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You may never have thought about it before, but there's a whole lot of great science and stuff that goes into an LED light bulb.

Indeed, some might yearn for a simpler time when light was produced simply by heating up a bit of wire with an electrical current, but bang up-to-date, energy-efficient LED lighting technology is here to stay, so it’s a good idea to find out a little bit about the stuff they’re made of.

Fitting

Sometimes known as the “base” or the “cap”, the fitting is the part of the light bulb that connects directly to the electricity supply. It also allows you to quickly and easily change a bulb whenever necessary.

LED light bulbs have exactly the same fittings as traditional incandescent bulbs, so you don't need to worry about replacing your actual light fitments. Knowing about your LED bulb’s fitting is incredibly important, as you don’t need all the hassle of buying the wrong one and having to return it.

Driver 

LED bulbs are low-voltage devices, however, many domestic and commercial light bulbs, such as GU10s and E27s, are designed to work at the 240v mains voltage. You might think that this presents a problem, but it doesn’t because low-voltage LED bulbs are fitted with a “driver”.

The driver acts like a transformer, effectively stepping down the voltage and making it compatible with the LEDs. With low-voltage bulbs, such as MR16s, the driver is separate to the bulb, but GU10s come complete with their own.

Heat Sink

As LEDs convert electricity into light, an extremely small amount of heat is generated. While this is much less than a halogen, the heat inside an LED cannot escape as easily and remains inside the LED. In order to function effectively, this heat needs to be dispersed.

Heat sinks, made from a highly conductive material, such as metal or ceramic, are designed to remove heat away from the LEDs and into the surrounding air. Keeping the Light-Emitting Diodes cool in this way ensures that the LED bulb achieves its incredibly long life-expectancy.

LED Array

Rather than a single LED, most light bulbs feature an array of LEDs. These arrays will most often consist of a special type of LED called SMDs (Surface-Mounted Diodes), which are more compact and can be soldered easily to a flat surface.

Diffuser

On its own, an LED light bulb will emit light at a fairly wide beam angle. In order to control the distribution of light, manufacturers design special light diffusers that close down the angle of light, making it more focused and suitable for your purposes.

Remember, just because two LED light bulbs look the same, doesn't mean they are the same. Always choose the best possible quality LED light bulb that incorporates the finest components.

Our LED lights come complete with a 2-year warranty that’s upgradable to 5 years upon completion of the appropriate form within 90 days of your purchase, to give you even more peace of mind.

Should you require any further information about LED light bulbs, please don’t hesitate to contact us online or call a member of our customer service team on 0116 321 4120.

You’re also welcome to send us an e-mail enquiry to cs@wled.co.uk, ask a question on either our Facebook or Twitter pages.