Really, the lack of information makes it difficult for us to find the right amount LED lumens for a specific area. Therefore, we have compiled this article to show you how lumens are measured, an easy way to translate watts to lumens and how to select your led light.
So, without any further ado let’s take a look at the interesting things you must know about LED lumens.
Lumen= Light Output.
The Lumens are considered to be a new way of determining the brightness of any light sources.
If you want more light, you’ll need more lumens.
In simple terms, the total amount of visible light reflected by a lamp or LED light is measured with Lumens. If you want to buy a brighter lamp/led light for your home or office, you must consider choosing the higher lumen rating.
In the past, the brightness was often associated with the Watts. But Recent research has shown that Watts has nothing to do with the light output and they are actually supposed to determine the amount of
More light, less energy with LED
The LED lamps are good at producing more light outputs, compared with its counterpart of conventional bulbs, and the most interesting part is that they consume a very low amount of electricity.
For instance, the 6.5W LED lamp can produce the electricity equivalent to a 50W Halogen bulb. Thus, you can save 87% electricity without compromising on light output.
The LED bulbs do not waste any energy on heat production and the entire energy is used on the production of light. The experts are trying their best to make more changes so that the bulbs can produce more lumens with much less power consumption. So, the time has come when you should stop using halogen bulbs and start using led lights as they are more energy efficient.
Lumens – LED lamps vs Conventional bulbs
An LED bulb with approximately 800 – 850 lumens is the ideal option if you are willing to enjoy the light output equivalent to a 60 Watt conventional bulb. The lumen rating is usually marked on the lamp base and packaging of all integral LED lamps.
The Wattage conversion is also a big problem when purchasing an LED lamp. However, you can take help from the wattage conversion guide that is available on the pack e.g. 11.5W LED = 60W conventional bulb.
You can also determine the lumen rating for your LED replacement lamp with the help of more illustrations we have provided below.
Lumens VS Watts
so you should have a general idea of differences between lumens and watts, but we want to go into more details:
Lumens Per Watt (lm/W)
You can now measure the efficacy of lighting products with this figure.
All you need to do is to divide the total amount of lumens by the power usage in Watts.
Very Simple, don’t you?
This is actually quite similar to the miles-per-gallon in a car. So, you must consider choosing an LED lamp that has higher lm/W rating. Thus, you’d be able to reduce energy costs while enjoying higher efficiency.
For instance, the light output of 3500 Lumens is offered by the extremely efficient Performance + Back-lit LED Panel for 23 Watts of power.
3500lm/23W = 152lm/W
On the other hand, the light output of 3600 Lumens can be achieved with the less efficient LED panel for 45 Watts of power.
3600lm/45W = 80lm/W
Converting Lumens to Watts
Watt is supposed to measure the energy output of that bulb. The watts have helped us a lot in choosing the perfect incandescent bulbs but they aren’t useful anymore.
On the other hand, the lumens measure the brightness of a bulb. In this situation, it usually gets difficult to convert the Lumens to Watts. However, we have prepared a chart that will help you a lot when you are trying to compare the lumens with watts.
Thus, you’d be able to use the most energy efficient bulbs without having to worry about the technical stuff.
How many Lumens do you need?
since we are introducing new words for you: lumen, which is quite different from your past experience of evaluating the lights by watts, you might
let’s go on?
How bright is a lumen
lumen is really a sense of perceptions, therefore I’d like to explain what lumens you would expect for various situations.
here we go:
*1-2 lumens: Finding a keyhole, close-range work (within arm’s reach), close reading, maybe a supplement to dark-adapted vision finding your way around a room. Some mini incandescent keychain lights admit to this level.
* 5-10 lumens: Indoor use, close inspections, map reading, testing eyes; the 2 AAA penlight with a #222 prefocus bulb is in this range.
* 15-30 lumens: General household indoor use, moderate range outdoor use ( a few yards); this is the light range that the 2 D cell plastic light with a prefocus bulb generates.
* around 50 lumens: Walking a good trail at night, finding your way in unfamiliar surroundings.
* 60-200 lumens: So-called “tactical” lights; identify a man-size target at firearms range. Power LEDs can give 100+lumens from an AA cell. In my experience, 100 lumens can light up a small suburban backyard (say, 60 feet x 30 feet) and verify the yard is free of the neighbor’s cat.
* 200 lumens and up – Outdoor, moderately long range, search and rescue – you can go up to several thousand lumens in a hand-carried light but I think anything much over 500 is a rather special purpose tool.
* 500+ lumens– – I understand night-time orienteers use high-power lamps in this range for running unfamiliar trails in the dark.
Don’t take these numbers as anything other than the centers of pretty broad ranges.
Brightness is actually all about perception. A 2000 lumen light can look less bright than a 500 lumen
So the truth is:
You need to consider two values simultaneously when looking at brightness; the lumen output (a measure of the total amount of light being emitted, think of it as the number of liters of water coming from a hose) and candela (often spoken of as lux @ a given distance), which you can think of as the amount of water from your hose hitting a given spot on the wall at a given distance.
Running cost per year
The highly efficient LED panel consumes less power as compared to the less efficient panel. In simple words, the 80lm/W panel is 51% more expensive as compared to the 152lm/W.
So, when it comes to choosing LED panels, the lm/W rating must be the utmost priority.
Lumens and Useful Lumens
The non-directional bulbs like golfball, globe, and candle shape fall in the category where lumen output is calculated for all directions.
On the other hand, the directional bulb like GU10 spotlight spreads light in different directions. It’s true that some of the light is wasted without any reason but it’s included in the total lumen rating.
Therefore, a new term of “useful lumens” rating is introduced by the EU so that people may easily make comparisons.
This figure is used to measure the light that is emitted in a standardized 90-degree cone. The total lumen output is normally higher than the “useful lumens” rating. The spotlight bulb emits light in a forward focused direction. Therefore, the useful lumen rating is more relevant to a spotlight bulb.
The answer to that question isn’t as difficult as it appears to be.
Let me explain something more here:
The size of the area and several other aspects help determine the right amount of lumens.
Usually, 20 lumens per square foot are considered to be the best if you are choosing the LED bulb for the average living room. When it comes to talking about tables and raised surfaces, you’d need 30 lumens per square foot. Similarly, 50 lumens per square foot are considered to be ideal when we are talking about desks and task lighting.
What we can learn from this table is this:
Replacing a 40W Incandescent bulb: please choose LED that at least 450 lumens
Replacing a 60W Incandescent bulb: please choose LED that at least 800 lumens
Replacing a 75W Incandescent bulb: please choose LED that at least 1100 lumens
Replacing a 100W Incandescent bulb: please choose LED that at least 1600 lumens
Replacing a 15W Incandescent bulb: please choose LED that at least 2600 lumens
However, if you are still confused about choosing the right amount of lumens for a specific area, you may take a visit to the Google Play Store to download the “Lumens Measurement” app as it can help determine the accurate amount of lumens needed.
Similarly, the tools like luminous flux can also solve your problem by providing accurate information about the lumens required.
Choose for your light
now it’s up to you to choose for your light, whether traditional light or led light, for this part, we still want to show you some of our discoveries.
Why LED bulbs are a better option?
The technology is growing really fast and the experts are trying to introduce some better ways to facilitate consumers. In this struggle, they have introduced the CFL and LED bulbs that are more energy-efficient as compared to the incandescent bulbs. The reason why LED bulbs have become popular is that they provide excellent output by consuming less energy.
For example, the brightness produced by a 6.5W LED lamp is equivalent to the brightness produced by a 50W Halogen bulb. Thus, the LED bulbs have reduced the energy consumption to an extent and you can now save up to 87% of the energy without making a compromise on brightness.
We can also say that LED bulbs are a cost-effective option as they can produce better lighting with little energy consumption. Similarly, the lifespan of LED bulbs also makes them prominent among all others. The average LED bulb lasts for 25,000 hours while the average lifespan of incandescent bulbs is not more than 1,200.
And CFL bulbs also last for 8,000 hours only. So, all the aspects indicate that LED bulbs are a better option available in the industry.
Look for ENERGY STAR certified bulbs
The ENERGY STAR certified bulbs are considered to be the best in this regard. They do not only help save money on electricity bills but they also provide you with an extreme level of comfort for a long time.
In general, Research shows that ENERGY STAR certified bulbs 90% less energy as compared to the other bulbs. Similarly, they can provide you with a better lighting experience for more than 20 years.
The ENERGY STAR certification is provided by the third party companies so, you shouldn’t be worried about any fraud. The manufacturers send their products to these companies so they may figure out if they meet the requirements of ENERGY STAR certification or not.
These third-party companies conduct around 20 tests to measure the quality of the bulb. Thus, they try to make sure that customers are actually getting what they are paying for. So, the ENERGY STAR certified bulbs should be the utmost priority when you are shopping for LED bulbs.