•Instantaneously make you ”feel good” with an inviting luminous appeal

Because LED lamps require so little energy to provide a great deal of illumination, the energy consumed by the bulb will not be your main concern; your main concern will be getting the desired level of brightness and light appearance.

*NOTE:  LEDs, also referred to as SSL, provide the most energy-efficient and durable illumination because they are composed of “solid state” semiconductor light emitting diodes.

1.    Familiarize yourself with labels on new bulb cartons.

Brightness (in lumens)

Estimated Yearly Cost (depends on rates and use, $)

Lamp Life (based on 3 hrs/day use, rated in years)

Light Appearance (CCT)  (warm-cool, rated in degrees Kelvin (K))

Energy Used (in watts)

Color Rendering (CRI) (measured on a scale of 0-100)

BRIGHTNESS

Brightness levels are measured in lumens to give the amount of total light created by the light source.  Beyond the lumen count, “useable” light and brightness levels are also affected by fixture housings, lenses, filters and shades.  There are clear standards set to measure the lumen output of each LED chip.  ↓

LIGHT APPEARANCE  

Light appearance or correlated color temperature (CCT) helps determine the quality of illumination.  Designated on the Kelvin (K) scale, CCT for decorative interior spaces should be in the warm white (2700-3000K) range.  Sometimes lighting in the neutral white (3500-4000K) is preferred for certain areas, such as bathrooms and kitchens.

LAMP LIFE AND THE LED

Lamp life refers to how long a light source will last once it is installed and used on a daily basis in a typical application. Lamp life ratings, based on estimates from testing,  convey the time that half the bulbs in a sampling have burnt out or dimmed below fifty percent.

COLOR RENDERING AND THE LED

The color rendering index (CRI) measures the ability of a light source to bring out the true colors in décor, objects and surfaces.  Based on a scale of zero (no color rendering) to 100 (perfect color rendering),  a minimum of 80 CRI is acceptable for interior lighting applications.  A CRI of 90+ is even better.

However, because the standard CRI measurement does not always yield true results for some LED light sources, a new standard measure of color quality is in the works:  The Color Quality Scale (CQS) may soon replace CRI for a truer account of color rendering provided by the LED light source.-www.ledlightingexplained.com, Philips Solid-State Lighting, 2010

2.    Match light fixture to light source to ensure peak performance.

LEDs small size, low-temperature emissions, and focused uni-directional beam patterns make them perfect light sources for undercabinet lighting, track lighting and pendant fixtures.

LED general and flood lighting replacement bulbs are composed of clusters of diodes to provide broader beams of light.  General service LED bulbs that are multi-directional with 360-degree angle capacity are doing an excellent job of replicating the desired illumination of old incandescent bulbs. These LED  lamps include A19, PAR, BR and candelabra light sources that are providing more light with the added benefit of tremendous energy-saving, maintenance-free illumination.

Due to their long life and durability, LEDs are excellent in hard to reach places like foyer, attic and cathedral ceiling fixtures.

*Check for compatibility with all new light sources to make sure lamps, light fixtures, dimmers and automated controls are a suitable match.

3.    Compare “apples to apples”; diodes to diodes to ensure top quality.

 Many factors contribute to the quality of the LED light bulb.   Advancements in diode technology and mass production of LED light sources are bringing costs down to make these bulbs more affordable.  However, be wary of “cheaper” LED light sources.

•COB (chip on board), the diode itself is composed of a chip that largely determines  the quality of the bulb.

Prior to being marketed in appliances, fixtures or light bulbs, LEDs are sorted into bins according to their light output (lumen output) and color temperature.  Due to the process of “binning,” LED chips vary in their quality—especially in relation to their lumen output and color, so it is important to purchase LED light bulbs and LED light fixtures from a reputable dealer.

LEDs chosen from bins with higher lumen output are of better quality.  Color temperature is determined by matching up each LED according to a chromatic line grid for a specific color temperature.   LEDs chosen from larger bins contain more color variation , so they deliver an inferior quality of light.

•LPW (lumen per watt), this measurement helps to determine energy-efficiency and efficacy

•IC (integrated circuit) drivers, the quality of the LED lamp is also dependent on the type of driver installed.  LED bulbs contain “drivers” that can fail just like the ballast of a CFL (compact fluorescent). Better driver components make for a higher quality LED light source.

ENERGY STAR-ratings ensure that the LED has met stringent testing procedures.  ENERGY STAR-rated lamps clearly identify characteristics on LED light sources to guarantee that they consistently and reliably meet the desired brightness (lumens), energy-efficiency (lumens per watt), color temperature (CCT), color rendering (CRI), and dimmability requirements.

New ENERGY STAR Regulations include:

•Consistency Control:  More standardized testing methods to improve consistency.

•Dimmability Ratings:  A lamp is either dimmable or not dimmable.  If a lamp claims to be dimmable, testing is required and it must dim down to at least 20 percent.  If it is not dimmable, it must say so on the package.

•Greater Energy Conservation:  Efficiency requirements have increased for specific lamp wattages and types.

NOTE:  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with ENERGY STAR offers rebate programs as an added incentive to help you spring into action and upgrade with LED.  Check out rebate programs in your area or contact an American Lighting Association (ALA)-affiliated showroom for more details.

LED chandelier “Niagara” from Lladro

1800lighting’s Top LED Bulb Pics:

Bulbrite’s  LED  MR16 lamp

Philips medium base LED

Philips dimmable LED

Satco’s PAR38 indoor-outdoor LED lamp

Satco’s Kolour One A19 omni-directional LED lamp delivers 820 lumens and excellent color consistency.

Satco’s Ditto PAR LED lamps are available in 25- and 40-degree beam angles and either 3000K or 4000K.

Emergency power systems traditionally use generators powered by gasoline, propane, or diesel fuel.  The purpose of investing in one is to provide your home or business with a way to generate electricity in case a power outage occurs.  This can be invaluable when it comes to maintaining a comfortable temperature during outages, protecting computers and other hardware, preventing food spoilage, and a myriad of other things you take for granted while electricity is readily available to power everything.  Fortunately, even better options have become available that don’t require noisy traditional generators.

Have you heard of something called an Indoor Generator™?  Instead of being powered by messy and pollution causing fuels, these battery-powered units can be set up conveniently inside your home or business.  There are many reasons why these kinds of backup power generators are preferred by so many home and business owners.

An Indoor Generator™ installed by Dallas electrician, ElectricMan Inc.

With all of these benefits and the obvious versatility of indoor generators, it is clear why many people prefer them over standard generators.  A reputable Dallas or Plano electrician can easily get one set up for you today.

Today, many property owners opt for home automation systems. This is the “Internet of Things” and the manner in which various appliances, devices, and installations in your home are networked together; it provides you efficient control over various aspects of your home.

In terms of simple appliance control and lighting, this concept has been around for decades. It’s only in the recent years that there has been a sea change in this technology and you can now opt for systems that allow you complete control of your home from any remote location. Using home automation, you are able to control how a particular device will react, and why and when it should react.

Once the system has been installed, you only need to set the schedule. The rest of it is all automated and will be based on your personal preferences. This is why home automation can alert you about the events that you may want to immediately be aware of, such as unexpected access to your home, water leaks etc. All you have to do is grab your Android device or iPhone or any other remote control and alter the settings in your home. If this isn’t convenience, what is?

Let’s take a closer look at what the benefits of home automation systems are:

You are able to automate and control almost every single appliance and device in your home, regardless of where you are. You don’t really have to worry about getting up from your comfortable couch to dim the lights, draw the curtains or adjust the temperature of the room you are in, or in any other room of your house. You would be able to adjust the temperature in all the rooms in your house, just with the touch of a button on your phone.

Your CCTV cameras can be connected to the automation systems and in case there is any trespasser on your property, you would be immediately alerted to it. Your water sensors could be connected as well and you would immediately know if there was a leak, even if you aren’t at home; this gives you the chance to react and safeguard your home very effectively.

Home automation can help you switch on and off lights and sprinklers etc. when you want to, even when you aren’t actually at home. You can also switch on the air conditioning or water heater a few minutes before you are slated to reach home, and that helps save energy too as you wouldn’t have to keep the hot water system running all day. This kind of functionality helps you save on your utility bills.

When you have a home automation system installed on your property, you know you are using the latest technology. While the working of these systems is quite complex, the systems themselves are very user-friendly and this makes for a fun experience. You will find yourself impressing your guests with the various features of the system and enjoy using the automated systems.

If you are considering getting home automation products installed on your property, you would need to hire the services of a skilled and knowledgeable electrical company that will be able to understand your requirements and provide custom solutions. We at AllRound Electrical can provide you the solutions you need at extremely cost-effective pricing. Our experts will work closely with you and provide applications such as automated:

In addition to home automation, we can handle all other electrical requirements you may have. For more information, simply speak with the experts at AllRound Electrical and take their advice on various aspects of home automation installation solutions. The number to call is – 1300 169 263. You can also write to us at this email address.

Thanks for reading,1300 169 263