LED lights offer energy efficiency, environmental friendliness and a long lifespan. Compared to fluorescent bulbs, LEDs last nearly three times longer. Like traditional lightbulbs, there are many different types of LEDs available in a variety of watts and lumen options.
Types of LED Lights
LED Light Bulbs
When most people think of LEDs, they think of light bulbs. There are many advantages to choosing LED bulbs. The main benefit is energy savings. LEDs use 75% less energy compared to incandescent bulbs (traditional light bulbs).
The great thing about LED bulbs is that they’re easy to install. They fit in any regular light socket.
There are several different types of bulbs to choose from, including:
- Standard: Regular light bulbs that you use in standard fixtures. These are the lights you would use in lamps, wall fixtures and chandeliers.
- Recessed/Can: These special bulbs fit into sockets (or cans) in the ceiling. They replace traditional incandescent recessed lights. Recessed LEDs also work well with dimmer switches.
- Globe: LED globe lights disperse light in all directions, making them a great choice for pendant lights and bathroom vanities.
LED Floodlights
LED floodlights illuminate large areas and are designed for outdoor use. Being able to illuminate a wide area of your property provides an extra layer of safety and security.
Traditional floodlights can be costly to run. They deliver a large amount of bright light, which requires a great deal of energy. LEDs are more energy efficient, making it less costly to add security to your home. They use about 70-80% of the energy normal floodlights use.
LED floodlights come in a variety of sizes and shapes, so you can find one that meets your needs. Whether it’s a big job – like lighting a stadium or park – or your own backyard, floodlights are a great investment.
Unlike with other types of energy-efficient bulbs, LEDs do not contain any mercury, so they are a much safer option. This also makes them more environmentally friendly.
When choosing floodlights, it’s important to consider what level of brightness you want to achieve. Lumens and wattage are the two most important considerations. Floodlights can be incredibly bright, so choose an adequate level. If too bright, floodlights could disturb your neighbors.
Decorative Lights
Available in a wide range of shapes, sizes and styles, decorative lights help make a room feel welcoming and inviting. They are used for decorative or accent lighting. Like any other type of LED, these bulbs are energy efficient and easy to install.
There are several types of decorative LED lights, including:
- Candelabra: Just as the name suggests, these lights are designed to look like candle flames. They work best in wall sconces, accent lighting and other decorative fixtures.
- Edison: Also known as vintage bulbs, Edison light bulbs are specially designed to create a certain type of ambience or aesthetic. They work best in industrial-style decorative light fixtures, such as pendant lights.
- Tube: Also called linear lights, tube LEDs are better suited for professional applications, like offices and workspaces.
- Track: A track LED bulb will provide directional light, which makes it ideal for task lighting, or to highlight certain decorative features or artwork in a room.
Decorative LEDs will add to the ambience and environment of a room while saving on energy costs.
LED Spotlights
Like floodlights, spotlights are a great option for home security or for illuminating certain features. They are a great option for landscape lighting, but they can also be used to help with security by illuminating the yard.
The direction of the spotlight can be adjusted to focus on any area that you choose. Varying levels of brightness are available as well as different sizes.
There are several different types of spotlights:
- Beam projectors: Produces strong, direct beams of light.
- Ellipsoidal spotlight: The most common type of spotlight. It produces a round-shaped beam that can be adjusted using the different gobo, iris and shutters that come with it.
- Fresnel spotlight: Works similarly to a floodlight by illuminating a concentrated area. However, the patterns cannot be adjusted like with other types of lighting.
- Follow spotlights: Primarily used for theatre lighting, these spotlights follow moving objects. The movement of the light is typically operated manually and not using an automatically controlled system. LED versions of these lights save on operation costs for productions.
- PAR spotlight: The go-to choice for spotlights in the entertainment industry. These lights have a reflector, filament and lens that is aligned in fixed positions.
LED spotlights are versatile and a great option for direct lighting indoors or outdoors.
Mini and Micro LEDs
While these two types of lights sound similar, they are quite different. Mini LEDs are also known as a “sub-millimeter light emitting diode.” These LEDs are about 100 micrometers.
These lights are commonly used as backlighting.
Micro LEDs are similar, but they have a simpler structure and offer better performance. These lights are still in their infancy, but they are already being used for next-generation display technology. They allow for significant improvements in image quality, but there is still work yet to be done to improve the overall performance.
Mini and micro-LEDs are not generally used in everyday residential homes, but they are ideal for use in electronics manufacturing.
LED Tape Lights
LED tape lights make it easy to illuminate select spaces quickly and easily. They can be hard-wired into the electrical system, or they can be plugged into outlets. Strong double-sided tape will keep the lights in place.
Tape lights can be used in a variety of applications, including:
- Under-cabinet lighting
- Bookshelf lighting
- Decorative lighting
They can be found in strip format, or you can find them in puck format. These lights look similar to recessed lights, but have strong adhesives on their backs to stick to whatever surface you want to place them.
LED tape lights are a highly affordable option for accent lighting, and they are extremely versatile. They can be placed virtually anywhere.
These are the most common types of LED lights that you’ll find on the market. There are specialized bulbs as well. Virtually any type of incandescent or fluorescent can be found in an LED version. The energy savings and long lifespan alone make these bulbs worth the investment.