A PhD student in Colorado has come up with a cool idea to help all those cyclists stop getting knocked down. Using LEDs Leah Buechley has woven in indicators and controls into a fabric jacket. The application of the LED technology Leah has developed dosen’t stop with cyclists though.
Archive for the 'LED Stories' Category
Yet more proof that LEDs are the future for lighting in the home … this time coming from MercuryNew.com curtisory of those happyt guys over at TreeHugger.com. The tip we’re interested in says:
2. Get the LEDs out: LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are extremely energy-efficient and long-lasting light bulbs. They cost more than CFLs, but use less energy and last longer. An LED light bulb can reduce energy consumption by 80 to 90 percent and last around 100,000 hours.
Read the full article via online via the Mercury News or visit TreeHugger.com for more eco ideas.
To readers of this blog it will come as no surprise to see more and more car manufacturers switching to use LED. LEDS are flexible and can be put into clusters to create interesting and innovative designs.
BMW has been using LEDs more and more in their cars and I think they look great … it is a shame that more cars aren’t being factory fitted with LED technology, but that’s only a matter of time.
This year it’s been hard not to notice the switch from traditional bulbs to LEDs.
This Christmas, seeing in Christmas we’ve got large professional ministrations of LEDs on Regent Street, London. Called UNITY the LEDs were arranged into clusters with a large central sphere, with 24 smaller spheres around it. The LEDs can glow at different intestacies and in different colours. They used motion detection to respond to what is happening on the street below. For example as people pass by sphere can light up. The LEDs are using a tenth of the electricity of previous installations.
Seeing us into the New Year in the USA we have the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball.
The new ball with be watched by over one billions people watching world wide.
As a side note, The first “time-ball” was installed atop England’s Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833. This ball would drop at one o’clock every afternoon, allowing the captains of nearby ships to precisely set their chronometers.
This is the 100th celebration of the time ball, with the first being dropped in 1807. Only two years were missed out in that time, and that was due to “dimout” restrictions during the 2nd world war. The new 6ft (1.8m) ball is covered with 9,576 LEDs that use the same amount of electricity as 10 toasters.
The main advantages
- New technology will “make the ball glow like nothing else”, Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance
- Energy efficient lights
- Twice as bright
You can read more New York, New Year’s Eve Ball online.
If your interested in creating your own outdoor installations check out our range of waterproof 12v LEDs. http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/waterproof-leds-c-76.html
There can’t be many people left in the world who have not at one time or another played a game of Tetris but how about a GIANT game of Tetris in LED heaven? Well a number of guys based in the USA got together to make an LED based version of the game.
The ‘game’ is composed of 240 led buttons. If you want to move the Tetris block right/left, you simply touch a button left or right of the current piece. To rotate a block you touch a button in one of the top two rows. And to drop a block you touch the bottom row. It’s a hands on Tetris game! Now for a few facts from the project:
- 16 microcontrollers
- Total of 256 MIPS
- 720 LEDs
- 1.5A current draw
- 1300 lines of code
- 28800 bits being updated per second






