Gas prices are fabulous—right now. We all know it is only a matter of time before the gas prices creep back up and we will once again be forced to pull from other areas of our monthly budget to afford to drive our vehicles. Many people have already made the switch to electric cars in an attempt to save money on their gas bills while reducing the strain on natural resources. There are plenty of different models of electric cars available that are sure to suit your needs. When you make an electric car purchase, you will likely also buy a charging station for you car. An electrician in Pasadena has some vital information for you. The team at The Electric Connection can also help answer questions about the electrical requirements of your electric car charging station.

When you buy your car, you will have the choice to buy a Level I or a Level II charging station. A Level I station is essentially a trickle charger. It sends a small charge to your car and can take upwards of 24 hours to fully charge the car. This charging station can be plugged into a standard outlet. However, it will need to be the only item plugged into that outlet and should be on its own breaker. If you need additional outlets or breakers, your electrician can take care of that for you.

A Level II charger is a fast charging system that typically fully charges a car in about 8 hours. This charging station requires a 240-volt outlet, which is not standard in your garage. It is a special outlet that will require installation by an electrician experienced with Pasadena electrical requirements. An inspection of your breaker panel will need to be conducted to make sure you have room for an additional breaker dedicated to your fast charging station. These are all things your electrician will evaluate on the first call. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your consultation.

The warm weather has finally arrived and it looks like we have a good summer ahead of us. This is also the time when the electrical bills start to heat up as well. But keeping your house cool doesn’t need to cost you a fortune. Ceiling fans are an easy way to keep your thermostat up and your electrical bills down. Here are some summer maintenance tips for to get your ceiling fan moving its best.

Overtime a ceiling fan’s blades can collect dust. Once dust has accumulated on the blades, it can become airborne during use. This either spreads the dust through the air, which is not enjoyable for anyone in the room, or it can be sucked into the motor. If to much dust is drawn into the motor it can result in shaking and cause the motor to run hot. This can lead to an expensive repair bills down the road. Dust, vacuum, or use a damp rag to clean the blades every couple of weeks to prevent this build up and keep your fan clean.

Most machines with moving parts require lubrication on a regular basis. Older ceiling fans require lubrication while newer fans are self-lubricating. If you are unsure whether your fan requires lubrication, check the owner’s manual. If your fan is not properly lubricated the motor can become damaged and cause electrical fires.

When starting up your fan for the summer, there are several problems that can generate because of lack of maintenance:

Ceiling fans can be one of the most cost effect ways to keep your home cool this summer.

We often find there is a lot of confusion between Lumens and Foot Candles and Lux. And even more confusing is how some represent conversion from traditional light sources like Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium in terms of watts, and not lumens. So why all the confusion. Well, it may be because those who represent this conversion are trying to avoid letting you know about the efficiency of the LED lights, so they claim you can replace X watts of Metal Halide with X watts of LED. What they should really say is that you can replace a 400W Metal Halide with X lumens, and their lights only need Y watts to produce these lumens. We’ll dive into this a little later, but lets first talk about lumens vs foot candles vs lux.

What is a lumen? A lumen is a measurement of light related to (1) fixture or bulb. So when we talk about lumens, we say that a fixture or bulb creates (X) lumens. These lumens are determined by sophisticated measurement equipment.

What is a foot candle? A foot candle is a unit of measurement at a specific location in a room or outdoor location that is created by 1 to many lights. It is a cumulative reading of 1 to many light sources at a specific location. It is both real and calculated. Real in the sense that you can take a light meter and walk to any location in a room or outdoor location and take a reading that represents the amount of light recorded from all contributing lights or fixtures. Calculated in the sense that you can use software to predict the foot candles of a space based on the placement of lights within the simulation.

What is lux? Lux is identical to foot candles. It is a measurement of real or calculated light, but it is done on a different scale. As a rough estimate, 1 foot candle = 10 lux.

So, simply stated, lights produces lumens, and the cumulative lumens of all lights are then determine the foot candle or lux measurement of light at a specific point in an indoor or outdoor space.