We all want our families to be safe at home, and there are many products to help us feel safe. While some homeowners still use traditional deterrence methods like fences, bars, and “Beware of dog” signs, there are proactive and responsive electronic security systems being used today that can be much more effective. However, as with every electronic system, improper installation or malfunctions could make them a nuisance or even inoperable, leaving your home and family vulnerable.

Motion sensors seem to be especially problematic. When they are working improperly, they can add unnecessary costs to your electric bill and disrupt your sleep and peace of mind. But there is a lot that you can do before you call an electrician.

First, make sure you read the instructions carefully. Even if you’ve installed motion sensors before, you will need to take into account the specific specifications of the one you’re installing or troubleshooting. In addition, here are some tips that may solve the issue:

We’re finally through another summer in Texas. Our air conditioners are being turned off for the first time in months, and we’re all looking forward to watching that power bill drop. Now that your electrical system is under less stress, it’s the perfect time to make sure that the system is working the way it should.

Nobody should go years without performing maintenance on their vehicle. It just makes no sense to throw away the investment you made on a vehicle. And yet, people regularly go years and years without having their electrical system inspected on their home. Typically you spend a lot more on your home than a vehicle, yet both can be dangerous if you don’t do regular maintenance!

With this in mind, I wanted to share some important Electrical System Maintenance with you that can help keep you safe and even keep your power bill low! Keep in mind that the things I’m going to share with you aren’t really things you can do on your own; you should always contact a Licensed Dallas Electrician to implement any of these tips.

With that in mind:

We all know or at least heard that converting from Metal Halide (High Intensity Discharge) to LED will save you money.

But how much? Are there any other reasons or difference you should know about?

In this article, we break down all the factors that you should be aware of before making a decision to convert from Metal Halide to LED. Here are the 9 reasons we think LED wins over Metal Halide.

Let’s take a look at the information on a typical 400 watt metal halide bulb. While specifications may vary, a visit to a popular online website that sells Metal Halide bulbs shows that a brand new bulb has the following specifications:

We have just as many customers wanting to convert to LED because of maintenance savings as they do for energy savings. Think about what we discussed, over the life of the LED retrofit kit, a customer would have to do 5-6 Metal Halide replacements. The higher the installation height, the higher the cost of replacement. And if you have a facility loaded with lights, this becomes a significant budget amount every year that you must take into consideration. Now, we know that reduced maintenance time on lights does not translate into dollars saved because it is highly unlikely that people will lose their jobs over the fact there is much less work to do. However, these people will have time to now work on things that matter, like fixing the machines that make the company money instead on replacing lights that cost the company money.

When you take a measurement of light with a light meter, it reads lumens. And this measurement of all the lights that contribute to the light at that location creates a measurement called foot candles. But let’s think about that light that is being measured. Metal Halide creates all sorts of light, in all spectrum’s, visible or otherwise. This includes UV and IR spectrum’s, visible to the measuring device but not visible to the human eye. LED, on the other hand, does not produce UV and IR. Therefore, its readings using the same light meter is only picking up visible spectrum’s.

So there is a fun little test you can do. Have 2 light sources, LED and Metal Halide. And first ask, which one is brighter? And if the right LED source was selected, they should say LED. And then use a light meter, and the light meter may say the Metal Halide area is producing more foot candles. And so now you know part of the reason, but wait, there’s 2 other pieces of information you need to know.

Click here to see our infographic on Retrofitting vs Replacing.

Conclusion

To commemorate our fifteenth year, we are taking a look back at what life was like 15 years ago. Do you remember May 1999? It was a month of ups and downs. We gained Star Wars: The Phantom Menace but lost Shel Silverstein. Natural disasters of epic proportions and new leadership in world powers made the month one that would change the course of history. Legal precedents were established and technologies that we all utilize now were just being announced. Here are fifteen moments in history from fifteen years ago. Next stop: May 1999.

1. Bluetooth Is Announced

Early in the month, for about six days, 152 tornadoes ravaged the mid-west and eastern U.S. It was the worst in Oklahoma, with one F5 tornado – the second strongest recorded in U.S. history – that caused $1 billion in damage.

3. Goodbye, Shel Silverstein

In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci’s newly-restored masterpiece The Last Supper was put back on display. This is an unforgettable moment in art history.

5. The Ancient Operating System

via wordpress.com

The Mummy, a horror adventure starring Brendan Frasier, was released in the U.S. in May 1999. Although the film was originally meant to be a low-budget horror series, it turned into a blockbuster hit.

7. Not So Entertaining Anymore

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was released in theaters, and millions of children began having nightmares about red-eyed guys with horns chasing them with two-sided light sabers. And we thought Darth Vader was intimidating…

9. Italian Stallion of Politics

Teenie boppers lost their minds as they excitedly tore open the packaging on their copies of The Backstreet Boys’ newest release, Millennium.

11. Here’s SpongeBob!

Kansas City, Missouri, wrestler Owen Hart (Blue Blazer) fell 78 feet to his death while being lowered into a World Wrestling Federation ring during WWF Over the Edge.

13. So Long, Home Improvement

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 11,000 for the first time in its history at 11,014.70. Many speculate in hindsight that this bump was actually artificially created by overlending and that in retrospect this was a warning sign for the future recession. It was a cause for celebration then: Now, it’s something from which we have hopefully learned a lesson.