Consumers now have an expanded set of lighting options thanks to new Lutron C.L dimmers. Lutron is an industry-leading manufacturer of high quality dimmers for all kinds of lighting systems, and these are designed to control bulbs and fixtures that employ either compact fluorescent, LED, or halogen lighting technologies. Lutron’s C.L dimmers are UL Listed, and provide full-range dimming for virtually any lighting application. After extensive testing, we are happy to report that the company’s Diva C.L, Skylark Contour C.L, and Maestro C.L dimmers are all fully compatible with LED strip lights from Flexfire...

“Can I control LED strip lights with a dimmer?” This is one of our most frequently asked questions, and the answer is absolutely yes! We’ve put together an instructional video that walks you through how to attach a dimmer to your LED strip...

Placing warm, attractive LED light under a cabinet can dramatically affect the overall appeal of any room. It sends a beautiful ambient glow from an otherwise unused space, in addition to providing useful direct light to counters and workspaces. But is this an easy, do-it-yourself installation? And why is it so important to use LEDs for under cabinet lighting? First of all, it’s important to note that installing under cabinet lighting with LED strip lights is a simple DIY project. Sometimes called “tape lights”, these small adhesive-backed strips can be trimmed to any desired length and simply attached to the bottom of a cabinet. LED strip lights come in various tones, colors, and brightness levels, and can even be attached to a dimmer. The strips themselves are very low profile, and will not require drilling into cabinets. Aside from being visually superior, LED lights come with all sorts of extra benefits. You’ll see a major increase in energy efficiency, as LEDs consume only a fraction of the energy used by incandescent and fluorescent lighting. They also produce no extra heat, meaning they’re cool to the touch and further increase energy efficiency. Contrast this with other under cabinet lighting systems that can heat the contents of the cabinets to which they’re attached, not to mention raising overall room temperature. Finally, LEDs last significantly longer, so you’ll save on replacement costs in the long run. Flexfire’s UL Listed UltraBright™ and ColorBright™ series LED strip lights last up to 50,000 hours, meaning 10-15 years of use under normal conditions. As a final important benefit to homeowners, LED lights contain no mercury, the highly toxic element found in fluorescent bulbs and tubes. Accidents happen, and when a fluorescent bulb breaks the exposed mercury presents a serious health risk. This is...

Earlier this month at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, the Rensselear Polytechnic Institute’s Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center demonstrated a personal light measurement system that will assist in accurately monitoring the body’s circadian rhythm. Designed for Google Glass, the prototype captures an individual’s light exposure and biometric signals, then sends this information to an Android app. The app then provides information that will help the individual achieve better sleep cycles, in turn leading to improved overall health and productivity. This project is the latest of many to explore LED lighting health benefits. So what do LED lights have to do with this? Among all light sources, LEDs are unique in that they can be tuned to control light direction, color temperature, and overall illuminance. LEDs thus play a key role in so-called “human-centric lighting”, which examines lighting exposure as a means to address modern health issues. This is particularly relevant given the ever-increasing amount of time we spend indoors, not to mention the fact that many in the Northern Hemisphere live with little to no sunlight each winter. Imagine this: you live in northern Sweden, where prolonged periods without daylight turn you into a depressed, grumpy, unproductive mess. Along comes a device that measures your personal light intake each day, then automatically tells your home lighting system how much and what sort of light your body needs to function properly. Sounds like science fiction, right? Check out RPI’s Healthy Home Project in Sweden. According to a report published in part by LightingEurope, the use of human-centric lighting helps improve sleep, increase productivity, accelerate healing and even prevent some chronic diseases. LEDs promise to play a central part in this exciting new field of research, and it will be interesting to see where this takes us...

LED strip lights can be connected end to end, creating continuous runs of almost any installation length. With Flexfire connectors, it’s easy to run these lights along curves and even through hard-to-reach corners. This video offers an easy step-by-step tutorial on attaching your LED strip lights to both connectors and a power supply:...