New LED Bulb Stays On In Power Outages

We have all experienced it, the dreaded power outage. One minute the family is enjoying their favorite TV show, and the next everyone is sitting in the dark and wondering what to do now that the tech toys are nothing more than paper weights. This is surely a major annoyance, but in some parts of the continent, it is much more than that. In locations with frequent severe weather, power outages are much more common occurrences and can last for much longer periods of time. What lasts half an hour at your house can last for hours, or even days, in remote locations or in instances of major storms. Never mind the bored and whiny kids and defrosting freezer: the lack of light makes every task at hand that much harder and more dangerous to complete; At least until now. A project found on Kickstarter is just the ticket to make power outages that much more bearable, even if they seem to last and last.

Innovative LED bulb has battery inside to allow it to keep working even in a power outage.

The SmartCharge LED light bulb has a simple but exciting motto: “Never be in the dark again.”  A motto that no doubt comes from the inventor’s own experiences living in Charlotte, North Carolina, an area beset by powerful thunder storms throughout much of the summer, storms that knock out power frequently for extended periods of time.

Now, thanks to the efforts of Shailendra Suman and his team, sitting in the dark and scrambling for candles and flashlights can soon be things of the past. Shailendra’s SmartCharge bulbs don’t need grid power to work. The bulbs have the ability to store energy from the power grid and use it when they need it, even if the grid is offline at the time.

SmartCharge LED light bulbs are created to fit into existing lamps and fixtures just like any other LED replacement bulb.

The surprise comes when the power goes out. What happens then depends on what the light was doing when the power went out. If the light was turned off, then it stays off until you switch it on. If it was turned on, then it stays on until you switch it off or the battery dies (about 4 hours). That’s the beauty of this bulb. Unlike traditional safety lighting, the SmartCharge bulb can sense the state of the power grid as well as the state of the switch. Most safety lights only have the ability to sense when the connection to the power grid is lost and then they turn on automatically and stay on until power is restored or their battery dies.

For people who live in areas with frequent or lengthy power outages, this technology could be life changing. Installing these competitively priced bulbs in lamps and fixtures throughout the home is definitely something to consider. SmartCharge bulbs use only 5 watts of power, so they save plenty on electrical costs during day-to-day use. And they are expected to last up to 25 years before needing replacement. The included rechargeable batteries can be charged up to 400 times before needing replacement, too. With a price point of around $35 or less, these bulbs are a sure bet to be one of the best and most competitive, lighting innovations of the year.

If you are one of the unfortunate souls who live in areas that experience power outages frequently, do yourself a favor and consider picking up some SmartCharge bulbs when they hit the market in April of 2014 and save your household countless hours of crashing, smashing, cursing, and whining in the dark.

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