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Flameless LED Candle Education

Moving Flame LED Candle Construction & Inner Workings

The picture below illustrates the construction of a typical moving flame LED candle. A tealight is being used in this illustration instead of a larger pillar candle because it’s easier to see how the components fit together and interact with each other in the smaller tealight. The basic construction is the same between pillars, tealights, votives, tapers, etc.

A small, thin support wire is used to hold the moving flame element in place and provides a pivot axis for it to move around from side-to-side. The LED is aimed upwards towards the moving flame element and illuminates it as it moves around on the support wire.

A permanent magnet is mounted to the bottom of the moving flame element. This permanent magnet interacts with the magnetic field produced by the electromagnet located on the circuit board. This interaction is the mechanism behind the movement of the moving flame element. Notice that the electromagnet is made of a coil of small gauge wire. Short pulses of current, of varying strength and of varying occurrence in time, flow through this coil of wire which are generated by electronic circuitry on the circuit board. These short and varying pulses of current generate a resulting magnetic field which interacts with the magnetic field produced by the permanent magnet located at the end of the moving flame element. To illustrate this principle, imagine taking the north poles (or south poles) of a couple of magnets and try touching the poles together (all magnets have 2 poles – a north pole and a south pole). It’s very difficult because a rather strong force is keeping the poles from touching each other. They are opposing each other since the poles have the same polarity. This is the same principle which causes the moving flame element to move from side-to-side. The electronic circuitry creates a short pulse of current to flow in the electromagnet. The current is such that it generates a magnetic field with one pole above the electromagnet and the opposite pole on the backside of the electromagnet. The electronic circuitry is designed to produce a magnetic pole above the electromagnet that is the same polarity as the magnetic pole at the bottom side of the permanent magnet located at the bottom of the moving flame element. Since the pulse of current is short, the magnetic field (and resulting poles) are also short, so the moving flame element is momentarily deflected. Not only are these magnetic fields (and resulting poles) very short in duration, but the strength and time between pulses are both variable. If these pulses are orchestrated properly, the result is a random, life-like movement of the moving flame element! The strength and timing of the short electromagnet current pulses is what differentiates the moving flame action for the various brand names of moving flame LED candles.

One last component that needs to be mentioned is the battery. Different types and sizes of batteries are used in moving flame LED candles depending on the type and size of the candle. The battery in the picture below is a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery that's found in our rechargeable tealights, and the smallest of our tealights will typically use a small CR2450 Lithium button cell battery. The larger pillar candles will typically use larger batteries such as C and D-cell batteries; however, some brand names will use AA batteries. Pillars and votives typically use AA. If you are ever in doubt as to which battery a candle uses, carefully check the description and specification's table because we always specify which batteries are required. And, don't forget that LightsandBatteries.com also sells batteries, so we are your one-stop shop for all of your flameless LED candles and accessories!

Moving Flame LED Candle Brand Names: Luminara, Avalon, Torchier, Liown, Mystique and Everlasting Glow

One of the most frequent questions we get has to do with the differences between all of the different brand names of moving flame LED candles and which ones are the best. LightsandBatteries.com carries moving flame LED candles designed and manufactured by several different companies and are sold under several different brand names.

Just about everyone who is a fan of moving flame LED candles has heard of Luminara. Luminara Worldwide, LLC is headquartered in Minnesota and is not only a well recognized brand name, but they also design their own moving flame LED candles and have them built in Asia by various manufacturers. Luminara moving flame LED candles are sold to distributors around the world who in turn sell to retailers who ultimately sell to the end user (our customers). The exclusive USA distributor of Luminara moving flame LED candles is Darice who does not rebrand them and sells them under the Luminara brand name to retailers around the country.

Another big name in the world of moving flame LED candles manufacturer of moving flame LED candles is Liown Electronics Co., Ltd. which is headquartered in China. Liown designs and manufactures candles that are sold under several different brand names such as “Avalon”, "LightLi, "Matchless", "Matrixflame", “Mystique”, “Torchier” and their own brand name which is simply “Liown”. As with Luminara discussed earlier, moving flame LED candles designed and manufactured by Liown Electronics are sold to distributors around the world who in turn sell to retailers who ultimately sells to the end users. The USA distributors are listed below along with their associated brand names.

The Light Garden – “Avalon”, "LightLi", "Matchless", "Matrixflame"
GKI/Bethlehem Lights – "LightLi", Matrixflame", "Mystique", “Torchier”
The Boston Warehouse – “Mystique”
RAZ Imports – “Liown”
NAPA Home & Garden - "LightLi"

These distributors have partnered with Liown Electronics and are responsible for various phases of product development such as packaging, marketing, public relations and product launches. Some time back, The Boston Warehouse acquired GKI/Bethlehem Lights, and the Torchier brand name has been eliminated and now they distribute the brand names of LightLi, Matrixflame and Mystique. Interestingly enough, Liown Electronics used to have a partnership with Luminara, but that partnership was dissolved back in August, 2014 for complex reasons. Both Luminara and Liown have multiple patents on various moving flame and non-moving flame LED candle technologies.

Another quality moving flame brand name not associated with Luminara or Liown is "Everlasting Glow" which is distributed by The Gerson Companies. The Gerson Companies is headquartered in the USA and has offices in Hong Kong and China where the candles are designed and manufactured.

The Gerson Companies - "Everlasting Glow"

LightsandBatteries.com also exclusively offers moving flame LED candles designed and built by several overseas manufacturers and are simply sold under the brand name of “LightsandBatteries.com”. All of the moving flame LED candles that LightsandBatteries.com offers are of similar quality and have a similar moving flame action, so you can expect a good quality product whether you are purchasing Luminara, Avalon, LightLi, Liown, Matchless, Matrixflame, Mystique, Torchier, or our own LightsandBatteries.com” brand name. So, which one is the best? Well, we feel they are all the best, or we wouldn’t carry them! Also, by carrying several different brand names, we can provide our customers with more products, more options and various price ranges. Differences between brand names might include things like moving flame action, LED color, LED brightness, wax density, required battery size, battery life, remote control features and the overall product offering.

The diagram below summarizes everything just discussed and illustrates where LightsandBatteries.com fits into the grand scheme of things. LightsandBatteries.com is an online retailer since we buy in quantity from the various distributors or directly from various manufacturers, and our job is to provide quality moving flame LED candles to the end user. We also take great pride in providing you (the end user) with as much information and technical support as possible.

More to come, so check back often!

Our staff here at LightsandBatteries.com are flameless LED candle experts! Our founder and president is a professionally licensed electrical engineer, so if you ever have a technical question, give us a shout, and we will get you an answer!

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