Never had to go shopping for lightbulbs before and needless to say I'm clueless about to what LUMENS and WATTS are adequate. I want to conserve energy but also don't want to be walking in low lights. And what brand of light bulbs give the best CLEAR WHITE light? I can't stand the yellow lights that some bulbs put out.
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Typically, what is the right LUMEN to look for in a lightbulb?
- Thread starter dvdrdiscs
- Start date
What is the difference between an incandescent lightbulb and a regular lightbulb? I bought a light stand that said "150W incandescent lightbulb." I didn't know what the heck that was so I picked up any 150W lightbulb that I saw at SAV-ONS. It was rated at like 2850 LUMENS.
sharkeeper
Lifer
Lamps are rated in many ways, most typically in power consumption (W) and output (Lumen). Other ratings are efficacy (metric varies) and colour temperature (degrees Kelvin)--higher CT has more blue, lower red. Colour Rendition Index or CRI--how accurately the lamp renders colours is very important. A typical cool white fluorescent has a CRI of only 69. Afternoon sunlight is 100.
Incandescents generally fall in the lower efficiency bracket of 4~20 lumens per watt. Running the filament harder results in higher output and higher colour temperature at the expense of shorter lamp life and premature envelope carbonisation. A halogen such as bromine or iodine helps prevent this. The higher operating temperature of harder driven wolfram (filament) means the envelope must be more resistant to higher temperatures so it's made of quartz. (Hence the name quartz-halogen).
At the highest efficiency bracket is HID (High Intensity Discharge) which use an ionised path of gases instead of a filament. Efficiencies of over 125 lumens per watt can be realised. (as high as 200 with LPS but CRI is poor at 0~10)
Cheers!
Incandescents generally fall in the lower efficiency bracket of 4~20 lumens per watt. Running the filament harder results in higher output and higher colour temperature at the expense of shorter lamp life and premature envelope carbonisation. A halogen such as bromine or iodine helps prevent this. The higher operating temperature of harder driven wolfram (filament) means the envelope must be more resistant to higher temperatures so it's made of quartz. (Hence the name quartz-halogen).
At the highest efficiency bracket is HID (High Intensity Discharge) which use an ionised path of gases instead of a filament. Efficiencies of over 125 lumens per watt can be realised. (as high as 200 with LPS but CRI is poor at 0~10)
Cheers!
Nice post.
I'm not sure if he'll be able to understand very well though. 😛
If the white light is important to you, what you're looking for is a bulb that has a color temperature of 5000 - 6000 degrees Kelvin. I'm not sure if they make incandescent bulbs with that "cool" of temperature. At least, the closer the better.
Lumens is simply how much light the bulb produces.
They all have a lumen spec, usually right next to the wattage on the package. 😛
my understanding is that Lumens relates to light output. Every incandescent or flourescent bulb usually has this number listed on the retail package (probably not on the bulb, though. I use it as a way to compare compact flourescent bulb to incandescent bulbs.
Not all brands at a given wattage have the same Lumens, but the numbers are usually close as long as the technology is the same.
I noticed that "natural daylight" color incandescent and flourescent bulbs are becoming more common. This would be what you want if you are looking for natural looking light
Not all brands at a given wattage have the same Lumens, but the numbers are usually close as long as the technology is the same.
I noticed that "natural daylight" color incandescent and flourescent bulbs are becoming more common. This would be what you want if you are looking for natural looking light
Zenmervolt
Elite member
A 150 watt bulb will be far overkill for a normal room. Most bulbs are of the 60 watt variety.
ZV
ZV
sharkeeper
Lifer
Put in a pair of 400W 7500K Metal Halides. They're good for indoor gardens too! 😉
Cheers!
Heisenberg
Lifer
Plus he can get a nice tan without ever leaving the house. 😉
7500K? Too blue. Plants require both the UV - blue and Red - IR spectrums for optimal photosynthesis and growth. 5500K is the optimal vegetative CT. The higher CT bulbs are generally used in aquariums.
But then if I wanted them to make pretty flowers, I'd have to replace them with some 2100K High Pressure Sodium bulbs.. Then everything in my room would have an orange hue. 🙁
😛
Very good info so far! I am interested in replacing bulbs in the following conditions. What do you guys recommend?
1. Bathroom has two bulb slot but has a cover over it. I'm not sure if the cover is making the light appear yellow or not because I haven't had a chance to take it off.
2. Bedroom also has a two bulb slot with a cover. I would like this to be as bright as possible but not use as much energy because it'll be the room that'll almost always have the lights turned on.
3. One of those light stands that points at the ceiling in the living room. I need this in the living room because my apartment doesn't have a lightbulb on the ceiling there. I need a bulb that lights up the entire room but won't kill my pocket. I'm currently using a 150W 2850LUMEN bulb but that seems like it'll be expensive.
1. Bathroom has two bulb slot but has a cover over it. I'm not sure if the cover is making the light appear yellow or not because I haven't had a chance to take it off.
2. Bedroom also has a two bulb slot with a cover. I would like this to be as bright as possible but not use as much energy because it'll be the room that'll almost always have the lights turned on.
3. One of those light stands that points at the ceiling in the living room. I need this in the living room because my apartment doesn't have a lightbulb on the ceiling there. I need a bulb that lights up the entire room but won't kill my pocket. I'm currently using a 150W 2850LUMEN bulb but that seems like it'll be expensive.
sharkeeper
Lifer
The Venture 7500K bulbs I've used were about equivalent to daylight actually. The light looked really good! (These have peaks at 490, 590 and 645 nM) Typical 4300K MH bulbs kind of look blah. Of course some of these bulbs get kind of expensive. I've used 20K Radiums and they have a green tint to them!
The best lighting is Xenon in the multi KW range but it's expensive. Some people would prefer to use optical ducting of sunlight into the confines of their edifice. (Not very effective in Barrow!)
There's new Luxeon Stars on the way with more of a full spectrum output.
Imagine one of these!
Cheers!
Whoa!
They should have one of those in every hotel room. :Q 😀
Interesting, about the high CT bulbs. Of course, our eyes can be quite decieving.. the plants see the spectrum much differently than we do.
NASA has been experimenting with using LEDs to grow plants in space... Pretty interesting.
Shrug? I've always been a lover of all plants. 🙂
The first "serious" book I ever got was the Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, a 2200+ page book that I've read through several times now.
My two passions are botany and mechanics.. Heh.
I think he meant carbonisation of the glass envelope.. You know how old lights have a greyish black tint to them?
Pretty sure they still use tungsten.
sharkeeper
Lifer
The more correct term would be pyrolysis. 🙂
The 7500K bulbs look more neutral to the eye because of the three spectral lines. They were designed for supporting the growth of septic algae in three meter effluent columns. They make great indoor lamps though. Someone (else) told me they also excel at growing weed. :Q
People get shocked every time they see my "sunlight on a stick"! LOL
Cheers!
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