LED Lighting is a Better Choice for a Motion Sensor Light than CFL Lighting

LED lighting is a better option for a motion sensor light than a compact fluorescent because the life of a CFL light could be greatly shortened by regular turning on and off. The Mr Beams Motion Sensor LED lights will trigger when motion is detected. When motion is no longer detected, a timer is started inside the light. Depending on the product, the light will turn off automatically within a minute or so.

For example, the Mr Beams MB980 Anywhere Ceiling Light will auto shutoff in 60 seconds after motion is no longer detected. Depending on the application, the light may turn on 10 to 20 times a day if not more. The normal life of a CFL bulb may be 6,000 hours however this can be reduced by up to 85 percent when turned on and off quickly and often. To meet the 6,000 hour life span, a CFL should be on three hours or more. Also, it takes more than three minutes for a CFL to begin working efficiently.

Another application where CFLs are not effective is in a car garage. Garages experience extremes in temperature and tend to go on and off frequently. CFLs will wear out quickly in a garage due to the constant on and off and high heat and low temperatures. We recommend a Mr. Beams Motion Sensor LED Spotlight to light a garage. Mr. Beams wireless lights install in minutes. The Mr. Beams Motion Sensor LED Spotlight is designed with a motion sensor to go on and off frequently. The durable LED holds up to all temperature extremes, is vibration resistant and can go on and off up to 3,200 times on one set of batteries.

CFLs are good for certain applications but when it comes to motion sensor lights similar to Mr Beams LED lights, it is best to look for a light source that is well made for the application. LEDs do not have the same limitations as CFLs and it makes them better suited to be controlled by a motion sensor. The best solution for a motion sensor light are LED lights. The best wireless LED lights are made by Mr. Beams and are far more durable than CFLs.

The Best Night Light is from Mr. Beams

When we set out to design the world’s best night light, two things drove us:
1. The world’s best night light must be attachable anywhere, regardless of electrical outlets
2. The world’s best night light needs to be off when you want to sleep and on when you need it
3. The world’s best night light must not be so bright that it disturbs your sleep, but bright enough to prevent falls
4. The world’s best night light must work anywhere, so you can use it outside and in any country that you may travel to

Our final design meets all of these design objectives.

1. The Mr. Beams MB723 Stick Anywhere Night Light can attach to any surface and stand on any table, nightstand or counter. As a wireless LED light (it is battery powered), the Stick Anywhere Night Light does not need an electrical outlet, and is the perfect solution to light up stairs, hallways and bathrooms where electrical outlets are rare.

2. The Mr. Beams MB723 Stick Anywhere Night Light stays off when it is not needed so it doesn’t waste electricity or disturb your sleep. When you move it has a sensitive motion sensor that activates a bright LED to light up your path. It is the best solution to light up your path at night between your bed and the bathroom. As soon as you get up to go to the bathroom this wireless night light illuminates the path, but should not wake up anyone else. The Stick Anywhere Night Light has an auto shut-off after 30 seconds of no motion, so this battery-powered night light is off automatically.

3. The Mr. Beams wireless Stick Anywhere Night Light is brighter than you would expect for a battery-powered LED light. And the light is focused on the floor, so it does not blind you when you get up to go to the bathroom at night or check on the kids. It will light up your path wirelessly with its motion sensor and provide the perfect amount of light at night.

4. John Osher is the best product development guy in the world. Among his many inventions are the Crest SpinBrush toothbrush and the ShaveMan battery-powered shaver. Professor Bill Sahlman of Harvard Business School writes about John as the penultimate entrepreneur. John Osher travels with the Mr. Beams Stick Anywhere Night Light. “I love your light” he recently told me. “It’s the first thing I pack when I travel. I also love waking up in a strange hotel room and having the perfect amount of light go on to help me find my way to the bathroom.” I also travel with our wireless night light and love having it in a hotel room in China, when I am disorientated from the time change.

So can we call the Mr. Beams Stick Anywhere Night Light the world’s best night light? Have we created the best solution to prevent falls at night and the best solution for a night light? In my next blog I will list what our customers say about our Stick Anywhere Night Light and how it solves their night lighting problems.

A Dark Room With No Windows Needs Wireless Lights

I walked around my house yesterday and counted seven rooms and two walk in closets without windows. Of the seven rooms, two rooms are bathrooms, two rooms are utility rooms, one garage, one attic and one basement storage room. Of these rooms, there was not adequate lighting in the utility rooms and attic until I added wireless battery powered LED lights.

One of the utility rooms is small and one is large enough to walk into. There was no lighting in the small utility room so as a utility light, I added a Mr Beams MB980 Anywhere Ceiling Light attached to the ceiling just inside the door. It is an LED light with a motion sensor and lights up when I open the door. The larger utility room has a single light bulb that can be turned on with a light switch but the room is so crowded with the furnace, water heater, storage shelves and a sink that I added a second battery powered LED light just to cover the space that the light bulb could not get light to. I added the Mr Beams MB360 Security Spotlight because I could mount the LED spotlight easily to the unfinished wall and point it towards the area I needed light the most. These battery operated LED lights work very well for utility room lighting.

My dark attic has the pull down stairs. When I get to the top of the stairs, there is a pull string to turn on a light bulb at the top of the stairs. With all of the stuff we have stored up there, a lot of the attic is dark blocked by various boxes and items that we really have no place else to put (why can't we ever get rid of anything?). First, it was nice to have a motion sensor LED light to put up there because the motion sensor picks us up just as we get to the top of the stairs. Second, it was great to install the light in minutes by putting just two screws in to mount the LED light. No electrician needed. I go up into the attic rarely enough that I know those batteries will last for years. I used the MB360 again because it puts out a lot of light and it was easy to direct exactly where I needed the light.

So for dark rooms without a window, battery powered LED lighting is a great option. Having a wireless light with a motion sensor or remote control helps a lot because it makes it convenient to control the light. Mr Beams LED lights are great in utility room lighting, storage room lighting, auxiliary lighting in garages, attic lighting and basement lighting because a lot of times these are windowless rooms where there just isn't enough light.

Reclaim Your Upstairs: How To Fix Dark Attics

I tell my wife Lisa that she was never properly initiated into our family because she never had to spend a night at Grandma Isabel’s house. My Grandma Isabel lived in a post-WWII bungalow-style house on Long Island. Upstairs were two of the smallest bedrooms you ever saw. Each had cots on metal frames build into an alcove in the wall.

The most memorable part of the upstairs was the closets. I call them closets but they were actually full-sized doors leading into dark attic space. They were dim and smelly as only a grandmother’s attic can smell and took up most of the upstairs. One time when my brother and I were fighting I chased him into the dark attic and his leg fell through the floor and he was stuck. After I hit him with a few cheap shots I ran to get an adult to pull him out. We respected that dark attic from then on and mostly stayed out of it.

Many people have a lot of attic space. Most of the space is not easy to use due to poor lighting. The Mr. Beams battery operated LED motion sensor lights are perfect for attic spaces and can turn uncomfortable spaces into good storage spots. Start with the MB980 Ceiling Light. This bright battery-powered LED light goes on once motion is detected so there is no fumbling for the pull cord. It is bright and will light up about 15 square feet of attic space. It will stay on as long as it detects motion, and then automatically shut off 30 seconds after you leave. I have left our attic light on so many times – the cost of electricity wasted and the hassle of replacing bulbs is eliminated with the Mr. Beams lights because they have auto shut-off.

For larger attic spaces we make the MB360 Motion Sensor LED Spotlight. This bright battery operated LED spotlight floods light for a distance of 30 feet and can light up 400 square feet. It will illuminate all corners of an attic with bright white light that turns on when it detects motion and turns off automatically when you leave. These batteries will last five years under typical attic usage, and avoids burning through bulbs by leaving them on for weeks. Your typical operating cost is less than $1 per year!

A remote controlled version of the LED Motion Sensor Spotlight is also available. The MB371 Remote Controlled Security Spotlight has a remote control that can be mounted near the entrance to your attic. Before entering the attic press the On button and the Remote Controlled Spotlight will turn on and stay on until you leave. It will light up your attic with bright white light. It is also battery powered so no electrician is needed, no wires needed and no code issues. When you leave your attic just press Off on the remote, or let the LED Security Spotlight shut off automatically.

By installing Mr. Beams LED battery operated lights you save the $200 or more of hiring an electrician and never have to worry about building codes. The LED lights are bright and turn on when they detect your motion. They turn off automatically once you leave. No more burning out of light bulbs. Reclaim your upstairs space and install Mr. Beams lights yourself for a bright attic and prevent kids from falling through the floor.

Closet Lighting with Mr Beams LED Lights

One of Mr Beams' early product ideas was for a wireless closet light. We thought that an automatic closet light controlled when the closet door is opened would be a very good product. We developed a prototype that was a light fixture adaptor that detected motion and turned on a light bulb when the door opened. We quickly found out that people really wanted a light that was easy to install that they could stick anywhere in a closet with no need for wires. The solution they needed was a wireless closet light - battery operated and easy to install.

So we developed a battery powered wireless LED light solution that was meant for closet light applications. We developed a version with motion sensor control and a version with radio frequency control. Either way, it was a battery powered wireless light solution that people could install anywhere in their closet.

Today, after years of working on LED lights and battery powered lights, the wireless closet light solution is still a good one. Currently, Mr Beams offers an MB980 ceiling light that can be easily installed in the ceiling of a closet and provide great closet lighting. Low to the floor where it always seems to be a little too dark in a closet, you can use an MB530 step light or more than one MB723 stick anywhere nightlights that come on with motion. For a walk in closet light, the MB371 remote control spotlight may be a very good option. These lights can be a primary closet light or an auxiliary closet light just adding light where you need it.

If you need a light in your closet, you don't need to call an electrician. You need a battery powered wireless LED closet light that is easy to install that was made to be your closet light.

Battery Powered Lights and the Chilean Miners

I was watching Anderson Cooper on CNN talk about the rescue of the Chilean miners and he mentioned several times that they were using battery powered LED lights as their source of light. They had a dark area for sleeping and an area that was illuminated by battery powered lights where they spent their time while awake. Someone was very smart in selecting LED lights because for battery operated lights, LEDs put out more light and last much, much longer on a set of batteries than flashlights, those old tap lights (that no one ever seemed happy with) and other types of battery powered lights.

Mr Beams LED lights are battery operated, wireless lights. Typically, we have a motion sensor or RF control. For example, I would have recommended our MB980 battery-powered motion sensor ceiling light or MB530 battery-powered motion sensor step light for the mine. They are bright LED lights that are motion sensor activated. Perhaps if they wanted a remote controlled product, I may have recommended the MB371 remote controlled spotlight that uses an RF remote control to operate the LED spotlight. On a set of batteries they would have lasted for more than 40 hours. I am sure that the last thing the rescuers wanted to do was lower batteries down to the miners. We feel the same about our customers - we do not want them buying and changing batteries more than they have to. That is why we use the more efficient LEDs and quality components that extend the life of the batteries.

Congratulations to everyone involved with the rescue. They truly are heroes. And thanks to Anderson Cooper for highlighting the role of battery powered LED lights in the mine.

How to Reduce Your Cost of Outdoor Lighting, Part 1

We had a two-headed security spotlight above our garage for years. Every day when I pulled out of the garage to go to work, I would see that spotlight still on and it would drive me crazy. But not always crazy enough to stop the car, go back into the house and turn off the light.

In commercial buildings, lighting accounts for up to 30% of the total electricity consumption. For your home, it is much less – probably less than 15% of the electricity you consume is due to lighting. So turning a light off will not make a significant difference. Unless, of course, it’s your two-headed spotlight.

The math is much simpler than you would expect. If you have two 75-watt bulbs, then you are using 150 watts per hour. If those lights are on for 24 hours, then you are using 3600 watts per day. Since a kilowatt is one-thousand watts, you have burned 3.6 kilowatt-hours (kWh). At $0.15 per kWh, the cost of electricity from leaving your spotlights on all day is $0.54 per day.

So that $0.54 per day adds up to $16.20 per month, and $197.10 per year. Even if you remember to turn that light off 4 out of 7 days each week, it still is costing you $84.24 per year to light up one small area.

When I looked at those numbers I cringed – what a waste of electricity! This is one of the reasons that we at Mr. Beams™ wireless off-grid lighting are so passionate about our products. Yes they provide security from intruders and animals. They also help prevent falls in and around the home. And they save you the expense of an electrician because they are battery-powered and mount anywhere in minutes. But all Mr. Beams™ products stay off during the day and only turn on when they detect motion.

Compare that to the Mr. Beams™ LED security Spotlight with motion sensor. The Spotlight has a daylight sensor so it will only turn on at night. And it has a motion sensor so it will only turn on when there is movement. At $39.99, two of these Mr Beams™ Spotlights will pay for themselves in less than a year. You will never pull out of the garage and have to make the decision on how much saving electricity is worth to you.

How Bill Uses Mr. Beams LED Lights

My friend Bill called again this week. Bill is one of our favorite customers. He has installed Mr. Beams lights throughout his home and property and keeps adding more of our bright LED lights. Here are a few of the locations that Bill installed Mr. Beams motion sensor LED lights:

Barn – There is no lighting in a detached barn on Bill’s property. So Bill installed two Mr. Beams motion sensor Spotlights that turn on as soon as they detect motion. The installation took just minutes and the light is bright enough for safety in the barn.

Porch – Bill’s favorite application for lighting up dark spaces is a Mr. Beams Ceiling Light on the ceiling of his porch. When he approaches it lights up so he can see his keys, lights up the steps so he does not fall, and turns off automatically after 30 seconds.

Deck – Bill attached four Mr. Beams motion sensor Stair Lights to his deck posts. These bright LED lights glow once it gets dark and then light up bright when they detect motion. Compared to wiring lights on a deck, Bill saved about $600 and was able to install all four in under 30 minutes.

The very positive feedback from our customers has been the most rewarding part of running Wireless Environment. Our customers are the best advertising – so many of them buy additional lights and tell their friends about the lights that can be installed anywhere in minutes, use bright LEDs and the best motion sensors available, light up brightly when they detect motion and turn off when they are not needed. We hope that you will try our Mr. Beams lights to drive away the darkness and add safety and security to your home. Start living off the grid.

Prepare Your Home to Go Off-Grid

Glenn from Australia called me this week. He wants to introduce the Mr. Beams line of wireless LED lighting to his country. I assumed it was because Australians are more likely to spend time outdoors and they need lighting that can operate without electricity and be installed anywhere. That is partially true, but the real reason is to save money.

Electricity was deregulated in Australia and rates have risen more than 17.5% in 2010. According to Glenn, the average household in Australia is paying $200 to $300 more per year for electricity than they did last year.

Australians are looking at their electricity consumption and figuring out where they can go off-grid. People in China and India are constantly focused on shifting off-grid. It is only a matter of time before people living in other developed countries will need to analyze their electricity consumption and shift off-grid as well.

Look at the statistics in the U.S. In order for electricity production to keep up with expected demand in 2035, the U.S. will have to create 250 gigawatts of new generating capacity*. At an average of 750 megawatts per plant, that means the U.S. needs to build 330 plants over the next 25 years, which is almost impossible. This means we can expect many more black-outs, rolling outages and a general inability to rely on the grid to provide power.

Mr. Beams’ parent company - Wireless Environment - is working on solutions for the future electricity shortage by developing quality off-grid solutions for lighting and other appliances. Currently, Mr. Beams offers six products to help you start shifting off the electrical grid. All use LEDs and motion sensors and can be installed by you in under 5 minutes. These LED lighting products are designed to help you go off the grid by lighting the following dark areas:

Outdoor Security Lighting – with batteries, a motion sensor and LEDs, you can install a weatherproof Mr. Beams wireless motion-sensor spotlight all by yourself for under $40. It will activate when it senses motion – people, vehicles or critters – an shine a bright light until the motion stops. $3 of batteries will give you at least one year worth of light. Security lighting even during power outages.

Shed Lighting – Install a light in your shed for under $40. The weatherproof Mr. Beams Ceiling Light provides bright enough light for illuminate a 15’ x 10’ shed. The Ceiling Light detects motion and keeps the light on until there is no motion, then turns off automatically. $4 of batteries should last more than 2 years.

Garage Lighting – Instead of using fragile light bulbs to light up your garage, install a Mr. Beams Motion-Sensor Spotlight for under $40. The Motion-Sensor Spotlight will provide the light you need and will turn on automatically once someone enters the garage. It will survive vibration and temperature extremes and still provide 120 lumens of bright light. It will never stay on all night and burn out. You can install it anywhere in less than 5 minutes and aim it in any direction that fits your needs.

Closet Lighting – Stop worrying about leaving your closet light on all day. The Mr. Beams Ceiling Light is a bright closet light that can provide the equivalent of a 40W light bulb. It will turn on as soon as it detects motion in the closet. It will stay on until 30 seconds after you leave the closet. $4 of batteries should provide at least 2 years of closet lighting.

Attic Lighting – Our attic light has never lasted more than 2 weeks. Someone always accidentally turns on the light and we never know it is on. The Mr. Beams Ceiling Light installs to a rafter or wall in 2 minutes. No electrician needed. Install 4 C batteries and this light will provide you with 5 years between battery changes with typical use. Bright light that goes on even during power outages.

Path Lighting – Solar Lights introduced the world to off-grid lighting, but they have serious issues. Switch the solar cell with batteries and you have the perfect off-grid solution for path lights. Indoor or outdoor, path lights with batteries work even after cloudy days in the winter. They go on much brighter than solar lights once they detect motion. The Mr. Beams Stair Lights and Remote Control Path Lights are bright, off-grid lights to provide safety for those walking in and around your home.

* DOE – U.S. Energy Information Administration

The World's Best Closet Light

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 114,825,428 households in the United States. That makes me wonder – how many closets are there in the U.S.? I know that sounds like I have too much time on my hands, but it is important to our business. You see, we at Mr. Beams make the world’s best closet light. I am serious – our MB980 Ceiling Light is the world’s best closet light for anyone who wants a bright wireless light in their closet. And by wireless light I mean battery powered light - because few of us want to invest $250 to call in an electrician to install a light in a closet. So a $40 solution – that installs in minutes – is a breakthrough. Now make that $40 solution a LED motion-sensor light that provide 80 lumens of light and turns on automatically, then turns off automatically and you have my proof – the world’s best closet light. It ain’t bragging if you’ve done it. Look at our Ceiling Light and you will see we have made the world’s best closet light.

Back to my question – how many closets are there in the U.S. Let’s assume that the average household is a 2.5-bedroom, 1.5 bath residence. It has at least one coat closet, a closet in each bedroom, a closet for one of the bathrooms, and a utility or linen closet. That makes 5.5 closets per household. Multiply that by 114,825,428 households and you get 631.5 million closets. Now what percentage of these closets do not have operating lights in them? My informal surveying tells me that 35% is a conservative guess. So I estimate that there are 221 million closets without light in them.

Can we call it an epidemic? I have put on two different shoes in the morning in an attempt to not wake anyone while I get dressed – this is a problem. People pick out clothes that don’t match because they lack light in their closet. Mr. Peabody in the Bullwinkle cartoon was constantly getting maimed when he opened his dark closet loaded with junk. People, we have an epidemic on our hands.

We are selling a lot of closet lights. But there are still nearly 221 million dark closets out there and that drives me crazy. Please spread the word. Go to the Mr. Beams website and learn abo0ut our closet light. Look at what a battery operated closet light can do for you. Tell your friend about our bright LED. Show your neighbor how a motion-sensor activated LED light can help you see better in your closet. Tell you co-worker that the Mr. Beams Ceiling Light can light a 10’ x 10’ closet with 80 lumens of light. Experience for yourself how great it is to open your closet and have a bright light that turns off automatically after you leave. You will be off the grid and not use any additional electricity. The batteries that power the Mr. Beams Ceiling Light will last for 18 months or more (under average use in one of your 5.5 closets). Let’s work together to make at least 0.1% of the dark closets light up with the Mr. Beams bright LED battery-powered motion activated Ceiling Light. Find out what James in Georgetown, Kentucky is talking about when he says, "This ceiling light, which can also be mounted on a wall, is the cream-of-the-crop as far as LED lights go, in my opinion. Installation was easy, it reacts to motion quickly, and puts out a good amount of light."

Where Do You Need Light?

What is the value of light to you? Probably never gave it much thought - yet you used some method to evaluate whether or not to call you electrician in to light up that dark porch in your backyard, or the end of your hallway that is too dark. In my mind a light costs me $250. The light itself is $50 and the electrician will cost me $200.

This same evaluation led us to develop the Mr. Beams line of battery-powered lights. At $10-$60 per light, your cost of light is significantly lower. In many ways your annual operating cost will also be lower. Battery operated lights like the Mr. Beams Ceiling Light requires 4 C batteries at $1 each. The Mr. Beams Ceiling Light is designed to last 18 months on one set of batteries - so the annual operating cost is around $2.35. If you hire an electrician to install a ceiling light, this light requires a light bulb that will probably last just one year ($1.50) plus require electricity. Electricity can add up when the light is left on during the day or when not needed. All Mr. Beams battery operated lights have auto shut-off and motion detectors. The auto shut-off turns the light off after no motion is detected.

So the Mr. Beams line of motion sensor battery operated lights can save you money and get you off the electrical grid. When battery power is combined with motion sensors and LED's, it allows you to add light anywhere at a low initial cost and a low operating cost. So at $30 per light, where do you need light? The Mr. Beams Spotlight can light up your backyard and driveway. The Mr. Beams Stair Light can make you stairs safe and help prevent falls. The Mr. Beams Stick Anywhere Night Light can light up hallways and bathrooms and toilets to help prevent falls. The Mr. Beams Ceiling Light can light up your closets and attic so bright that you can choose the right color of your clothes. All are battery powered and use a motion sensor and auto shut-off to get you off the grid and save money in your lighting.

Stick Anywhere Night Lights By the Toilet--Not the Most Glamorous Application, But Hey, They're Perfect There!

Guest blog by David Levine while I'm on vacation researching about more places and ways to use Mr Beams:

Almost nothing disturbs sleep as much as bright light. Two things that disturb sleep as much are having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and having to answer a screaming child. So here is how we have reduced the disruption at my house using Mr. Beams battery-operated lights.

First we put the Stick Anywhere Night Light next to our toilet. It is off all day and night, but once its motion detector picks me up it lights up the toilet with its bright LED. Not so bright to disturb my sleep, but bright enough to provide the proper guidance. For my wife it shines enough to show her if I left the seat up. It took 10 seconds to install and since it is battery-operated it can be attached anywhere. After 30 seconds it goes off and stays off until it detects motion again.

Next we installed the Mr. Beams Step Light in the hallway connecting our bedroom to the stairs to get to the kids' rooms. It glows lightly all night (think Timex's Indiglo feature) so I can see where the wall is and walk a somewhat straight line towards it. Then once it detects my motion - typically more than 15 feet away - it turns on the bright LED and lights up the entire floor. One battery-powered Stair Light provides enough light in my hallway to keep me from falling or banging into something.

Since our kids are upstairs, we use the big light of the Mr. Beams Ceiling Light to light up the stairs. This battery-operated light is the brightest of the three, providing more than 80 lumens of light. Again, it is enough light to help us navigate the stairs safely, but not enough light to disturb my sleep or wake up the good child who decided to sleep through the night (no names, but the bad child knows who she is). And since finding a light switch at 3 a.m. seems challenging, the motion sensor is a great feature as it will turn on as soon as we approach the stairs. With its broad, white light it lights up the stairs like a 20W light bulb would. It has auto shut-off, so it shuts off automatically once we pass, and waits to detect motion again. This light installs like a battery-powered smoke detector - two screws and no wires. Our has lasted 14 months without needing a battery change.

Learn more about Mr Beams at www.mrbeams.com. There are countless applications that require Mr Beams and you don't even know it! Visit the Idea Center for your "a-ha" moment...