There are several new models of electric powered cars becoming available as well as others in development.  These electric powered vehicles are the wave of the future.  But, right now, they are expensive (the cost upfront is still significantly higher than their combustion engine counterparts), and there are certain qualities about them that still make people a little bit hesitant to make the switch to a car that needs a charger rather than a tank full of gasoline.

No one can argue that these vehicles offer some significant advantages over cars that run on gasoline, which should seriously be considered high selling points if you’re considering buying an electric car in the near future.  They have the ability to significantly reduce air pollution in metropolitan areas because they have zero tail pipe emissions.  They also have the ability to help decrease our incredible dependency on oil.  It also turns out that electric motors are much more efficient than internal combustible engines – the amount of energy lost in the process of converting electricity into usable motor power is much less in an electric engine than in the standard engine.

Some of the problems that these electrical cars have had in the past (and still make people nervous) have been overcome or are in the process of being overcome.  Initially, the small motors meant slow acceleration.  However, the current electric motors really don’t accelerate significantly slower than other motors.  The batteries that these cars use have also evolved over time and now offer a much better range than early models.

The issues of range anxiety and worrying about charging your car more often than is really convenient most likely won’t disappear completely until there are enough people out there driving electric cars to prove that charging them is no more inconvenient than having to stop at a gas station to fill up regularly, but these are the cars of the future, and the future is closer than most people realize.

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An electric conduit is electrical tubing used for protection and routing of electrical wiring. They can be made from a variety of materials, such as: plastic, metal, fiber and fired clay, all depending on the purpose it is being used for. It is generally installed by electricians at the electrical equipment’s installation site. The regulations governing the conduits’ use, form and installation details are specified by the US National Electrical Code (NEC).

Conduit is used as a general term to describe any system that contains electrical conductors. The conduit systems are installed for the following reasons:

To operate as pull outlets for the conductors that are being installed Make 90° bends in conduit runs

Types of Conduits

Conduit systems are classified based on the material used to make the tubing, mechanical stiffness and wall thickness. The material is selected for mechanical protection and corrosion resistance after taking into consideration the cost factor. There are special guidelines to be followed for wiring equipment in hazardous areas that need prior approval. Based on these factors, we examine a few prominent conduits:

Form 35/5/85 ex. Appleton LB400M

The Form 35 is used for malleable iron unilets as they have high tensile strength and ductility along with high corrosion and shock resistance. With the easy inbuilt rollers of type C (1-1/4” thru 4”) and type LB (1-1/4” thru 4”), these type of conduits help eliminate the damage when cable is pulled through the hubs. Form 5 has inbuilt rollers on all 11⁄4 to 4 C and LB bodies to facilitate wire pulling.

Form 7 ex. Crouse hind LB37

The Form 7 ex. Crouse hind LB37 is compatible with rigid and intermediate conduits for indoor as well as outdoor installation. It is made of cast iron or cast aluminium for a long life. It is extremely suitable for compact installations with rigidly threaded conduits of various shapes and sizes. The Form 7 has an exclusive snap tight and wedgenut cover attachment to provide clear, unhindered cover opening.

Mogul ex. Appleton BLB400m

The Mogul ex. Appleton BLB400m has a large body size that facilitates pulling of large and heavy conductors and are used as cast covers for providing additional wiring area. These are best used for pulling straight, 45° or 90° angle turns as well as for making taps and splices.

Form 8 ex. Crouse LB38

The Form 8 ex. Crouse LB38 is a 1” rigidly threaded conduit without cover and gasket made of Feraloy iron alloy. It is useful for indoor and outdoor use and comes in sizes ½” through 4”.

Form 9 ex. Crouse LB39

As a Top Plano Electrician, I know better than anyone how powerful and useful electricity is. It also makes me more aware of what most people tend to ignore or forget: electricity is dangerous. Electricians are required by law to carry insurance, and for good reasons. Electric current is capable of starting fires and destroying your property and equipment in a matter of moments. The proper safety precautions really can save lives, and there‘s always something we can do to improve home safety.

One of the most important precautions is located in your electrical panel: the circuit breaker. It is designed to keep you from using more electricity than the wiring or receptacle can handle at one time, what we refer to as overcurrent protection. This protects your wiring from taking on too much current, which can cause the coating around your wiring to melt, the leading cause of electrical fires. Circuit breakers serve another purpose as well; not only to protect from surges coming from outside your home, but from potential hazards within it as well. Current flowing through a failed piece of equipment or appliance can cause sparks, which have the potential to start fires or damage other electrical devices. A properly functioning circuit breaker can shut off the power to this device. It’s very important, however, that you use a circuit breaker of the proper size for the circuit to ensure that your wiring is properly protected.

Circuit breakers come in specialty varieties as well; the most important are ground fault circuit breakers (GFCI), for wet locations, and arc fault circuit breakers (AFCI). AFCI’s, in particular, can help prevent some of the most common dangerous situations in your home.

I’ve dealt with plenty of cases where electrical fires have started because people ran an extension cord under the carpet, so that they can power the lamp in the center of the room. Over time, people walking over the cord stretches out the wiring, making it so thin that the current overloads the thinly stretched wire, creating an arc fault; the electricity “jumps” the wire, completing the circuit in a way the cord can’t handle and generating heat that starts a fire. Arc fault circuit breakers prevent this by shutting the circuit down when the arc fault occurs.

So what do you need to know about arc fault circuit breakers? To start with, by code AFCI’s should be installed on any circuit that isn’t protected by a GFCI or directly wired into an appliance. It’s in your best interest to have your safety devices routinely inspected to maintain their optimum performance and capabilities; in particular, your circuit breakers should be inspected at least once a year. The inspection process is quick and relatively inexpensive, and something that simple really can save the lives of you and your family.

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.