Monday, September 29, 2014

HID Lights - Applications and Other Uses

High Intensity Discharge lights or HID lights are well-known for its use among automobiles. Despite the huge cost of purchasing, installing and repairing, more and more motorists choose to replace their former headlamps. But besides providing better illumination during night time rides with your car, HID lights also have other beneficial uses. Not surprisingly, all related to exorcising the darkness from every corner its beams reach.
HID lamps are used mostly when huge amounts of light are needed to brighten up a wide and large area. Thus, football stadiums and other public sports arenas typically line themselves with HID lights, allowing possible sports matches even in the evenings. If you have warehouse or stockroom that needs brilliant lighting, HID lights are a good choice. Since the power consumption of these lamps are considerably less than other types of lighting, you get better lighting that eats less electricity. Actually, airports usually use HID lights to aid the landing and taxiing of aircraft, carefully showing the boundaries of the plane tracks. Without such powerful lighting, no crazy resident would dare reside near any airport terminal in fear of the pilot steering the airplane over his backyard.
Indoor gardens with plants that need intense amount of sunlight also make sure of this kind of lighting. Indeed, having lush fauna in the comfort of your home has been made possible with HID lights. This type of light is especially beneficial to plants that require lots of quality time with the tropical sun. In fact, compared with lamps that are fluorescent or even incandescent, HID lamps are more effective overall. With a given amount of electricity input, the amount of light produced is much greater.
Automobiles are the most common recipients of the benefits of using HID lights. But not only to cars and trucks, since HID lamps produce a great degree of light in proportion to electricity, it is now possible to for these lights to give off a decent intensity of light even with a small power source. Thus, strong headlamps for bicycles are now possible, sitting prettily either on the front handle bars or perched on the biker's mounted helmet. Portable lights such as flashlights also are examples of taking advantage of the small power supply needed to shine HID lights.
The efficacy of having better lighting with less the energy requirement makes HID lights viable replacements to other lamps. The high cost of these lights is negated by the long lifespan and durability of high intensity discharge lights.
A Computer Engineering student and loves to travel. Reading current news in the internet is one of his past times. Taking pictures of the things around him fully satisfies him. He loves to play badminton and his favorite pets are cats.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Wireless Vs Bluetooth Telephone Headsets - Which Is Better

Wireless DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) headsets and Bluetooth headsets have many similarities. Both allow you to move around your office without being tethered to your desk and both talk to base cradles. Most confusing is both wireless and Bluetooth headsets are often referred to as "cordless" or "wireless"!
Wireless and Bluetooth headsets also have some significant differences. These differences do not make one better than the other but may make one type of headset better for your particular situation or office environment. This article discusses the differences between wireless and Bluetooth headsets to help you decide which one is best for you.
The Differences
The first difference to consider is RANGE. A Wireless headset has a range of 100 metres. A Bluetooth headset only has an official range of 10 metres and can be as low as 5 metres in an office environment. So if you expect to be a reasonable distance from your desk whilst talking on your headset then wireless will be the clear winner for you.
These distances are influenced by your office environment. Your walls (and what they are made out of) may reduce the actual range that you can achieve. If your office is open plan and you have a good line of sight to your desk from a distance then your headset may work from further away than the official figures indicate.
The next major difference is CONNECTIVITY. In general a wireless headset can only connect to a single telephone base cradle - although with some models you can have several headsets simultaneously connected to the same base. A Bluetooth headset can connect with up to 7 different devices (including its telephony base cradle).
Handset Lifters
You can purchase mechanical handset lifters for all Bluetooth and wireless headsets. Many headset manufacturers even have Electronic Hook Switch (EHS) cables for some phones. Both of these technologies allow you to answer telephone calls while you are away from your desk. Handset lifters are fitted on your telephone underneath the handset and the EHS cables are plugged in to your telephone.
When your phone rings your headset beeps at you. Simply pressing a button on your headset causes the handset lifter to rise which in turn causes the handset to rise and allows you to talk with the caller. You press the button again at the end of the call and the handset lifter lowers the handset back onto the telephone hanging up the call.
A lifter for a wireless headset will work with the same brand of Bluetooth headset. This means it can be re-used if you happen to change cordless headset types.
Troubleshooting
In the "bad old days" there were some problems with both Bluetooth and wireless headsets but these issues have long since been resolved. These days if you choose a quality brand such as Plantronics, Sennheiser or Jabra you will find that any of their wireless or Bluetooth headsets will be very reliable.
The most common problem that occurs now with both Bluetooth and wireless headset models is "loss of pairing". This is where the headset top stops communicating with the base unit. In my experience this issue normally only occurs if the base unit loses power while the headset is not in its cradle which is quite rare. When this does happen you cannot use your headset until the problem is fixed which can be very annoying! The problem can be easily resolved so there's no need to stress. You simply need to make sure that the headset is charged then re-establish the pairing (connectivity).
The pairing procedure is different for each headset model. If you can't find the pairing instructions that came with your headset at the time of purchase you should be able to obtain a copy of the document from your headset supplier or from the manufacturer's web site. Normally the pairing process involves a few simple steps such as rebooting the base unit then holding down a button or series of buttons for several seconds until the status lights shows the 2 parts are paired ("talking") again. Normally the entire procedure should be completed within one minute and you will be back in action!
Conclusion
Don't think of wireless and Bluetooth as competing technologies. Just look at your own situation and environment and choose the technology that works best for you. If you will be a long distance from your workstation whilst talking on your headset then you need a DECT wireless headset. If you will always be within 10 metres of your workstation and you have more than one Bluetooth device that you want to connect your headset to (e.g. laptop or mobile) then choose a Bluetooth headset. I hope this article makes it easier for you to select a suitable headset.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Car HID Lights

Car HID lights are normally fixed in front of the car which help in increasing visibility in time of low light illumination. The high intensity discharge lights helps in enhancing visibility especially on the roads where street lighting is not available. Most of the cars of this brand are fixed with the full HID kit therefore; you do not need to fix them later. Sometimes you may not be comfortable with the way the HID light bulbs have been fitted in your car due to their sizes and shapes, therefore you can alter them to fit your standards since they are readily available in the market.

Unlike the old HID head lamps, which used to use oil, the modern head lamps use electric power where the light is produced after an electric arc is struck across the electrodes. The electric lamps were introduced later after the introduction of the oil lamps. Currently most vehicles in the market use the HID lights that provide better light intensity, which use low power consumption as compared to a normal halogen lamp. Many people have opted for the use of the car HID lights for their car since they have helped in reducing accidents due to lack of street lighting, commonly available in city streets.

To enhance road visibility and clear driving in dark roads where street lighting is not available you can rely on your car HID lights for clear visibility on the roads. You can decide to use the halogen head lamps or use the high intensity discharge lamps, which are brighter and have low energy consumption rate. They are commonly used since they offer superior lighting that is within the needed spectrum of visible light which is so helpful to your eyes while driving since you can see the road clearly avoiding accidents due to lack of clear visibility on the road.

Car HID lights are commonly installed once the car has been produced
before it is released in the market. Once an HID kit is fixed in your car, it enhances its looks attracting customers due to the good lighting bulbs, which are found in different sizes, shape and color too. Automakers are free to design head lamps, which will match with your car unlike the ones you, buy in the market, which you find sometimes not matching with your car. One of the most common shapes of headlamps used in the market is the rectangular shape, which does not match with most small cars that is why they are produced in different shapes.

Monday, September 22, 2014

How Does HID Lighting Work

HID, or high definition, lamps are typically required when high levels of light are needed to cover large areas. They are the lights you see at ballgames and theme parks, at stadiums and in gyms.
There is a high demand for HID lamps because of their efficiency on a wide scale and their ability to clearly cover huge areas. They come in several versions: mercury vapor lamps, metal halide lamps, and standard high-pressure sodium lights.
Mercury vapor lamps were the first commercially available high definition lamps (HID). They are swiftly becoming outdated by newer more efficient counterparts like high-pressure sodium lamps and metal halide lamps.
High-pressure sodium lamps generally emit a more yellowish light, but are available with whiter light. They are usually the most efficient, and thus most commonly used, type of HID light. Metal halide lamps produce a beautifully white, natural light, but are also less efficient.
How do HID lamps produce light?
High intensity discharge lamps produce light when the gases inside the fused alumina tube are heated to the point of evaporation. Tungsten electrodes are kept in the alumina tube, and when the metal elements begin to heat up, they strike the tungsten electrodes, creating an arc of light.
Similar to fluorescent lights, HID lamps need a ballast (a device used to start gas discharge in a lamp and limit the flow of electrical current) to even start producing heat. If they don't have the ballast, the reaction won't begin, and there won't be any light.
What are tungsten electrodes?
Tungsten is a chemical element that is known for its high melting point and robust physical characteristics. It is used widely in electrical applications like lighting because of these properties. It is a hard, non-alloy metal that ranges in color from steel gray to tin white. It is shaped, or "drawn" into the very thin metal wires you see inside a light bulb.
What applications are there for HID lamps?
There are numerous applications for HID. They are in high demand in areas that require lots of lights, like stadiums, football fields, warehouses, parking lots, roadways, sidewalks, and more.
However, they have come into habitual use in smaller areas as well, such as department stores, houses, indoor gardening, and a number of other applications. Because of their bright, natural light, HID lamps can also cause those extra bright headlights blinding you across the road.
They are such a powerful light source, in fact, that high definition lights have come into use on the airbus 380- super jumbo airplane.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Enhance The Performance Of Our Car's Lighting With Projector HID Kits

The first and foremost motto of all car owners is to get desired performance from their vehicles. This desired driving performance is obtained from all parts and accessories of a car; lighting segment is one of them as it ensures drivers drive smoothly on dark roads. When it comes to having desired results with least efforts, car owners need to get rid of their existing lights that are dull, non-performing and damaged and replace them with projector HID lights. The power of these lights focus into an area on the road. The efficient use of projector HID lights is good as these lights are brighter and have a different color temp than a regular bulb.
Enhancement of the performance of your car's lighting with projector HID kits is a good solution for car owners who want to give a new meaning to their night time driving. High intensity discharge (HID) headlights offer more visible light than fluorescent and incandescent lights. The use of these lights makes drivers feel safe and comfortable when they take out your vehicle on the road. That is why projector HID kits render the best lighting solutions in a friendly manner.
Striking features of the kit:
  • The kit is a complete lighting package available with bulb, ballast, wires and accessories for instant replacement and improvement,
  • The kit owns 3 types of colors (6000K Aqua Blue, 8000K Deep Blue and 10000K Violet Purple) and 8 types of headlamps,
  • The bulbs inside the kits have UV-blocking quartz glass,
  • These bulbs are directly interchangeable,
  • The kit renders unique head lighting solutions, and
  • The kit definitely enhances the visibility and drivers' comfort.
Benefits of using the kit for enhancing outer appearance and upgrading the performance of vehicles of all sizes and types are:
  • Bulbs available in the kit offer 300% brighter than standard bulbs or halogen lights,
  • They have 10 times longer life than halogen lights,
  • They are known for less energy consumption; 50% lower,
  • These bulbs have a life span of up to 2,500 hours almost equal to car's life,
  • These bulbs offer ultimate light output with good penetration,
  • The use of these bulbs ensure a perfect combination of light output and brightness, and
  • Projector head lights are very comfortable for night time driving.
People interested in giving their cars a new and improved look with the exceptional lighting output can make a real difference to their vehicles when they go for an accomplished kit having 2 HID bulbs, 2 HID ballasts, mounting hardware, wire harness and step-by-step online installation guide.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

HID Lighting Basics - Why HID Is Better Than Incandescent Lighting

When man invents new things that make his life better, we know he is only headed for a brighter future. The invention of high intensity discharge or HID lighting is an example that shows just how far he has come from the time incandescent or fluorescent bulbs were created. For home or business use, HID lights have proven to be far more efficient than any other type of lighting invented in history. This is why more and more people are making the shift as they hear from users about the advantages of this invention. From homes to night clubs to industrial plants to automobiles, HID lights are now most preferred and used by an increasing number of people.
So what makes HID technology deserve all of these raves from consumers? There are a number of things, but its most important advantage is cost and energy efficiency. To see just how energy-efficient HID bulbs are, you need to understand how they and incandescent bulbs function. To get an incandescent bulb to work, electric energy has to be supplied to a tungsten filament inside the bulb so that it is heated enough to glow and provide illumination. In other words, an incandescent light bulb runs basically on the electrical energy that is supplied to the tungsten filament. With continuous use, however, the filament burns out and that's the end of the incandescent bulb's lifespan.
On the other hand, HID technology does not need a filament for the bulb to glow and provide light because the bulbs' gases emit photons which are responsible for the light that is given off. HID lights are energy efficient because they do not actually run on electricity but rather on the photons emitted by these gases. Electricity will only serve to excite the gas inside the bulb to produce the light. But to keep the light shining, the gases' molecules are in-charge. HID bulbs don't have filaments that burn out, like incandescent bulbs do. This means, HID lasts way longer and burns much brighter. Combining all of these, one can expect a significant reduction in electrical consumption, and significant savings on electricity bills.
Among HID bulbs, there are three choices for the consumer - mercury vapor, metal halide and high-pressure sodium. The most efficient of these three is high-pressure sodium, which gives more of a yellowish light, followed by metal halide, whose emission closely resembles natural light and then mercury vapor which is the least efficient among the three.

Monday, September 15, 2014

The 3 Different Faces of Commercial Photo Printers

There are various types of printers in the market today, and these printers are used for a wide variety of purposes. For profitable printing activities such as the production of advertisements, studio printing of personal photos from customers, and printers for industrial materials and products, commercial photo printers are best used. There are three different faces of commercial photo printers and they are used for different industries and profitable printing activities.
Dye Sublimation Studio Printers
For studio printing, dye sublimation printers are best to use. These printers make use of dye panels which imprint photos on media using heat transfer. The sublimation process makes heat transfer from solid to gas quick and accurate. The printouts produced by these devices are of excellent quality that is why they are used for photo printing exclusively.
These printers can print various sizes of media from as small as wallet sizes to as large as 8'' x 12''. Apart from their media size flexibility, most of these printers are also very speedy. The fastest that they can print is up to 5 seconds for a borderless 4'' x 6'' photo. This makes them very ideal for use in photo printing businesses.
Large Format Photo Printers
Print advertisements in the form of banners, tarpaulins, posters, billboards, and other similar big photos and images which are posted for the public to notice are commercial tools for advertising and marketing. Have you ever wondered what printers are used for printing these ads? Large format photo printers are responsible for all of these high quality print advertisements.
Large format photo printers are inkjet printers which are engineered to be able to produce wider format printouts. The most common widths of these printers range from 11'', 13'', 24'', 44'', to 64''. These printers are made to print photos and illustrations with very high quality, so they are typically very expensive.
Flatbed Inkjet Printers
Flatbed inkjet printers are more complex than the first two printer types. This is because they are not made to print on paper alone - they can be used to print even on shaped solids like boxes, furniture, and other commercial products. Flatbed inkjet printers are what industries use to print on their products. These are very important because companies need to leave their marks on the products that they sell, and what better way to do this than by imprinting their logo on each and every product that they manufacture?
Since they are industrial printers, they are quite big and they have many moving parts. These make them flexible and versatile enough to cover for all of the product printing needs of companies, industries, and businesses. The use of flatbed inkjet printers has made it much easier for many industries to create high quality prints on their different manufactured products including irregularly shaped and three-dimensional items.
Conclusion
These different commercial photo printers will help you identify which device your industry or business really needs. These are very big investments, though, and you need to be definite in making a purchase to put your capital to good use.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Innovative Implementations of Rackmount LCD Monitors

Technology has to go into some unusual places. It's fun to find out how people have taken a technical solution such as a rackmount LCD and found a way to implement it in a unique situation. This article describes a couple of ways to use these devices in a manner you may not have previously considered.
Ask any IT person where they use a rackmount LCD monitor and they will probably tell you that they are used to support and monitor servers located in a datacenter. The monitor is normally mounted inside a server cabinet or rack. When combined with a keyboard/monitor/trackball device and KVM system they offer reduced power and space requirements over assigning a monitor and keyboard to each computer system. Instead, one rackmount LCD is used to manage several computers.
Now that you understand that these devices save space, energy and money, your mind may start thinking about where you could use this type of solution. Here are some ways others have put the rackmount LCD to use.
People who love gadgets enjoy figuring out ways to put technology to use. Sometimes an idea to solve a connectivity problem at home turns into a great technical innovation for use by the military, commercial industry or in health care. Below are some odd locations people positioned a rackmount LCD monitor.
High Tech Fishing -If you are a fisherman you probably are aware of a number of different gadgets available on the market. Some devices are sonar based depth finders or combination fish/depth finders or mapping applications working in conjunction with GPS are a couple of high tech gadgets available to the sport fisherman.
Commercial fishermen make use of the same types of solutions, but on a larger scale. Some commercial fishing companies even have full blown servers onboard. These servers and supporting rackmount LCD devices may be housed in a cabinet or mounted directly to shelves or cabinets within the vessel.
At the Target Range-Each branch of the military makes use of computers and advanced technology. One of the first places computers were put to work was within the training of soldiers, sailors and marines. This really came in handy on the target range. A server running a scoring application and a rackmount LCD is installed in a secured cabinet to the rear of the line of fire. This application tracks the hits as the soldier fire at targets downrange. The range officer can view the scores simply and safely behind

Friday, September 5, 2014

The Top 3 Effects Pedals (Almost) Every Guitarist Needs

When setting up your guitar pedal board, you are more than likely to spend hours and hours in the shop trying to decide which pedals you need in order to pull an awesome sound with your guitar/amp combination.
As tempting as it is to buy every pedal in the shop, you will most likely only be able to afford a few pedals when starting out.
So to help, here is a list of the top 3 pedals every guitarist needs.
  1. Tuner: A tuner is the most important pedal in my opinion. If you aren't playing in tune, than it's going to sound bad full stop. One of my favourite tuners is a bright Korg LED style tuner. A really simple tuner that is really easy to see when you look down at your board. There is nothing worse than no being able to read the tuner when it's dark on stage.
  2. Overdrive Pedal: I once heard a guitarist say, "A good overdrive pedal is like a favorite pair of old jeans." This is true in so many ways. A good overdrive pedal should be a staple part of the guitarists tone. Classic examples of this pedal include the Ibanez Tube Screamer and the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff. A few more modern effects pedals incorporate valves, but usually these still run at voltages that are too low for the valve, resulting in a "starved plate" configuration that generates harsh and buzzy distortion. Distortion pedals usually also provide signal gain, which can be used to drive the input stage of the pre-amplifier harder, resulting in further distortion and, in some cases, higher volume.
  3. Delay Pedal: A delay takes a sound and repeats it back without altering its tone or pitch, like an echo. You can alter the time between each repetition, measured in thousandths of a second, or milliseconds. Available in Analogue or Digital. The most obvious example is The Edge of U2, whose classic guitar parts couldn't have been written without a delay pedal.
In summary, there is no right or wrong when choosing guitar pedals. One of my favourite aspects of the music industry, is that someone is always trying something new and breaking the 'traditional' rules. That being said, with these 3 pedals you should be able to pull most good sounds with the right amp/guitar combination.
The Daily Guitar aims to provide news, updates and inspiration for guitarists of all levels. Whether you are just starting out, or your a seasoned pro, this website exists for you.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Toner Cartridge and Printer Review for HP Laser Jet M1130

The HP Laser Jet M1130 is not quite an all in one printer. It is intended for personal office use and is not very bulky measuring 9.8"x10.1"x16.3". It will do your printing and copying without issue, but does not have the capability to send or receive faxes. This printer has a full legal sized scanning screen, which should accommodate any of the scanning needs you may have. This printer is unfortunately only capable of one task at a time. Another unfortunate aspect of this printer is that it consumes high amounts of energy, both when actively printing and when on standby.
The HP Laser Jet M1130 uses a toner cartridge for laser printing. The toner for HP Laser Jet M1130 prints strictly in black and can print up to 1600 pages before needing to be changed. If you are looking for a toner for HP you can buy generic brands or a toner cartridge manufactured by HP. The generic brands of toner cartridge will save you about half the cost, and will still print approximately 1600 pages.
You can find a toner cartridge for your printer at any computer or office supply store which carries toner for HP or HP products in general. The toner cartridge for this printer is model CE285a. You could ask for it at a super store or at an office supply store. If you are not one who likes to go out to shopping, you can look it up on your favorite search engine or online shopping site. The retail cost for a cartridge of toner for HP Laser Jet M1130 ranges from $15 to $75 depending on the capacity of the cartridge and the manufacturer of the cartridge. Depending on what you are using the printer for, you will not need to by the toner for HP Laser Jet M1130 very often. If you are using the printer at home, for just your everyday needs, you will take a quite a long time to print 1600 pages from your printer. With home use, it is unlikely that you would need to change the toner cartridge more than once a year, and likely not even that frequently.
If you are in search of an appropriate printer for your needs, this HP Laser Jet may be a good option for you. If this happens to be the printer which you choose, make sure that you purchase the correct toner for HP Laser Jet M1130. Many of the toner cartridges appear the same, but have slight differences which would cause them not to fit or work appropriately with your printer. The toner is your ink, and without the correct toner, your printer will be useless. While it uses high amounts of energy, and can only perform only one function at a time, it is a good quality printer, and perfect for your home office. The only flaw in this printer for small business office use is that it is not able to be connected to a network.