Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Inventors of Blue LED’s Wins Nobel Prize

Two Japanese and one American recently won physics Nobel Prize for inventing blue light emitting diode. Before this invention, scientists had already invented green and red LEDs, but blue LED was needed and researchers were working for almost 30 year for creating the same. But the question arises here is why this invention was awarded a physics Nobel Prize? What is the importance of LEDs in our day to day life? Well the answer is clear; LED’s are energy efficient, durable and produces more light. Soon they will replace all the traditional light bulbs.   

LED’s have been in use since the time of their invention. There was a time when these advanced lighting options were only installed in high end cars. But now the picture is different. LED’s have become an essential part of households too due to their various advantages. 

Professors Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura created the first blue LEDs in the early 1990s. Although this was not the beginning (as discussed earlier red and green LED’s were already there in the markets) but this invention was necessary as white LED’s were really needed. 

Big companies were trying to make the same but they failed but this trio tried again and again and eventually succeeded. 

Today blue LEDs are everywhere. With 20% of world’s electricity is used for lighting, it is estimated that optimal use of LED lights could reduce the same to 4%.

Have a look at this LED Infographic:


For buying energy efficient LED lights, visit Auto LED Shop today!


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Wednesday, November 19, 2014

UK Automobile Industry Facts and Statistics [Infographic]

On average, the UK produces 1.5 million cars and commercial vehicles and over 2.5 million engines. Of these, around 80% of vehicles and 70% of engines are sold overseas. 

Buying patterns are shifting towards smaller, more fuel-efficient models, with "supermini" vehicles taking the largest market share of 35.9%.

With this infographic, created by Auto LED Shop, we are sharing some of the interesting facts and statistics about UK automobile industry. Don’t forget to hit the share buttons.




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Thursday, November 6, 2014

How To Restore Yellow HID Headlights?

Have your HID headlight giving off cloudy, hazy and a yellowish light lately? Well, it’s about the time that you restore them. HID headlights can get damaged due to constant exposure to environmental pollutants. Further, the constant heat produced when they are powered on can result in discoloration and degradation of plastic headlight lenses. HID or High Intensity Discharge beam units always operate on a very high temperature and this intensity can easily result in degradation of the interior coating. Additionally, road debris, harmful UV rays from the sun, acid rains and toxic pollutants in the air can enhance the problem. In many cases, HID headlights can become unsafe for the road wherein you encounter an extremely low visibility condition.

While the way out will be to take proper care of the HID headlights after they have been installed, sometimes, you also need to go for a restoration. Following very simple steps, anyone can do a HID restoration within minutes.

It is important to note that HID headlights are very expensive and unless you happen to be a millionaire, restoration sounds easier compared to complete replacement. The plastic casing itself costs a couple thousand dollars. Restoration on the other hand can save you as much as $1000, depending on the severity of damage, the make of the HID headlight and the car model. 

Just follow these easy steps:

HID headlight restoration can get your lights to normal functioning conditions. The restoration process is meant to fix all the surface damages and increase the visibility through the plastic. Even with serious hazing and abrasion of the plastic, restoration can be of good use.

In case the damage is minimal, the problem can be fixed by polishing the headlight plastic casing. This should wipe out all the pollutants that have been deposited all this time. To start off, test a part of the plastic with plastic polish. To do so, dab a soft cloth in tartar control toothpaste (readily available in some households) and apply on the plastic. Note that regular toothpaste will be more abrasive. If you find that the process is actually working, go on to the other areas on the plastic casing. You may also use other polishing materials like the Meguiar’s PlastX.

(Never use products/cleaning solutions that are meant to use for glass windows. They will enhance the damage and the plastic will turn more yellow)

In case, toothpaste doesn’t work, you might want to try with a sand-paper polish and subsequent re-polish for a clean smooth surface.

Step 1: Always wear latex gloves before taking out the HID headlight carefully from the case/socket and clean it gently by rubbing alcohol. Always make sure that the bulb is cold before you apply any alcohol (the car should have been powered of for sometime).

Step 2: Clean the headlight case using soft cloth dipped in soap water.

Step 3: Cover the headlight lens with painter’s masking tape to ensure that no damage comes to the car’s paint.

Step 4: Apply soap water to your headlight lens and depending upon the intensity of the damage, clean them with ‘2000 grit sand-paper’. If the damage is excessive, you might have to use ‘600 grit sandpaper’. It is important that every HID headlight owner keeps a range of sand paper in the garage. These products are cheap and come in quite handy.

Step 5: Re-glaze the surface with plastic polish using foam or wool.

Step 6: Apply seal wax to finish off the process.



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