New LED system introduced for holiday illumination
By Joanne Foxjfox@siouxcityjournal.com | Posted: Saturday, November 15, 2008
Bill Kahler poses at his Dakota Dunes home which is illuminated with the ChannelBrite outdoor LED lighting system. (Staff photo by Jim Lee)
DAKOTA DUNES, S.D. -- Imagine having holiday lighting with just the touch of a keypad.
No more cold hands. No more unmanageable strings. No more shaky ladders. No more ascending to the rafters of one's house.
A new business has created a solution to address all of those challenges -- to customize a lighting system to one's home; to make it permanent; and to keep it discreet when not in use.
The ChannelBrite Permanent Outdoor LED Lighting System, with headquarters in Roland, Iowa, is installed in a permanent "rail" near a home's trim in a hue that blends with a home's color. Bill Kahler, who is a dealer for ChannelBrite, has the lights installed on his Union County home and they are almost invisible, unless you know what you're looking for.
"Just standing and looking at the house, it's very difficult to pick out the lights," he said, pointing to their exact location. "That's one of the strengths of this system; it blends in perfectly with your home."
Add to that the joy of never having to scale the peaks of your home, never worrying about a burned-out bulb and never having to take them down. All of that was plus for Sioux City homeowners Mike and Sherry Nash who learned of the product at the Siouxland Home Show.
"I know the appeal for my husband was that he wouldn't have to get on the roof to decorate," Sherry Nash said. "We're both just 60 and Mike's at an age where he shouldn't be getting on the roof at all."
But there's another plus that most wives will empathize with.
"What I liked about it was that it was professionally installed, so I wouldn't have to listen to my husband's frustration about the lights or the colorful language associated with putting them up," she said with a hearty laugh. "Plus I really liked the look of the lights."
Energy savings
Although customers may like the seamless look, a greater appeal is the safety and energy efficiency of the LED, Light Emitting Diode, lights, Kahler said.
"See, there's no filament to burn out," he said, showing what one of the rails looks like up close. "What there is is a small computer chip that creates the light."
And the efficiency is almost unbelievable, Kahler added. The LEDs use about 10 percent of what regular lights use, with no heat generated.
"It's like 100,000 hours," he said. "Somebody figured that you could have the lights on constantly for 10 years before they would not work."
Kahler has been friends with ChannelBrite owner Jerry Handsaker for years. He explained that Handsaker created the system to solve the problems involved with traditional holiday lighting.
"Now the lights remain on your home year-round so you are instantly decorated for every occasion at the press of a button," he said.
Lights come in strips of red, green, blue; red, white, blue; red, green, yellow; all white and all yellow, Kahler said.
"Those are the traditional Christmas holiday colors," he said. "But I could see them adding orange in the very near future; it's the most requested light because of Halloween."
The lights were installed at the Nashes' house in early summer, Sherry Nash said. They chose red, white and blue.
"It isn't even Christmas yet and we've used them a lot," she said. "For the Fourth of July, we used all three colors. But even for Halloween, we used all red."
Positioning the display
Once the colors are chosen, home-owners need to decide where on the house they'd like the lights installed, Kahler said, and how much they'd like to invest.
"Cost will vary depending on how many peaks you want included and how high up the installation will be," he said. "But a house with peaks and about 200 feet of rail will run about $2,900 and take about five to six hours of installation."
Kahler stressed that was a one-time investment that home owners say is worth it.
"The appeal of the product is that you do it one time," he said. "Then, customers say they like the fact they can use the lights for any time of the year; not just during the holidays."
"Neighbors and friends are always asking, 'Where'd you get those lights?' and they are astonished that they can't be seen during the day," Sherry Nash said. "Our house is gray and the rail that holds the lights matches the house very well."
The lights are controlled by a panel -- inside the house -- that looks like a keypad. You can make your lights come on and off, "race" in three different speeds across your house or flash in 37 different patterns, Kahler said.
"There's even a timer element, so if you go out to dinner and turn the timer on, you can come home and see the house lit up," he pointed out. "That's a nice addition because a lot of times, people just turn on the lights while they're in the house and never get to enjoy them from the street."
Kahler said he sees that ChannelBrite will be the future for lights because of its safety and energy conservation. The former financial consultant is now a dealer with the business.
"Every year, individuals and businesses and communities spend billions of dollars for holiday lighting," he said. "This approach just makes more sense."
No more cold hands. No more unmanageable strings. No more shaky ladders. No more ascending to the rafters of one's house.
A new business has created a solution to address all of those challenges -- to customize a lighting system to one's home; to make it permanent; and to keep it discreet when not in use.
The ChannelBrite Permanent Outdoor LED Lighting System, with headquarters in Roland, Iowa, is installed in a permanent "rail" near a home's trim in a hue that blends with a home's color. Bill Kahler, who is a dealer for ChannelBrite, has the lights installed on his Union County home and they are almost invisible, unless you know what you're looking for.
"Just standing and looking at the house, it's very difficult to pick out the lights," he said, pointing to their exact location. "That's one of the strengths of this system; it blends in perfectly with your home."
Add to that the joy of never having to scale the peaks of your home, never worrying about a burned-out bulb and never having to take them down. All of that was plus for Sioux City homeowners Mike and Sherry Nash who learned of the product at the Siouxland Home Show.
"I know the appeal for my husband was that he wouldn't have to get on the roof to decorate," Sherry Nash said. "We're both just 60 and Mike's at an age where he shouldn't be getting on the roof at all."
But there's another plus that most wives will empathize with.
"What I liked about it was that it was professionally installed, so I wouldn't have to listen to my husband's frustration about the lights or the colorful language associated with putting them up," she said with a hearty laugh. "Plus I really liked the look of the lights."
Energy savings
Although customers may like the seamless look, a greater appeal is the safety and energy efficiency of the LED, Light Emitting Diode, lights, Kahler said.
"See, there's no filament to burn out," he said, showing what one of the rails looks like up close. "What there is is a small computer chip that creates the light."
And the efficiency is almost unbelievable, Kahler added. The LEDs use about 10 percent of what regular lights use, with no heat generated.
"It's like 100,000 hours," he said. "Somebody figured that you could have the lights on constantly for 10 years before they would not work."
Kahler has been friends with ChannelBrite owner Jerry Handsaker for years. He explained that Handsaker created the system to solve the problems involved with traditional holiday lighting.
"Now the lights remain on your home year-round so you are instantly decorated for every occasion at the press of a button," he said.
Lights come in strips of red, green, blue; red, white, blue; red, green, yellow; all white and all yellow, Kahler said.
"Those are the traditional Christmas holiday colors," he said. "But I could see them adding orange in the very near future; it's the most requested light because of Halloween."
The lights were installed at the Nashes' house in early summer, Sherry Nash said. They chose red, white and blue.
"It isn't even Christmas yet and we've used them a lot," she said. "For the Fourth of July, we used all three colors. But even for Halloween, we used all red."
Positioning the display
Once the colors are chosen, home-owners need to decide where on the house they'd like the lights installed, Kahler said, and how much they'd like to invest.
"Cost will vary depending on how many peaks you want included and how high up the installation will be," he said. "But a house with peaks and about 200 feet of rail will run about $2,900 and take about five to six hours of installation."
Kahler stressed that was a one-time investment that home owners say is worth it.
"The appeal of the product is that you do it one time," he said. "Then, customers say they like the fact they can use the lights for any time of the year; not just during the holidays."
"Neighbors and friends are always asking, 'Where'd you get those lights?' and they are astonished that they can't be seen during the day," Sherry Nash said. "Our house is gray and the rail that holds the lights matches the house very well."
The lights are controlled by a panel -- inside the house -- that looks like a keypad. You can make your lights come on and off, "race" in three different speeds across your house or flash in 37 different patterns, Kahler said.
"There's even a timer element, so if you go out to dinner and turn the timer on, you can come home and see the house lit up," he pointed out. "That's a nice addition because a lot of times, people just turn on the lights while they're in the house and never get to enjoy them from the street."
Kahler said he sees that ChannelBrite will be the future for lights because of its safety and energy conservation. The former financial consultant is now a dealer with the business.
"Every year, individuals and businesses and communities spend billions of dollars for holiday lighting," he said. "This approach just makes more sense."
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