An incandescent bulb is highly inefficient and requires 10 times more energy than an LED. The capacitor in NightStar can only power a filament light bulb for a few seconds. By comparison, the energy stored in a battery is great enough to power inefficient devices for several hours. However, when a battery's energy is depleted, it either has to be discarded or recharged. Rechargeable batteries require external and often costly charging devices.

The LED light source is warranted by us for life. If you left the LED light source turned on and running continuously it would burn for 25 years before it would need replacing. It would also maintain its same brightness during these 25 years of continuous use before it finally died and went black.

A battery will power the LED in NightStar for several hours at its' maximum light output (the same light output obtained when the capacitor is fully charged and the light is first turned on). Additionally, the ETS Cell in NightStar can be used to charge a battery as well as a capacitor. However, the energy storage capability of a battery is many times greater than the capacitor used in NightStar. Consequently, it would require thousands of shakes to recharge a battery using an ETS Cell.

Both regular incandescent bulbs and halogen bulbs create light by heating a filament (made of tungsten) inside the bulb; the heat makes the filament white-hot, producing the light that you see. Usually, the bulb burns out when the filament wears out. The filament on a regular incandescent bulb wears out over time because the tungsten on the filament evaporates and is redeposited on the bulb's glass.

Eye Saver is an incandescent bulb. NASA conducted research with other light sources but found the incandescent light bulb is the best light source for this application because it produces the maximum amount of light with less glare. (back to top)

Commercially and domestically, LED light bulbs cannot realistically replace incandescent dollar for lumen unless they achieve their full service lifetime. Two critical factors affect the life of an LED, constant current without fluctuation and proper maintenance of the junction temperature.

The wire inside a light bulb is called a filament. It is made of tungsten, a metal that stays solid at very high temperatures. Electricity flows through the tungsten filament, causing it to heat up and glow. The glow gives off light. Inside a light bulb is a vacuum – in other words, all the air has been removed from inside the glass bulb. (If there were air inside, the wire would burn up.)

one time, the Edison group(think tank) held over 2000 patents for items developed under Edison's guidance. Several well known Edison invented devices: Telegraph, movie projector, phonograph player(which now looks like a CD player).

The Bayonet Base is a metal cylinder with small ears on the opposite sides that fit into slots in the socket and rotate into place like the bayonet on a rifle. The BA15s Single Contact Bayonet base has a single contact for +12-volt on the bottom of the base. The base shell is ground. Incandescent bulbs using this base include: 67, 93, 1003, 1073, 1139, 1141, 1143, 1156, 1295, 1383, and 1651.

Wedge bulbs are?made entirely from glass,?including the base, with two wires wrapped around at the bottom to make contact with a socket measuring 2.1mm by 9.5mm. Incandescent bulbs of this type include: 194, 906, 912, 921, and 922. The 194 bulb is a miniature and sometimes used in applications where there is insufficient room to fit an LED. Otherwise, LightBlasters supports all these bulbs.

The LED emits a full spectrum light color. This appears as a white light with a slight bluish tint. Full spectrum light is the the same spectrum of light that is emitted by sunshine. Full spectrum light will give you the most true appearance of an object viewed under it. There is a very good explanation about the advantages of full spectrum light on the OTT-LITE? website at http://www.ott-lite.com/cms/vsp.

The primary difference is in size; compact fluorescent bulbs are made in special shapes (which require special technologies) to fit in standard household light sockets, like table lamps and ceiling fixtures. In addition, most compact fluorescent lamps have an "integral" ballast that is built into the light bulb, whereas most fluorescent tubes require a separate ballast independent of the bulb. Both types offer energy-efficient light.

During use, tungsten from the filament evaporates into the gas inside the light bulb. When the tungsten comes in contact with a cool surface it will condense. Often, with incandescent products, the tungsten condenses on the bulb wall, eventually accumulating, and causing darkening of the bulb. Halogen light bulbs eliminate the bulb darkening because halogen light bulbs have a special gas inside their bulb containing halogens.

This types of bulb only converts 10% of the electricity they use to produce light, the remaining 90% is converted into heat.

For portable traffic light systems, LED technology offers much greater reliability and lower power consumption than Incandescent lamps. Typically LED's use 1/10th of the power, allowing the unit to run 10 times as long on the same battery charge. LEDs are solid state devices that do not have filaments to burn out or break. LEDs are very mechanically shock resistant. Signals made from LEDs include many individual lamps. If one lamp fails, the Signal can still function.

For more information on our varioius illumination options, see the "Learn More: Illumination" page in our switch section, or visit our Product Selector.