We had the chance to visit a repeat customer in the Sandy Spring area recently.
We’d completed some work for him in the past, but he’d called on this day because some of the receptacles in his garage weren’t working properly.
Once there, we solved the problem by replacing all his receptacles. Easy peasy.
But we also took a moment to look at his lighting set up. He was using old-school fluorescent light fixtures. We explained that we could help him convert his existing lights to a new – and far superior – LED system.
Why Are LED Lights Better Than Fluorescent Lights?
While there is nothing “wrong” with fluorescent lights, LED lights offer a number of important benefits, including:
Greater Efficiency and Cost Savings: LED lights can convert as much as 95% of their energy into light; fluorescent lights convert only 5% or so of the energy they use into light.
Lifespan: LED lights last up to 25 times longer than fluorescent lights do.
No Warm-Up Necessary: LED lights are known as “instant on” lights, because they don’t require the warm up period fluorescent lights do.
No More Flickering: LED lights don’t flicker the way many fluorescent bulbs do.
Dimmable: LED lights can be dimmed, which provides greater lighting flexibility.
Color: LED bulbs are available in a range of colors, while fluorescent bulbs are all varying shades of white.
But most notably, LED bulbs don’t require ballasts.
What Is a Ballast?
A ballast is a small electrical device that is attached to a fluorescent light fixture, somewhat similar to a transformer.
Its primary job is to regulate the amount of current flowing through the light.
This is necessary because fluorescent lights require a ton of voltage to ignite when you turn them on.
The ballast allows this, but then it prevents the bulb from drawing too much current, which would burn out the bulb quite quickly.
This is important because ballasts can and do fail at times.
Accordingly, you must at least consider replacing the ballasts whenever it is necessary to replace the fluorescent tubes.
However, LED tubes work in an entirely different way, so they don’t require ballasts.
Can I Convert My Fluorescent Lights to LED Lights?
It is usually possible to replace most fluorescent light fixtures with LED fixtures. And that’s exactly what we did for this customer.
Now he’s happily enjoying all of the benefits LED lighting solutions provide, and he never has to worry about replacing burned-out ballasts again.
We’d love to examine your current lighting system and determine if your home or office would be a good candidate for an LED upgrade.
Just schedule a knight and we’ll come check things out!
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