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Foreverbright™ lights have up to 50,000 hour bulb life!
These patent pending light strings look similar to conventional miniature lights, but the similarities stop there.
As their name implies, Foreverbright™ lights are rated for up to 50,000 hours of use.
Electricity Savings
Foreverbright™ lights achieve high brightness with only a small fraction
of energy. Instead of consuming about 50 Watts per string of 100
(conventional mini-lights), Foreverbright™ lights use only a few Watts of
power. The 80-90% savings in electricity quickly adds up. Each string can
save dollars per month, as the following chart shows:
 
For example, if five light strings are used 8 hours a day, and the
electricity rate is only 8 cents (national average), Foreverbright™ lights
will save 5 dollars every month.
Overall Savings
Foreverbright™ lights may initially cost slightly more than conventional
lights but they more than pay for themselves within a single season. With
typical seasonal usage, and assuming that conventional lights are replaced
every 2 years, the following dollar savings chart results:
For example, with 5 light strings, and again only the national average
rate for electricity (8 cents), Foreverbright™ lights save $150 in five
seasons!
Safety
Foreverbright™ lights are unbreakable, constructed of solid flameproof
epoxy plastic. They also operate much cooler than conventional lights,
making them safer to use either indoors or out. Patent pending circuitry
allows them to be plugged directly into a household power outlet (120 VAC),
without bulky transformers or other heat producing components. They can be
used interchangeably with conventional lights.
With all of these features, and because Foreverbright™ light strings use so little power,
customers will most likely continue to find more and more uses for additional light strings over time.
How They Work
Foreverbright™ lights use Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), now considered
"the greatest invention in lighting since Edison's light bulb in 1879."
LEDs are rapidly replacing light bulbs in a variety of high reliability
applications, including traffic lights, brake lights, and emergency exit
signs.
LEDs are constructed from tiny solid-state chips similar to those used in
computers. These chips directly convert electricity to light without the
use of a filament or glass bulb. Instead, the chips are encapsulated in
solid plastic that can be made into a variety of shapes and sizes. Basic
differences between conventional light bulbs and LEDs are shown as
follows:
Since LEDs have no filament, there is nothing to burn out and no need for
a breakable bulb. Without the burning filament, very little heat is
produced.
The principle behind
LEDs, while complicated, can be made easy to understand. An LED is a
special type of diode and is similar to a transistor. Diodes and
transistors are "solid state" devices that are made from semiconductors
such as silicon. The semiconductor is made to contain two types of special
impurities. The first type of impurity, called "N" for negative, is a
material with an excess of electrons. The other type of impurity, called
"P" for positive, has a deficiency of electrons in "holes." These two
kinds of impurities are dispersed into the semiconductor at different
regions, so that a "P-N junction," or active layer, is created at the
border.
Semiconductors do
not freely conduct electricity like materials such as copper but, instead,
they can be made to conduct electricity under certain conditions. For
diodes and transistors, this amounts to connecting electric power across
the junction to make the "P" side more positive and the "N" side more
negative. When this happens, electricity flows freely across the "P-N
junction" and the electrons fill up the holes. The laws of physics
describe the energy between electrons and holes, and show that this energy
is a fixed amount, depending on the materials. LEDs differ from ordinary
diodes in that the "P" and "N" materials take this energy and convert it
to photons, or light. Since the energy involved is a fixed amount, the
light that results has only a single wavelength, or color. Using different
materials for the "P" and "N" impurities enables the light to be
manufactured in different colors.
The first LEDs were
introduced by General Electric in 1962. These LEDs came only in red, the
lowest energy of all visible light colors. In the 1970s, yellow and green
were introduced, along with intermediate colors such as orange. But back
then the materials used were inefficient - very little light was produced
for each Watt of electric power used. Conventional light bulbs are also
very inefficient, yielding at best only about 6% of their electric power
used in the form of light. The rest of this power turns into heat, as one
finds out quickly when touching a lighted bulb. Over the years, LED
efficiency, brightness, and lowered cost have exploded in parallel with
computer components. Today, LED power efficiency surpasses that of a
fluorescent and is increasing, with 75% efficiency on the horizon. This
growth in LED efficiency is shown in the following figure, where yellow
and orange are similar to red:
Costs have plummeted such that bright red, yellow, green and intermediate
colors are now pennies apiece. With the introduction of blue in the 1990s,
LEDs now come in a full palette of colors, including pure white. Blue and
white are presently too expensive for most applications, costing dimes
instead of pennies each, but this should change within a few years.
LEDs have also
evolved to last much longer. Today, LED lifetimes are not specified by a
time to burnout because it simply takes too long to measure. Instead, LED
lifetime is specified at time when a barely noticeable loss of light
occurs. This lifetime is about 100,000 hours, or more than eleven years of
time. If the LED is off for any portion of time, then this lifetime
increases. Conventional light bulbs are typically rated at about 1000-2000
hours or so before they burn out. But even this rating assumes that the
light bulbs are not turned off and on, and that they are not jarred in any
fashion. Anyone familiar with Christmas light strings is experienced with
burnout.
Foreverbright™
lights are built with patent pending circuitry to maximize efficiency of
their LEDs. This revolutionary design concept eliminates the use of
traditional components that add to cost and generate heat. While details
are proprietary, in essence the circuitry allows the LEDs to flash on and
off with AC power. Like a television set, the flashing occurs sixty times
per second and is invisible to the eye. By flashing the LEDs on and off
this way, the circuit can be made at least twice as efficient as is
possible with traditional LED circuitry. In addition, the overall LED
lifetime is more than twice as long, since the LEDs are off more than half
of the time. Unlike conventional light bulbs, particularly fluorescent
bulbs, switching LEDs off and on does not affect their longevity. The
result is a cheaper, safer, and longer lasting product with less power
consumption than could otherwise be designed. Lifetime is predicted to be
over twenty years of continuous use, and much longer if just used
seasonally.
Beautiful Design
At first glance, the flameproof bulbs in Foreverbright™ lights look
like bright conventional miniature light bulbs. A closer examination,
however, reveals that Foreverbright™ lights have slightly different shape.
This shape has facets that create a unique shimmering effect, with
different light levels when viewed at certain angles. The result is
striking, particularly as the lights shimmer in the breeze outdoors or one
walks around the tree or other object being lighted indoors.
This latest
development in decorative lighting technology promises to change the way
people decorate their Home Pages, businesses, and even towns for many years to
come. Less power consumption, longer product life, and durability without
the hazards of excess heat build-up should make the holiday season
brighter, safer, and ecologically more sound. |
