Lighting During Power Outages in the Holiday Blizzard of 2010

My brother just emailed me a photo of his car buried in snow in Maplewood, NJ. His house got about 20 inches of snow. He was dreading having to dig out his car, which would take more than an hour. But at least he did not have a power outage caused by the blizzard. More than 2 million people lost power at some point during the blizzard. What did they have prepared for the power outage? Here is our estimate of how unprepared people were for a power outage:

Candles Only – 14%
Flashlights Without Working Batteries – 17%
Flashlights / Lanterns Only – 21%
Nothing – 22%
Flashlights / Lanterns and Candles – 26%

Having flashlights without batteries is a big mistake – by our estimates around 350,000 homes found themselves without working flashlights during the blizzard. More than 450,000 people had no emergency light source ready. Remember the sinking feeling you get when the power goes out and you realize that you are not prepared with any emergency lights? The people living in these 800,000 homes all had that feeling during this recent blizzard.

The solution to lighting your home during a power outage is wireless lighting. We recommend that every home has at least one flashlight for these power outages, but an even better solution is wireless lighting like the LED lights from Mr. Beams. Wireless lighting is a category of lights that use batteries instead of direct wiring to electricity. Mr. Beams has perfected this type of lighting by using the brightest LEDs, the best motion sensors, the most efficient components to extend battery life, and simple ways to attach the wireless lights to any surface.

The leading solution to light your home during a power outage is the Mr. Beams LED Ceiling Light. The Mr. Beams LED Ceiling Light can attach to any wall, ceiling, closet or porch in minutes. This wireless light will only activate when it is dark (it has a light sensor) and only activate when it detects motion (motion sensor). It is so bright that it can light up an entire hallway, yet so efficient that it gets more than 2,400 activations on one set of batteries.

A complete line of lighting solutions for power outages and blackouts are available from Mr. Beams at www.mrbeams.com.

Cold Weather Operation of Mr Beams Wireless LED Lights

Every winter, we get a few questions about how well Mr Beams Wireless LED Lights will work in very cold environments. One attribute of LEDs that makes them ideal for outdoor applications is their extended temperature range. LED lights can be very durable in cold environments however every component that makes up the LED battery powered light needs to have an extended temperature range.

Taking this into consideration, Mr Beams Wireless LED lights have an operating temperature range of -4 degrees F to 140 degrees F at a relative humidity of 90% (-20 degrees C to 60 degrees C at a relative humidity of 90%). We do this by selecting every component in our products to meet or exceed this temperature range.

To make sure a product can operate over the extreme temperature range, only batteries with an extended temperature range can be used. Energizer, Duracell, Panasonic and other battery manufacturers offer an industrial temperature range battery. Let's take the example of an Energizer Industrial D Size Alkaline battery. The datasheet for this battery on the Energizer website is http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/EN95.pdf. It has a temperature range of 0 degrees F to 130 degrees F (-18 degrees C to 55 degrees C). The specification for the battery sets the operating temperature of the Mr Beams MB360 Battery Powered LED Security Spotlight with this battery installed. That is still a pretty good operating temperature.

One important point though is that light output will decrease at the very low temperatures. Why? The efficiency of the LED actually improves at colder temperatures (ie more light is generated for the amount of power consumed from the battery) so that cannot be the reason. It turns out that the battery performance is considerably reduced at the lower temperatures. Looking at this technical bulletin on the Energizer website at http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/BatteryIR.pdf, you can see in Figure 2 that the internal resistance of the battery increases at the lower temperature. The higher internal resistance of the battery hurts the battery performance. It impacts the performance of the light to more than offset the increase in LED performance therefore overall the light output is decreased. We estimate that the lumen output of any wireless LED light at lower temperatures may drop as much as 20% based on the degradation in performance of the battery in cold weather.

The bottom line is that Mr Beams Wireless LED lights have been installed and working at low temperatures for years. They are a great solution for outdoor lighting in cold weather environments. If you have a cold weather lighting application, we hope you will consider the Mr Beams LED lights. For more information on why Mr Beams Wireless LED lights are well designed for outdoor lighting applications, please visit our blog entry "How to Choose the Best Outdoor Lighting" or visit our website at www.mrbeams.com.

Mr. Beams Wireless Battery LED Lights for Porch Light

Mr Beams has taken a lot of pictures of our wireless LED lighting products as they provide important lighting solutions. We have found that pictures of the lighting applications that show the best solutions solved by our wireless lights is very helpful when looking to light different spots: Garages; Sheds; Doorways; Bathrooms; Showers; and many others. How better to show the best uses of our wireless battery powered lights than to take a lot of pictures? We have hired a photographer or two but have taken a lot of amateur photographs too (really amateur in my case).

One of my favorite pictures is of our MB980 Anywhere Ceiling Light used as a porch light. An LED porch light with motion sensor is a great application for the MB980. You can use it to add light to a dim porch or garage and the fact that it is battery powered and has a motion sensor eliminates the need for a light switch. When motion is detected, the battery powered light turns on and stays illuminated until no motion is detected for 30 seconds. During daytime, a photo cell detects that it is light out and prevents the light from activating. The MB980 is weatherproof and wireless - all the mounting hardware needed for easy installation comes with the unit.

We have also seen people use the MB360 Security Light as a porch light. This is a great LED porch light for larger porches because you can mount it at one end of the porch pointed towards the entry way, stairs and door. It operates exactly like the MB980 but is designed to be more of a flood light or spotlight. It is small enough to be unobtrusive in the corner of a porch. The other thing we have seen people do is to use the MB371 Remote Control Spotlight as a porch light. This is a unique product because it operates exactly as the MB360 in that it has a motion sensor and turns on when it detects motion however it also comes with a remote control such that if you are inside your house and you want to turn the light on for someone coming home or coming to visit, you can turn the light on with a remote. This is the only bright porch light available with a remote control for turning the light on and off.

So maybe our photography isn't always the best but in the case of a battery powered LED porch light like the one shown in this picture, I think we got it right. The Mr Beams LED lighting products are great as a porch light, garage light or for a number of other outdoor lighting applications where a completely wireless light is the best light to solve the problem.

Light Up Your Basketball Court with Mr. Beams Wireless Spotlights

December is basketball season. I am reminded of shoveling the snow and chipping the ice off my driveway in Longmeadow, Massachusetts so we could play 2-on-2 in the winter. Unfortunately, the games were always cut short by 4:30 pm darkness. That is if they were not already cut short by a fight after Sam Radner called a foul after barely being touched.

At Mr. Beams, we have a product that is the perfect solution to light up outdoor basketball courts. The Mr. Beams Wireless LED Spotlight should be renamed the “wireless outdoor basketball court light.” The Mr. Beams Wireless LED Spotlight can attach to any backboard, tree, pole or anywhere on your house in minute. A wireless light means no electrician, no wires and do-it-yourself installation. You can also move the Wireless Spotlight whenever you need to. At $40 it is a much cheaper light that installing a wired light to light your outdoor basketball court. This is why we claim to have the best light for an outdoor basketball court. Simply install batteries to power this light, drive one screw to attach the base and you can play basketball well into the night. This LED Spotlight is also available with a remote control to turn the wireless lights on and off from inside your house.

I think that our next Mr. Beams battery powered wireless LED light will have a camera in it so you can replay that weak foul call made by your friend.

The Best Lighting Solutions for Many Dark Areas of Your Home

In our last blog we wrote about how LED light bulbs will eventually replace incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs. They are durable, efficient and last for years. Mr. Beams battery-powered motion sensor LED lights are not designed to replace traditional light bulbs. Instead, Mr. Beams LED lights are designed to replace darkness – areas inside and outside your house where the darkness is a problem but the high cost of calling in an electrician to install a light fixture holds you back. For $10-$50, Mr. Beams provides the best wireless closet light, the best wireless shed light, the best wireless shower light, the best wireless attic light, the best wireless driveway light, the best wireless playground light, and the best wireless night light available anywhere. We use the most current LEDs for the brightest light of any battery-operated light. We use the latest motion sensor technology so the lights go on right when they are needed. We have designed the electronics to maximize battery life so you can get more than a year out of one set of batteries. And we have developed long-range remote controls for our battery-operated LED lights so you can turn your lights on and off from up to 100 feet.

So take a minute to think about all of the dark closets, storage spaces and corners in your house. Think about the darkness between your bed and the bathroom at night, or the kids room. Notice all of the dark doorways, dark corners outside your house, dark walkways and dark parts of your driveway. These are the lighting solutions that Mr. Beams was designed for. Our lighting solutions come in different shapes and brightness. The MB980 wireless Ceiling Light is the best solution for lighting dark closets, porches, gazebos, sheds, attics, crawl spaces, basements and utility rooms. The MB360 wireless Security Spotlight is the best solution for lighting dark driveways, dark garages, dark backyards, dark doorways, dark barns and dark playgrounds. The MB530 Stair Light is the best solution for lighting dark stairs, dark decks and dark docks. The MB723 Stick Anywhere Night Lights are the best lighting solutions for dark kids rooms, night lights where there is no outlet, night lighting bathrooms and night lighting hallways.

Whatever your darkness problem, you can find great wireless lighting solutions from the battery-powered LED lights from Mr. Beams. Please look us up at www.mrbeams.com to learn more.

Celebrate Innovation on Labor Day

An advisor to Mr. Beams recently said he wanted to brainstorm about new products. This guy is a brilliant product developer who has created big product lines that have revolutionized lighting controls. His prerequisite for helping us was that we create breakthrough products, and not just slight improvements. His statement first created an energy and excitement for me that I get when allowed to dream big dreams. It was then followed by the part of my brain that remembers how intense and grinding it is to truly innovate. In my early days as a product manager I could not wait to launch my first product line. It was with Black & Decker in their power tool division and I owned every element of the product line – the feel, the color, the motor, the box, the accessories, the user manual. I was not yet married and that allowed me to spend late nights at the office - it consumed me. But it needed to consume me in order to innovate in a field where everything had been done already.

Innovation in many consumer products has slowed down. Part of it is because of the recession, but I believe there is a more nefarious reason. The power wielded by so few retailers has created greater barriers for entry to smaller companies. Often it is the smaller companies that innovate, but the possible reward of a successful product is now lower because the largest retailers do not want to work with smaller companies. Large Retail knows it limits the innovation that they can offer their shoppers, but it makes logistics so much easier for them. If they are buying 30 items from Category Manager A, and they like 2 products better from a smaller company, they are not going to set up a new vendor of questionable shipping abilities to provide those 2 products. Instead they buy the unimaginative version from the incumbent.

At first this did not limit innovation so much – the larger companies were still investing in new ideas and generating innovative products. But soon the consolidation of retailers meant that 3-5 companies made up 90% of their revenue. They now need these companies to like their products. So here is how new products are now developed: the VP of Sales for a company calls on Big Box Buyer and brings sketches of 5 product ideas. They have learned that getting buy-in from Big Box Buyer is the key to get new products placed. So they ask Big Box Buyer her opinion and she prefers one concept. VP of Sales leaves the meeting and immediately calls the product manager and tells him what the next product will be. Suddenly that new product is the darling of the product management team and gets priority resources.

Is this innovation? I would argue that Big Box Buyer knows her customer best. But the customer only knows what they have already seen, experienced and used. There is a possibility for incremental improvement in the product. But the chance of Big Box Buyer picking out a breakthrough product is slim.

Small companies do not have access to Big Box Buyer. We innovate by observing how people live, what they struggle with and what they enjoy. We know that an incremental improvement won’t cut it, so we work harder and risk more for that product that makes people fall in love with them. As I write this I am listening to a product that does that – it is a Sonos Digital Music System. I can pull up any song anywhere through one hand-held device. Every few months the smart people at Sonos add another great feature. I access Rhapsody, XM Radio, iheartradio through this system and can play different songs or radio stations in different rooms. These team at Sonos observed how people want to access and interact with music and are constantly working on improving the joy that the product provides.

Why am I wasting precious blog space on innovation rather than promoting my products? Probably because it is Labor Day today and days like this separate the innovators from the entrenched. Innovators hate these one-day holidays because no innovation gets done. People at large companies love these days because they get paid for doing their own thing. Have we innovated at Mr. Beams? I think so. We make the world’s best wireless LED lights. We are creating a system of emergency lighting for homes that will automatically provide light in the event of a power outage. We make the best Closet Light you ever installed on your own. We have used motion sensors and bright battery powered LED lights to eliminate darkness in so many places in a home. We have prevented countless falls due to dark hallways and stairs. When my 90-year-old Aunt Mille calls me the first thing she says in her Brooklyn accent is “Oh David that light you sent me is my favorite possession. I get up to go to the bathroom twice a night and that light goes on every time so I can find my way.” To me that is more rewarding than anything Big Box Buyer can say. So support your small company and please recognize that there is tremendous innovation in alternative distribution channels - like www.mrbeams.com

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."

Another Handyman of America Member-Tested Review

Not everyone in the Handyman of America Member-Tested Program was in love with the Mr Beams Anywhere Ceiling Light that Wireless Environment sponsored for the Members to try. One user expressed disappointment with the level of brightness, but did appreciate the motion sensing technology:

"'For the recommended product description and cost I expected a bit more from the light. The motion sensor and automatic off features worked flawlessly...I placed it at first in our pantry and my wife liked the motion sensor to have the light come on when she walked in, but...the light did not brighten the items on all the shelves enough.'"

Could we make a brighter light? Maybe. Would consumers be willing to pay for it? Maybe. Your feedback is valuable to us in making these types of decisions. At the end of the day, if enough of you want it, we can do it.

Learn more about how you can apply wireless LED lights around your home to improve your everyday living. The convenience of battery operated lights is a cost-effective alternative to other lighting solutions. Visit the Idea Center at www.mrbeams.com.

Bright Wireless Shower Lights--The Best Way to Light A Dark Shower?

We had many inquiries for a bright solution for dark showers - shower lights - this weekend. It's funny because we see uses for our products come in waves. Sometimes there are a rash of inquiries for garage lights, sometimes it's closet lights. In the summer, we have more requests for products that will be used outdoors, and the opposite is true for winter.

When your bathroom's plenty bright, you don't think about extra lighting in the shower. However, buy a house with a bathroom that has a vanity light, add a shower curtain, and take a shower in the early morning or night and you'll see that you can't see! The shower is too dark. The solution has generally been confined to hardwired options--call an electrician for the wiring and installation and a contractor to tear up your tile or drywall and ceiling and redo once the electrician has been finished. That's great but not practical unless you've budgeted for a new bathroom. That is the kind of home improvement that you think you can accomplish "in a weekend for a couple of hundred dollars". There is a better solution to light a dark shower: the Anywhere Ceiling Lights are perfect for this application. You can mount the Mr. Beams wireless LED light on the ceiling or the wall and the motion sensor technology will activate the lights when it's dark and you're in the shower.

The LED lights are plenty bright--at 80 lumens, you'll get enough light to distinguish between the Irish Spring and the Caress (Irish Spring is "the scent that she loves" but not on her and, guys, you probably are not after the "silky fragrance infusion" touted by Caress. Or maybe you are. Who knows...)and the IP44 rating supports all splash-proof applications, like showers, rain, snow, etc so the Mr. Beams LED Ceiling lights are definitely shower-worthy.

The Anywhere Ceiling Light is not limited to uses in the bathroom, of course, it can be used, well, anywhere. Mr Beams offers affordable lighting options where you need light but may not want to spend a fortune to get it. You don't need an electrician, just a dark shower or other area where it'd be nice to have some reliable lighting. Think about lighting dark sheds, dark closets, dark porches and dark attics. All dark areas can have bright LED light without wires by installing the Mr. Beams wireless LED Ceiling Light.

Visit www.mrbeams.com for more information on products, how to buy and learn more about LED technology.

Mr Beams Wants To Help You

Every day our customers tell us where they need light. We are learning about new applications that have folks scratching their heads or feeling discouraged because of the costs associated with hiring an electrician to shed some light in a particular area. We work hard to help you satisfy your lighting challenges. However, as the "little guy", we don't have the brand recognition to propel us through the variety of markets and channels that ultimately lead to you, the person we're trying to reach to help you resolve your lighting problem.

We are working diligently to manage our resources to be sure that your requirements are met. Keep your stories, comments, suggestions coming. We are here to serve you and take your feedback very seriously--it's what drives our business.

Thank you for your continued support. Visit our website, www.mrbeams.com, and shop for our products! We appreciate you.