In the very near future, LED technology will advance to a level enabling a broad range of new home lighting products.
Previously, the LED has appeared in numerous low power indicator applications.

For example, a green 5mm LED incorporated into the speakers on a sound system for a personal computer,
provides a reminder that the sound system has been left on. Within the past several years, LED technology has advanced dramatically and now provides the possibility for "illumination applications".

Several newer LED products include night lights, hand held flash lights, and area or task lighting.
The benefits of LED technology are most beneficial in the low voltage ( 12 to 24 volt DC) automotive, marine and alternative power areas.
The next level of advancement will include a line of products incorporating capable of providing an
even higher level of illumination.

Consumers are now seeing traditional fluorescent, incandescent, and halogen light bulbs being replaced by high power LED lights.
In fact, some existing technologies have already extended beyond the limits of most well known LED applications! The key to advancement within the realm of LED lighting starts with a good understanding of LED efficiencies.

The two primary industry standard concepts of efficiency include, LED power efficiency, and LED cost efficiency. Power efficiency provides engineers and designers with a means to calculate and compare various lighting systems.

Power efficiency, commonly expressed in "lumens per watt", provides an indication of the total luminous output,
compared to overall power dissipation of the device.

On the other hand, sales and marketing agencies tend to focus more on LED cost efficiency.
Cost efficiency, commonly expressed in "lumens per dollar", provides an indication of luminous output
compared to actual costs associated with manufacturing the product.

A truly successful LED product will most likely feature a combination of superior power as well as cost efficiencies. Existing LED technology can provide lumen outputs equivalent to many incandescent, halogen, and florescent bulbs found within the home or office.

In most cases, a professionally designed LED circuit can provide a level of energy efficiency equal to or better than most traditional light sources.
However, high production costs offset energy efficiency to the point where overall cost savings only occur over an extended period of use.
Over several years, a modern LED light fixture in the home or office will eventually lead to justification of the initial investment. However, many consumers are looking for more immediate results!

Unfortunately, this only becomes possible after manufacturing costs have dramatically decreased. There are many legitimate reasons for the high manufacturing costs associated with LED lighting.

Most traditional light sources produce heat that is dissipated directly into the surrounding atmosphere.
For example, a 100 watt incandescent light bulb dissipates a significant amount heat directly from the glass bulb, and outward into the air.
The light bulb does not require any additional thermal management.

LEDs operate much differently! Most of the thermal energy produced during the operation of an LED light moves in a reverse direction, downward into the circuit board.
Standard circuit boards feature a relatively high thermal resistance, and do not transfer heat very efficiently.

For this reason, designers and engineers must pay additional attention to thermal management to ensure that heat can properly dissipate away from the LED.
Otherwise, the LED and surrounding electronics may suffer as a result of induced thermal stresses.

Traditionally LED bulbs have been driven using series resistance, this usually works okay if there are no external loads applied to the circuit which may affect it.
If an external heavy load is applied when an LED bulb is running for example as the compressor or pump switch is turned on the current and the voltage immediately decrease.
These dips in voltage and current seriously affect the lifetime of the LED bulb.
Examples of heavy inductive loads include swimming pool pumps and large refrigerators, these can cause traditional incandescent and halogen bulbs to fail at times. Constant current LED drivers however have a small integrated circuit incorporated which sense any voltage variations within the lighting circuit and will automatically compensate for any losses.
LED bulbs are infinitely more susceptible to current and voltage spikes due to their low start-up demand.
Low battery voltages can cause heat buildup due to increased resistance and high voltages can cause the LED to overdrive risking premature failure or dimming.
Also in the manufacturing process, there are sometimes minute variations in the chemical substrate, this can cause fluctuations in current demand.
Temperature is also a serious consideration in that it is hard to control without proper current regulation.
As current increases the temperature correspondingly rises.
This can cause the voltage to rise across the junction leading once again to early failure if not properly regulated.
Over the last six years The LED Shop Australia has converted nearly all stock to internally driven products.
Our light bars, marine products and halogen replacement bulbs now all utilise internal constant current drivers.

The LED Shop is situated just outside Herberton in Far North Queensland, Australia.

No we don't have a retail premises, This is how we can offer LED products at such reasonable prices.
Our website is updated regularly and has a fully comprehensive list of all stock items.

Since 2003 and we've learned heaps !

Our website is catalogue and pricelist
Maintaining a printed catalogue and price list has proved almost impossible due to the fact that we change prices,
products and descriptions so often we'd never be able to bring out a current hard copy.

We have several established factories in Taiwan and China. We use US, Korean and Taiwanese chipsets mainly.Some of the best commercial LEDs in the world are now being produced in Taiwan and China is fast catching up.

Most certainly we do encourage resellers to contact us for wholesale pricing. Our business is trade direct to the public from the manufacturer
and we do not discount heavily but we will treat each enquiry as an opportunity to quote.

LEDs are light emitting diodes - in layman's terms they're like electrical one-way only valves that glow instead of getting hot when a lot of pressure is put through them.
They simply put out light (glowing photons) instead of heat like a normal diode on a PCB board.
These diodes are also then sealed in resin to make them shockproof and waterproof.
This is very different to the traditional filament bulbs that rely on a very thin piece of wire strung between two poles that burn very brightly when a current is passed through it.
The wire burns continuously whilst giving off quite a deal of wasted heat.
Glass filament bulbs are thin and also fragile which keeps an industry alive replacing light bulbs.
Advances from VHS to DVD get a lot more attention these days than cheaper, better lighting although the outdoor enthusiasts have recognize the incredible potential of LED lighting particularly in the form of headlamps and torches.
The difference at night time is incredible -you will see colors truly represented as they are seen during daytime - spiders and other insects eyes glowing back at you !

The industry standard for LED is around 50000hrs.
As all things do they will degrade initially up to 10% over the first 1000hrs of operation followed by a slower rate of decline to 30% loss after 50000hrs.
Commercially available LEDs are generally blue LEDs with a fluorescence applied to them and its the fluorescence that degrades not the chip/diode itself.
It also depends if the LEDs are being "driven" hard or voltage is variable.
The types of commercial dome-typeLEDs available these days are called "static sensitive" and can be badly affected by variations in voltage and current - that's why they're OK on batteries (if not run too low) but sensitive to other forms of power like 240vAC/12vAC transformers.

Nowadays - no - the new constant current drivers take care of this problem.
Slowly we've been introducing an 8~30vDC range in nearly all our low voltage bulbs.

Our 240vAC customers certainly using less power when they use LED bulbs but they are also getting substantially less light -
the new 3x1w available in the GU10 E27 and B22 base are generally 60% of the luminous output of a 50w halogen bulb.

We have produced some new E 27 (Edison screw bulb) and GU10 bulbs.
They have a voltage range of between 90 and 260 V which allow for both Australian and US markets.
They are 120° units powered by the latest /3 x1 watt LEDs from Cree and Nichia.....equivalent to 60% of the luminous output of a 50 w halogen bulb
We use Cree's diodes for the Cool White and Nichia for the Warm White, this has been the most successful combination so far.
We are currently fitting out a display home here in Australia with this type of bulb and retail prices for these units are approximately $40~$45 Australian.
They are the best of the best and fade rates for these units are extremely low meaning that they should last for many years giving consistent light output.

For Australian customers we charge 10% GST on all products with a maximum charge of $11.00 for express shipping per entire order.

For international customers we use that 10% GST component to offset the extra shipping charges involved with shipping internationally.
You pay the same price as Australia for the products but we charge only $15.00 Australian per entire overseas order for first-class air mail shipping.

RoHS stands for Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances. More detailed information on the the website: http://www.rohs.gov.uk/ ;Here some info in a nutshell: It is aimed to remove six hazardous substances from the manufacturing process: " Cadmium (Cd)
" Mercury (Hg)
" Hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI))
" Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBBs)
" Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs)
" Lead (Pb).The aim of the standard is to restrict hazardous substances polluting the environment when being disposed of at end of serviceable life.
Often they are simply just dumped in landfills. The substance of most significance is Lead as it is the main element in solders and solder pastes.
Solder comprises 60% Tin (Sn) and 40% Lead (Pb).
The challenge is to find alternative materials to Lead to make solder.
This is no easy task, there been many attempts to find suitable alternatives to solder and undoubtedly in the future this will happen but right now best replacements for traditional tin/lead solders are copper bismuth and silver.
These have drawbacks which still need to be resolved. " Insufficient standards for leadfree solder, tin and lead has been used down through the ages with no equivalent.
" Leadfree solders melt at higher temperatures than traditional tin/lead solders, this can lead to damage to the sensitive electronic components.These are targeted maximum concentrations allowable after ROHS standards have been applied:lead - Pb
.1% max concentration mercury - Hg
.1% max concentration cadmium - Cd
.01% max concentration hexavalent chromium - Cr(V1)
.1% max concentration polybrominated biphenyls - PBB
.1% max concentration polybrominated diphenyl ethers - PBDE
.1% max concentration

We accept several forms of payment for our orders -

you can either order online through our secure server and
You can pay with Visa/MasterCard, Bankcard and American Express

or you can pay through Paypal

or you can send the funds directly to our bank account:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: The LED Shop
BANK: Westpac Atherton - North Queensland
BRANCH NUMBER: 034160
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 171808

Yes - we are a Queensland registered business
and our ABN is 11 873 113 002

Yes - our gateway is provided by Verisign and its on their secure site that you actually place your numbers.
Make sure the padlock in the bottom right hand corner of your screen is in the locked position.
Regularly check your credit card statement online and ring the bank immediately you see something which doesn't make sense. Despite the media attention given to the miniscule risks of consumers being defrauded by online merchants, it is nearly always the merchant who is the victim of Internet credit card fraud.
The incidence of fraud perpetrated by online merchants against consumers is fairly rare - how would they get away with it?
Consumers are typically only liable for the first $50 of any fraudulent transaction, and even this liability is often waived by the credit card issuers. On the other hand, credit card fraud can be important depending upon the online merchant.
We've had a lot of problems from people using stolen cards and we ourselves must be extremely cautious in dealing with the public knowing that we the merchants are liable for 100% of any loss incurred by the greedy banks.
Significant losses are incurred by merchants - especially sellers of digitally delivered products.
For digitally delivered goods, there is no time to check out the validity of the information provided by the customer, and the e-mail identity and address may be as fraudulent as the credit card number.

We usually post from here in North Queensland three times a week although we sometimes post every day depending on the volume and urgency.
Express Post parcels take about 3-4 working days to states like WA and 3 days into Victoria and South Australia.
New South Wales is 2 days and Queensland parcels can be either overnight or next business day after that.
Overseas orders can take between one and six weeks, depending on the postal service in the destination country.
In the wetseason ( Dec - March) we are sometimes inconvenienced by flooded creeks and parcel delivery may be delayed by a day or two

 

If your parcel doesn't show up we launch an investigation through Australia Post and dependent on the outcome we replace or refund your money.
In the case where the parcel has been officially logged as delivered (and you didn't receive it) we cannot replace these parcels.
If you've elected to send via Registered Post then of course you (and us) are covered.
Of the very very few parcels that have ever been lost every one was recovered and delivered.

The first thing to do is ask at your local post office. Often, the postmaster will hold parcels and you have to go in and ask if there is any extra mail awaiting collection.If your postmaster has not received your parcel, either contact us by email or ring us directly and we will give you a tracking number, so you can find the parcel's last logged address.

For Australian customers we charge 10% GST on all products with a maximum charge of $11.00 for express shipping per entire order
For international customers we use that 10% GST component to offset the extra shipping charges involved with shipping internationally.
You pay the same price as Australia for the products but we charge only $15.00 Australian per entire overseas order for first-class air mail shipping.

Contact us and e will replace the item ASAP - just describe the nature of the failure to us. You will incur no additional postage fees for warranty replacements.Our policy is that goods can be returned for either replacement or substitution....see our link to the warranty pages