After many months of hard work our new website is now live.

This replaces our old SCL Direct website to enhance our customer experience. We are going to be constantly updating products and product information throughout January with many new exciting products and great features to our new website.

What if you were a previous customer?

If you are a current customer of SCL Direct all your account details and previous orders have been migrated over for you, simply login to your account using your email address and password, if you don’t know your password (which we found to be a bug in our old website that many people didn’t receive the auto generated password) then simply click on the forgot password link and a email will be sent with your password and login details.

Currently we have migrated all Categories with the same URL links as our previous website so any bookmarks you have will be valid, however many products have newly generated URLs which we are working on modifying to match the old website.

As a previous registered user of SCL Direct you have been signed up to our newsletter which will be sent out once per month starting January. Should you wish not to receive any such emails from us either login to your account and unsubscribe from our newsletter or click on the unsubscribe link on our first newsletter.

We hope you enjoy our new website and welcome any feedback to info@scldirect.co.uk

To finish we would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year and look forward to helping and supplying you in 2011.

Many thanks for your business and support.

SCL Direct. (E.L Ltd)

ecommerce website · magento · new website · SCL Direct · steel city lighting

A lot of people often ask us “what is a Lumen?” This is a measurement of light and describing the measurement of light is, by nature, a complex thing. In order to understand what a lumen actually measures, you need to understand a little about how light has been measured historically.
Lumens
The technical definition of lumen is this: A lumen is the standard measurement for a unit of luminous flux, a measure of the perceived power of light. Unlike radiant flux, which measures the total amount of light energy put out by a light source, luminous flux measures the amount of light that can be perceived by the human eye.

A way of defining this is to imagine that you are standing in the centre of a sphere with a radius of 1 meter. You are holding a candle. Take a square of cardboard that measures 1 metre on all sides and put it against the wall of the sphere so that the edges rest against the wall. One lumen is the amount of light that falls on that square of cardboard. The more candles you light at the centre of the sphere, the more lumens you are shining on the cardboard, and the brighter the light is.

But how does that translate to the lighting measurements that we’re used to? Most people are familiar with incandescent light bulbs that are measured in watts. While it seems to make sense that the higher wattage you use, the brighter the light you get, it’s not really the way that it works. That’s because watts and lumens measure two very different things. A watt is a unit of electrical energy, in other words, input. A lumen is a measure of light intensity output. More simply an incandescent light bulb uses watts to make lumens.

A standard 100 watt incandescent lamp uses 100 watts of power to put out about 1330 lumens, or about 13 lumens per watt (13 lm/w). We’ve known a while that it’s not a very efficient way to produce light. By contrast, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which are a common replacement for incandescent lamps, can produce 60 lumens per watt, an example being a GE Biax Extra Mini CFL. This 20 watt power consumption lamp emits 1,200 lumens and is fairly typical of a modern CFL.

So when choosing a lamp, while wattage can be considered for power consumption always look for the lumens output. The higher the lumens per watt ratio (wattage divided by lumens output) the more energy efficient the lamp is.

Lumens per watt chart for typical domestic lamps.

SCL Direct will wherever possible always give a lumens output for all our lamps. This will enable you to make a comparison of light output and to determine the lumens per watt ratio for energy efficiency.

light measurement · Lighting · lumen

A few months ago we received an enquiry from a warehouse owner who wanted more energy efficient lighting for his furniture storage warehouse. The client was wanting to upgrade his existing lighting through The  Carbon Trust 0% business loan scheme. The Carbon Trust is a not-for-profit company with the mission to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy.
After a telephone call to our office, the warehouse owner faxed through a hand drawn plan of the warehouse. We set to work in designing a lighting scheme and specifying lighting products using our in house staff that would enable him to reduce his carbon footprint with a lighting solution that worked. Within a few days with constant contact between both sides the the job was done.

A 2 x 80 watt T5 fluorescent batten with high frequency dimming control gear with a microwave PIR sensor and a angled reflector was used for this project. This item is not on our website on as a standard item, We have had it made to specification here in Yorkshire. Not all our products are from the Far East, as with with this product they are manufactured in the UK using quality British and European components.

A competitive quotation,lighting scheme and product data sheets was then sent to the customer for approval by the Carbon Trust for his business loan.

This week SCL Direct are delighted to announce that everything was approved for the customer by the Carbon Trust and his lights are currently in the process of being manufactured. We look forward to seeing the lighting installed and working towards a greener future.

For a great range of Industrial Lighting Products and support contact www.scldirect.co.uk

carbon trust · energy efficient lighting · energy saving · industrial lighting · warehouse

South Yorkshire police are advising local people to invest in external floodlights if they are seeking to bulk up their current home security systems this winter.

“The prospect of longer winter nights can make us worry more about crime and personal safety. Many people will be returning home from work, school, shopping etc to find homes in darkness and we can feel more vulnerable in the dark especially those who live alone.”

Experts are advising that floodlights, when installed correctly can add an attractive feature to your property and will illuminate dark spots and shadows around your home allowing you to see anyone approaching your home.

Good lighting is an excellent way to deter a thief, this is because it makes offenders feel vulnerable and observed. There are many types of external security lights available and range in price significantly. From a Crime Prevention Officers point of view I recommend fitting exterior lights with dusk to dawn sensors. These are light sensitive and come on when it gets dark and turn themselves off when it gets light.

As the winter months draw in, it is tempting to purchase the brightest lights you can find from leading DIY stores that are up to 500 Watts, but we advise people that many energy saving alternatives can be purchased and will reduce the risk you run of upsetting your neighbours, or even worse recreating Blackpool illuminations!”

Energy saving alternatives are a much more environmentally friendly way of approaching home security and sodium and metal halide floodlights are a much better option for home use as they only omit between 70 and 150 Watts of power. For business premises, floodlights with motion sensors are a great solution, as they are much more cost effective than having lights that are left on all night, as this can cost businesses up to £10 a night in electricity bills.

Despite these products being of a much lower wattage, they can be up to three times brighter than their traditional 500 Watt counterparts. At SCL Direct we understand that security floodlights are an excellent way of deterring criminals, but we offer ways of adding security to your home without adding to your electric bills!

For business use, energy saving floodlights and these two are available in outputs of just 26 watts, and are inexpensive at around £20 per unit.”

There is no doubt that security lighting products can deter would-be burglars and it is also an effective means of reducing the fear of crime especially amongst vulnerable groups. Just the peace of mind generated by fitting external security lighting to the outside of your home can make it a worthwhile investment.

It is important to remember that selecting the appropriate position for your lighting is crucial, they should be positioned out of arms reach so that they cannot be disabled or destroyed by intruders.

deter burglary · deter thieves · Floodlights · security lighting · south yorkshire police

Here at SCL Direct we are always looking for ways to provide better products at no extra cost to the customer. A way we have managed to do this recently is to provide a quality Venture branded 28,000 hour expected life lamp with all our ever popular 70 watt SON floodlights and wallpacks. Whilst a lot of other online lighting stores supply cheap unbranded 10,000 or at the most 12,000 hour life lamps with their products. We thought we would give the customer more, nearly three times much more in some cases.

This lamp still has the same light output as other SON lamps, 5,300 lumens which is the equivalent to a over a 300 watt tungsten halogen lamp. Sodium lighting often referred to as SON or HPS (high pressure sodium) is one of the most economical ways of all night lighting for running and maintenance costs. The 70 watt SON lamp now supplied with all SCL Direct floodlights and wallpacks has a 83 lumens per watt output, this exceeds the requirements of the Building regulations Part L1 which states 40 lumens per watt is energy efficient by over double the guidelines.

SCL Direct – A little extra goes a long way
Contact SCL Direct for all the latest offers on Floodlights, Security Lighting and Emergency Lighting.

No tags

As one of the leading online stores for industrial and commercial lighting SCL Direct offer a free live help chat service. If, whilst browsing our large range of floodlights, you would like to know if you need a 150 watt Metal Halide or 400 watt sodium floodlight to light up your car park simply click on live help and ask. We are online every week day and sometimes in the evening and weekends.

Live help is usually monitored by our Product Manager, Matt Priest. He has nearly 20 years of electrical wholesale and lighting trade experience. If he cannot answer your question immediately he will call or email you back within 24 hours. His current immediate answer rate is 95%, so room for improvement!

Live chat cannot just be used for technical questions, please use this instant reply service for anything from stock enquires to order progressing. If we are not online when you want to ask us a question, simply leave a message and we will respond within 24 hours.

A little extra customer service goes along way….

Customer Service · Floodlights · Lighting · Live Help

If you are on the lookout for some great bargains on lighting products check out SCL Direct Clearance Lighting Corner.

Here are some of the bargains to be found in the Clearance Corner this week, here are a list of some of the products available at discounted prices with the links to the products.

Clearance Decorative Lighting
Clearance decorative lighting for bathroom,lounge and dining room at less than trade and wholesale price.
Chrome Triple Head IP44 Bathroom Light Only £17
Illuminated Bathroom/Bedroom Mirror – Only £40

Clearance Reccessed Downlights
Recessed downlights including GU10 mains and MR16 low voltage priced to sell.
240v 35w GU10 IP65 Downlight (3 Pack) – Only £15

Clearance Garden and External Lighting
All our garden and external lighting is limited stock on a first come,first served basis. Many items are ex display or from a discontinued line.
Buy LED Decking Light Kit – Set of 5 – Only £22

To see the full range of clearance lighting visit the Clearance Corner.

SCL Direct have a full range of Floodlights, Emergency Lighting, Security and Home and Garden Lighting, visit http://www.scldirect.co.uk to see the full range.

cheap lighting · clearance lighting · lighting discounts

With the increase in sales on our Metal Halide Floodlights range we have now created a category specially for this range of Floodlighting.

You can find the new category here: http://www.scldirect.co.uk/metal-halide-floodlights.html

Over the coming weeks SCL Direct will be bringing you a range of product reviews and updates to our blog, keep checking back.

In the mean time if you have any questions or lighting requirements SCL Direct can help with Floodlighting, Emergency Lighting, Security lighting and much more, you could also visit our Home and Garden Lighting website at www.onlights.co.uk

Floodlights · garden lighting · metal halide · security lighting