A microwave is basically standard in any home these days, along with refrigerators, washing machines, etc. But do you know very much about your microwave? Furthermore, is it important that you know anything about your microwave? You might be surprised by our answer!

At Kolb Electric, our experts make a point to stay up to date with any and all information regarding modern electrical practice, the workings of appliances and how they impact your home. Why do we tell you this? So you know we know our stuff when we say wattage is the single most important factor in choosing a microwave! Well, that and a popcorn button.

Avoiding the potential (and boy, is there potential) for a massive science lesson, wattage boils down to a unit of measurement for a unit of power. In how your average person understands it, wattage is how much power an appliance utilizes to operate.

Microwave wattage generally spans between six and twelve hundred (600-1200) watts. You can see the wattage of your microwave on either the original package, or on the bottom of the unit. It will either have a number and say watts beside it, or it will simply have a number and a “w”, which means watts.

Understanding the wattage of your microwave tells you a few things. In a practical sense, it tells you how strong the microwave is. This is why “cook times may vary”. It also tells you what your microwave needs to operate smoothly. Many microwaves require a dedicated circuit to operate smoothly. We’ll go further in depth on this in a moment.

But, why have varied microwave wattage?

Well, there are a few good reasons. Many homes and older building simply can’t handle the supply need of higher wattage appliances, thus lower wattage options are available. Additionally, larger or more powerful microwaves are (naturally) more expensive. So, there’s a practical reason, and a cost-based reason.

What was that about a dedicated circuit?

Many homeowners feel that just any old outlet will do for their microwave. Most of the time, they learn they’re wrong the hard way. Microwaves require a dedicated circuit because it’s code and legally required, and  because not having a dedicated circuit can lead to breaker flips, power surges and permanent appliance damage.

Microwaves are high-power items, and use some of the highest wattages in your home. Furthermore, they use energy in a very intense way, which means a microwave can stress your circuits like no other.

We hope you learned something useful (or at least a little interesting)! Do you know if your microwave is on its own, dedicated circuit? If not, contact a Kolb professional today!

When you want a relaxing evening after a long day at the office, or when you want to throw a party for your closest friends and family family members, we hope that you’re able to look to your home as a place of safety, comfort, and peace of mind. If you’ve been experiencing electrical troubles, such as tripping breakers, outlets that emit a foul odor, defective lights, or frayed wiring, it’s difficult to love where you live. You can restore the affection you once had for your home by enlisting the help of a licensed professional to complete an electrical safety inspection.

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Strips with more LEDs per foot will consume more power.

In short, if maximum energy efficiency is what’s most important to you, choose a light strip with smaller LEDs and fewer LEDs.

In order to ensure your LED power supply doesn’t overheat and fail prematurely, we use this general rule of thumb:

Make sure the total wattage of your LED strip lighting is at least 20 percent less than the power supply’s rated wattage.

For example, if you have an LED strip light that requires 80 watts of power to run, you’ll need a power supply that’s rated for at least 96 watts.

The vast majority of our strips include wattage per foot right on their product pages.

power supplies range from six watts to 1,500 watts for compatibility with a wide variety of LED strip lights.

Let’s take a look at an example:

It’s important to verify that the voltage of the power supply you choose is compatible with the voltage of your LED strip lighting. Also, be sure that the power supply’s input voltage matches that of the location it will be installed in. If you have an LED strip with 12-volt DC operation that you wish to use in a 120-volt AC home wiring system, you’ll need a power supply that includes 120 volts in its input range and has 12-volt DC output.

Another factor to take into account for longer runs is voltage drop. A significant voltage drop is present after a certain distance of LED strip. After this distance, there will not be enough voltage present to light the next length of strip. This varies depending on the type of strip and length being used. Usually, a single-density strip (nine or less LEDs per foot) will need to run back to a power source every 32 13/16 feet (10 meters). A high-density strip (18 or more LEDs per foot) will need to run back to a power source every 16 3/8 feet (5 meters). Please refer to “Max Run” in the specifications table of the strip light to determine how many can be run continuously without a parallel run back to power.

3) the 4) if you want your strip to be dimmable

power supply calculator on the product pages of all of our LED strip lights!

There are a few steps involved:

Step 1: Select your strip and the length you need.

Step 3: Click the green “Power Supply Calculator” tab, and select your product by choosing it from the list OR by pasting the exact part number in the search bar.

Step 4: Enter the number of strips at the desired length you’ve selected and voila! You’ll see a list of all compatible power supplies with the best match at the top of the list!

When dealing with electronics, safety is paramount, and you want everything to work like it’s supposed to. So if you’re still not sure which power supply to use for your LED strip lighting project, just reach out to our technical support team or customer service department at 866-590-3533. Our 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.

A new thing we will be doing every here every month on the MyLEDLightingGuide’s official blog is curating things from all around the web relating to the LED lighting industry. Here are the types of articles and pieces of content that will often be featured on our monthly link roundup:

This post will be covering all of the happenings from the past month, September of 2016. We also plan to give a brief summary of each piece we include, just to get a better idea of what it’s about, who it’s for, and why it might be valuable for you to take a look at.

Without further ado, here is the first addition of A Month in The LED Lighting Industry Link Roundup…

High Bay Luminare and Lamp Market Expected to Reach $20.4 Billion by 2024

For anyone involved in the lighting industry, even remotely, this is great news to hear. As LED products become cheaper and cheaper overall, the resistance from facility managers to make the investment in LED fixtures is reducing. This trend seems to be growing, and there is seemingly only a positive future in LED; especially in the commercial lighting world.

As LED Streetlights Spread, Some Critics Look for Dimmer Switch

While some concerns relating to the light that LEDs give off is bad for street lighting scenarios, cities are still picking up the technology for obvious reasons (from cost reduction to higher quality lighting). On the contrary, critics are looking for these LED street fixtures to be dimmed down a bit, all for some fairly valid reasons that you will discover in this piece of content.

How LED Lights Influence the Bats Activity

To finish off this seemingly street light themed roundup, this post discusses the influence LED lights are having on bat activity. Is this a way for those with bat issues to deal with it or not? In short; they will reduce some issues you may have with bats and related night time animals. But check this one out to get a better understanding on how it may help.

Interesting Reads:

Here are some not-so-relevant but still relevant articles that we think are highly interesting and definitely worth the read.

First Pro Basketball Game Held on LED Court in Japan