Indoor Light Pollution

My last blog entry pointed out how traditional outdoor lighting is poorly designed and creates significant light pollution. The culprit is the traditional incandescent light bulb, which emits light in all directions. The CFL bulb copied the incandescent bulb and also emits light in all directions. The result is a lot of wasted light. Why are millions of lampshades sold every year? If the light bulbs were emitting light only in the desired directions, then lampshades would be irrelevant. Other light fixtures that use traditional incandescent and CFL bulbs are providing more light into your eyes than illuminating the floor and walls.

LEDs are designed to shine with tighter directionality. The majority of indoor lighting applications – down-lighting; lamps; sconces; track lighting; ceiling lights; wall-mounted lights – need to emit light over less than 180 degrees. Thus LEDs area better match for most indoor lighting applications. LEDs are more efficient and create less indoor light pollution.

Mr. Beams makes a number of energy efficient LED lights. The motion sensor battery powered Ceiling Light has a bright LED that emits at a 120-degree angle. This tight beam is perfect for lighting closets, sheds, crawl spaces, attics and porches without creating light pollution. The Mr. Beams motion sensor Ceiling Light mounts easily in minutes without an electrician because it is battery powered. It operates for about $1 per year.

The Stick Anywhere Night Light prevents light pollution in your hallways, stairs and bedrooms. Instead of lighting up all night and interfering with your sleep – as most night lights do - the Mr. Beams motion sensor Stick Anywhere Night Light stays dark until it detects movement. At that time it provides the perfect amount of light to prevent falls, but not so much light that it disturbs your sleep mode.

That is the definition of the perfect indoor light: it is on only when you need it and it lights up only what you need illuminated for safety and security. The Mr. Beams battery operated LED lights provide light only when it is needed and only where it is needed. These LED motion sensor lights come in four designs: Spotlight; Ceiling Light; Stair Light; and Wall Light.

How to Reduce Light Pollution

My 7-year old son was recently given a telescope for his birthday. We were excited because we had recently watched an episode of the original Batman TV series where Bruce Wayne was unlocking the secrets of the universe to Dick Grayson through a telescope at Wayne Manor. No doubt Bruce Wayne – being a millionaire when millionaire meant something - had the top of the line telescope and that helped. But there was another reason why our telescope was not able to reveal too much about our universe: light pollution.

Light pollution is caused by improper lighting in heavily-populated areas. Light from outdoor fixtures is aimed improperly and causes light bouncing in all directions. You can see this in parking lot lighting that shines in every direction; street lighting that lights in too many directions; and house lighting that shines in your eyes and shines up instead of just lighting the ground.

Drive down a residential street at night and notice how many lights are shining right at your eyes instead of just lighting the path and the house. Some are a nuisance, while some can almost blind you. This is one of the complaints of incandescent bulbs: they shine in every direction, while you only need the light to shine in specific directions. This is one of the important advantages of LEDs - they are more directional. The typical LED shines a beam of about 120 degrees – putting light in only one third of the places that an incandescent bulb will throw light. This is the main reason that creating an incandescent bulb replacement using LEDs is so challenging. However, this is also why LEDs create much less light pollution compared to incandescent bulbs. And this is why light fixtures made with LEDs can be so much more efficient that incandescent bulbs and CFLs as well. Incandescent bulbs and CFLs emit light in every direction. Does your outside lighting really need to shine upwards?

I recently wrote about the cost savings of using the Mr. Beams battery powered LED security light versus using a traditional wired spotlight with an incandescent bulb. The cost savings is dramatic: If you would normally turn a 75W incandescent light bulb on all night (cost of $35.50 each year at $0.13 per kWh) then you can save about $33 per year by changing to a Mr. Beams battery operated Security Spotlight. The Mr. Beams LED Security Spotlight will only activate when it detects motion. The Spotlight also reduces light pollution. It s bright LED will only shine in the direction that you have pointed it. It is smarter lighting that will prevent light pollution while preventing wasted energy.

Please learn more about the Mr. Beams line of battery powered, motion sensor LED lighting at www.mrbeams.com

How to Choose the Best Outdoor Lighting

What kinds of things are important to consider when you are thinking about adding outdoor lighting at your house? Here is a list of things we think are important:

1. Weatherproofing - Wherever you live, a good outdoor light has to withstand the rain, snow, temperature, humidity etc. You want to put the light up and not worry that rain will leak in or that it will stop working when it gets really hot or cold outside.

2. Ease of Installation - Most of the places you need more outdoor lighting are not easy to wire AC power to. A completely wireless light would allow the light to be installed anywhere. This flexibility gives you some options on adding light to the places you really need it.

3. Controls - How do you turn the light on and off? This is a very important consideration because a wall switch in a convenient place might not be an option.

4. Application - Do you need a spotlight or flood light focused on a particular spot? Do you need a patio light or porch light that provides lighting for steps or near a door way? A lot of times, people notice a place where they just don't have enough light before they think about the first 3 items on this list.

5. Budget - Many people over-pay for their outdoor lighting by installing more light than they need and by not installing controls to prevent the lights from being on all day. Determine how much light you need in lumens (total light output) and lux (how illuminated an object is). Also determine when you want you lights to be off. If you want to save on an electrician then look at battery-powered LED lights.

Mr Beams put a lot of thought into the design of its lights for outdoor lighting. We are making the best battery powered LED lighting solutions by making LEd lights that solve each of issue on the list that are most important when choosing outdoor lighting. So here is how we have addressed these important outdoor lighting issues:

1. IP44 rating - This addresses the weatherproofing issue. You cannot get a solid IP rating without building a robust, sealed housing for the outdoor light and we feel that an IP44 rating is a solid rating for our lighting applications.

2. Battery Powered Lights - Our lights are powered off of batteries. This allows lights to be wireless: installed anywhere without needing wires to AC power. The light output and wireless controls allow the batteries in our products to last more than a year and in some applications several years.

3. Motion detector outdoor lights, outdoor lights sensors, outdoor light remote control - This gives you a convenient way to turn on and off the your outdoor lighting. Intelligence built into our battery powered lights will automatically shut the lights off after some time of no use. .

4. Spotlights, stair lights, ceiling lights - We created different types of bright LED lights to solve the outdoor lighting problems people are telling us about. We have designed our outdoor light fixtures to be outdoor wall lights, outdoor spotlights, outdoor path lights, outdoor stair lights, for landscape lighting etc. Many times we hear from customers about ways they have used our lights that we had not even thought about.

Hopefully Mr Beams LED lighting solutions can provide you with the outdoor lighting options to add outside lights where you need them.

Great Holiday Gifts for your Clients and Customers

Holiday Gift Guide for Your Clients and Customers

If you have clients and customers that you want to give them a holiday thank you gift for their support over the past year, there are many options. I know this because my wife always gets anxious about what she will give her clients and I can either help her or live with her stress. So here is my 2010 Gift Guide for your clients and customers. All gifts are unique and thoughtful - mostly new electronic gadgets that use advanced technology and will have your client or customer thinking about you all year.

Really Big Thank You Gift:
I consider a really big thank you to be in the range of $150-$300. (Any higher starts to look like bribery). There are a few cool electronic gifts that I recommend in the gadget and fun living categories:
Flip Camera – Everyone can use a convenient, small video camera. Even better, the Flip connects to your computer by a built-in USB adaptor so you can upload instantly. In 2 hours you can learn any video editing program and create fun and memorable movies. The Flip is a great electronic gift for the geek and novice. http://www.theflip.com/en-us/

Wine of the Month / Beer of the Month – I like a gift that repeats itself throughout the year. When people have sent me the Wine of the Month and Beer of the Month, I found myself looking forward to the delivery. Thoughtful gift that seems bigger than it costs. http://www.goldmedalwineclub.com/

Sansa Clip with a 1 Year Subscription to Rhapsody – It was hard for me to give up my iPod, but the Sansa Clip combined with Rhapsody is the greatest music gift around. The Sansa Clip is a small, unpretentious MP3 player. Instead of it relying on purchased music, it synchs with your Rhapsody account. Rhapsody gives you access to millions of songs – the difference is that you rent instead of buy. For $10.99 per month, you are giving people the ability to listen to any song out there (with some exceptions) and then to fill up their MP3 player with any song or playlist imaginable. Never get tired of your music – change out regularly at no cost. Fantastic gadget. http://www.sandisk.com/products/sansa-music-and-video-players/sandisk-sansa-clipplus-mp3-player


Super Nice Thank You Gift:
The very nice thank you is in the range of $100-$150. Still much bigger than your clients and customers are used to receiving as gifts. Here are some ideas:
Spa Package – Buy a treatment at a local spa. Get your client or customer a holiday thank you gift in the form of a massage or facial.

Apple TV - Apple TV has been redesigned to be small yet big on entertainment. Apple TV allows you to rent from a large selection of HD movies — many available the same day they come out on DVD. Buy Apple TV for your client or customer as a holiday gift and they can watch Netflix titles instantly. Apple TV also allows your holiday gift receiver to rent TV shows, commercial free in HD. Apple TV also lets you stream photos and music from your computer to your widescreen TV. http://www.apple.com/appletv/

Very Thoughtful Thank You Gifts:
These gifts are under $100. Very thoughtful and useful holiday gifts that seem much more expensive than they are and provide great convenience.
Mr. Beams LED Lights – We give these battery-powered LED lights to people as gifts all the time and they love them. Every one of your clients and customers has dark spaces in their home that need lighting. The Mr. Beams LED motion sensor lights can attach anywhere in minutes because they are battery operated. They will go on whenever they detect motion and your client or customer will thank you every time the Mr. Beams light turns on. These lights come in many different forms and are weatherproof for wireless outdoor lighting. Available in Spotlight; Ceiling Light; Wall Light. www.mrbeams.com

Duracell myGrid – Clever product that allows you to charge many electronic devices simply by laying the device on the myGrid pad. Duracell has been launching a number of products that provide a charge to a variety of electronic devices. The myGrid is a great holiday gift because it will allow your clients and customers to charge electronic devices without directly plugging in. http://www.duracell.com/en-US/category/mygrid.jspx

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.

What is Your Home Security Worth?

What is your home security worth? Most of us have made that decision by how much we invested in alarm systems and lighting around our house. I have the conversation with customers every day. They want lighting around their home – maybe it’s an under-lit back door or a dark corner of the house or a backyard where the dog disappears into the night. I ask them if the problem is worth $300 to solve – the cost of getting an electrician to install a new light fixture on their house. Often times the answer is no - $300 is too much to pay to add a light.

At Mr. Beams we also believe that $300 is too much to solve this problem. So we designed our Mr. Beams battery powered lights to solve this problem for under $40. In fact, for $300 we can brightly light up 2 doorways, 2 corners on your house, your shed, your walkway and the edge of your backyard! And we can do it without using any electricity, with motion sensors to turn the lights on when needed and off when not needed, and with the flexibility so you can move the lights whenever you need to.

So here is our list for brightly lighting up the outside of your house for less than the cost of installing one light with an electrician:
1. Mr. Beams Ceiling Light to light up your front porch and your back door. You stopped lighting up your porch and doorway because of the cost of electricity. In fact, leaving a 75W bulb on all night will cost you $35.50 each year at $0.13 per kWh! In addition, your bulbs burn out every 3 months (another $24 for a total of $59.50 a year per door - $119.00 total for two doorways). The battery powered Mr. Beams Ceiling Light will use less than $1 per year to operate. It will turn on whenever someone approaches because it has a motion sensor. It is a bright LED light that will light up your porch and front entrance. Total cost: $79.98 for 2 Mr. Beams lights.
2. Mr. Beams battery-operated LED Motion Sensor Security Spotlights on the corners of your house. We all have dark corners on the lesser-used sides of our house. The Mr. Beams LED Motion Sensor Security Spotlights will detect for motion all night. When an animal or a person is detected, the bright LED will turn on until the motion goes away. Because they are battery powered, they need no wires and you can install them anywhere in 5 minutes or less. 2 Mr. Beams lights for $79.98.
3. Your shed is dark. It creates a big hazard for you when you run in to grab a tool. Put a Mr. Beams battery powered LED Ceiling Light in the shed and never have to worry about darkness, spiders, sharp objects or rakes on the ground. The Mr. Beams Motion Sensor LED Ceiling Light installs in minutes. It will stay off until it detects the door opening. Then it will shine its bright LED to light up your shed. Once you leave, the Mr. Beams LED Ceiling Light’s motion sensor will tell the battery-powered light to shut off. $39.99.
4. Walkways are tripping hazards – especially in the winter. The Mr. Beams Path Lights are bright LED lights on stakes. They have motion sensors to light up brightly when they detect motion, then auto shut-off after 60 seconds. They are much brighter than solar path lights. And because they are battery powered, they don’t need access to the sun to work. They also have a unique remote control to turn them on and off. 2 for $59.99.
5. Light up the back of your backyard with the Mr. Beams LED Motion Sensor Security Spotlight. We attached a Mr. Beams battery powered LED Spotlight to a tree out back in one minute using one screw. When our dog goes out at night we worry about coyotes and skunks. Once she got skunked and it was a 3-day nightmare. The Mr. Beams Spotlight detects motion and shines a bright LED light to show us if any animals are around. It also lights up when our dog passes it and we can see where she is. The batteries power the LED motion sensor security Spotlight for more than 18 months and survive the northern winters. $39.99.

So I just showed you how to add security and safety to your home by lighting up all of the dark spaces with the Mr. Beams battery powered LED lights with motion sensors. If you do the math, this entire package of lights will cost $299.93 – the same as hiring an electrician to install just one light. In addition, you can save more than $200 per year in electricity by using battery operated lights that are off the grid. For reading this blog I will offer another 20% off so this entire package of lights will cost just $239.94. Please enter the coupon code “20percent” at check-out to get 20% off any Mr. Beams battery operated LED lights at www.mrbeams.com.

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.

Mr. Beams Lights Up During Power Outages

In July 2010, there was a power outage in the Washington DC area that left 280,000 customers in the dark. The electric company was able to restore power to some quickly but it took days to get everyone back on line.

Several years ago just before we first launched the Mr Beams products onto the market, we created a test program with more than 50 friends, family, people we worked with, potential customers etc to make sure that people we trusted to give us an honest review of our products were happy with our battery powered LED lights. They tested the MB360 spotlight and MB530 step light both battery power LED lights with motion sensors. We got very good reviews, fixed a few problems that had been caught and then launched the products as quickly after the test run as we could.

It just so happens that a few of our test group lives in the Washington DC area and were hit by the power outage. One was hit for several days. It was nice to get calls from people using the lights for over 3 years that called to say how happy they were that they had battery powered lights installed on their stairs, in their hallways, outside of their houses and did not have to carry a flashlight around for the whole power outage.

We feel strongly that a small number of battery powered LED lights permanently installed will be there where you need them when that power outage inevitably rolls around.

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.