Ampere (A) - The ampere is a measure of the amount of electric charge passing a point per unit time. The ampere is given by the ratio between power (W) and voltage (V).
Colour rendering index (CRI) - The color rendering index of a light source measures how much natural is its colour. A high value on a scale from 0 to 100 is a good color rendering.
Colour temperature - It is defined colour temperature of a light source, the temperature of an ideal black-body radiator that radiates light of comparable hue to that light source. Generally the colour temperature is expressed by kelvin degrees (K) and can be classified as follow:
- warm white between 3000 and 3500 K
- moon white between 3500 and 4500 K
- cool white between 4500 and 7000 K
Dimmer - the dimmer is an electronic device that allows you setting the power of light flow. The dimmer can be calibrated either manually or through electronic devices.
Energy saving - In the branch of illumination, huge energy saving is possible through the use of lamps using advanced technologies (i.e. LEDs) emitting much more light energy (with same energy consumption).
Ignition time - It is the time a lamp needs to reach the maximum power at the ignition moment; in LED lamps is quite absent.
IP (Index of protection) - The index represents the degree of security protection of a device from external agents. It is represented by IP followed by two numbers: the first is the index of protection from solid objects and dust (maximum value 6), the second represents the index of protection from liquids (maximum value 8).
Led - The Light Emitting Diode (LED) is a semiconductor solid state diode that converts applied voltage (electrical energy) into light and is used in lamps and digital displays.
Lumen (lm) - The lumen is the unit for measuring the luminous flux, that means the absolute measure of the amount of light per square meter.
Lux (lx) - The lux is the unit for measuring the illumination and its value is the ratio lumens/square meter. The lux is usefull to quantify the density of light at a point, which varies according to several parameters such as distance to the light source or direction of the light beam. The difference between the lux and the lumen is that the lux takes into account the area over which the luminous flux is spread.
Luminous efficiency - The luminous efficency qualifies the efficacy of a luminous source. It is the relationship between luminous flux and input power (expressed in lumens per watt).
Luminous flux - The luminous flux is the amount of light emitted in one second by a luminous source.
Optic - In the branch of illumination, an optic is a device used to change the direction of a ray of light.
Payback - The payback time is the time that a lighting system needs to recover the cost of the initial investment. Carecaled installations have a payback period of few months: because of the energy saving that LED technology ensures, initial costs are very quickly recovered.
Photometric curve - The photometric curve shows the luminous intensity distribution of a lighting device. So it is easy to see the behavior of a lighting fixture for every point in the space.
Use humidity - Indicates the minimum and the maximum values of the humidity between which a LED lamp can operate at the top of its performance.
Use temperature - Indicates the minimum and the maximum values of the temperature between which a LED lamp can operate at the top of its performance.
Volt (V) - It is the unity for measuring the related but slightly different quantity electric potential difference, commonly called voltage.
Watt (W) - The watt is the unit of measurement of electric power and is used to indicate the consumption of a lighting device. The efficiency of the light source is given, however, by the ratio lumens/watt: the higher the number of lumens with the consumption of one watt, the more efficient the light source.
Watthour (Wh) - The watthour is the unit of energy, that means the energy supplied by the power of 1 watt for a period of 1 hour.
