How to pick an LED that is the same brightness as my old light bulb
Have you purchased an LED bulb only to be disappointed with the light output when you turn it on? Finding the right LED for your space can be tricky if you're moving from incandescent, halogen, or CFL products.
LEDs were designed to be more energy efficient, which means they have a lower wattage for a similar light output. Wattage used to be the main factor in brightness. The higher the wattage, the more light would be emitted from the bulb. Now, LEDs have lower wattages to save energy, so it's no longer a good determination of light levels.
If you purchase LEDs based on wattage, you will likely buy a bulb that is too bright or just doesn't work in your space. Instead of focusing on wattage when purchasing LEDs, it's best to look at lumens to determine the brightness, or light output, from the bulb.
Note: If you're having trouble finding the right color for your LED bulb, check out this article.
Before we dive into the specifics (you can jump ahead to our comparison chart here), let's discuss lighting terms you need to know when purchasing LEDs.
Lighting terms to guide your LED purchase
If you're purchasing LEDs, pay close attention to the following terms to determine the right light output.
Wattage
- Wattage is a measurement of the number of watts a light bulb consumes. In short, it measures energy. Because LEDs are most energy efficient, most use less energy and have a lower wattage than traditional lighting products.Lumens
- Lumens are the measurement of how much light a lamp puts out, or how bright a light bulb appears. Comparing lumens of an LED lamp to the lumens of a traditional lamp will help determine if an LED lamp will be bright enough to directly replace your traditional lamp.
- Center beam candle power
- Center beam candle power measures the intensity of light at the center of a beam of light. This is an important measurement for spot and accent lighting. Although we will primarily discuss lumens in this article, sometimes it isn’t enough to only use the lumen output when determining if a lamp will be bright enough.
Efficacy
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Efficacy is a ratio of how many lumens (how much light) are produced per watt of energy consumed. The higher the efficacy ratio, the more efficiently your product is performing. You can think of this like miles per gallon. A more efficient car (like a more efficient light bulb) gets more miles to the gallon (more lumens per watt).
Many LED products will have a lighting facts label, like the one pictured below.
If you're looking for some of these specs, they should be easy to identify on the label. You can also compare across different manufacturers.
As we've mentioned, we need to focus on lumens instead of wattage when purchasing LEDs.
To simplify the process for you, we've created this chart with the traditional wattage on the left and the equivalent lumens for LEDs on the right. Also included is a link to purchase the LED equivalent on our online store.
For example, if you have an A19 that's 40 watts, look for an A19 LED that's between 300 and 600 lumens. That should give you similar output.
Notes:
- These are a difficult replacement to find. In this case, comparing Center Beam Candle Power (CBCP) may yield the best results.
- Many LED PAR38 lamps are brighter, which is great for accent lighting. If you're looking for a lower-output PAR38, you may need to consider a different shape (like a PAR20) or a compatible dimmer.
- Pin-based CFL replacements on the lower and higher end can be hard to find.
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Finding the right LED equivalent
If you have any questions about finding the LED equivalent for your traditional lighting, please do not hesitate to contact us . Our lighting experts will help select a product that's right for you.
I have five LED bulbs outdoors near the Twin Cities in Minnesota, all of the same brand (Feit 800 lumens, if that matters), which have been installed somewhere around mid-summer 2013. We don't have dimmers, just a bog-standard on/off switch.
Four of them work perfectly fine, but the fifth doesn't. It glows dim, while all the others burn brightly. There haven't been any circuit, wiring, switching or other changes; the only thing I can think of is that we're springing out of a reasonably cold winter.
This bulb used to work well, too, similar to the others. And it's now consistently dim.
This is in a slightly-difficult-to-get-to spot, hence the question instead of pulling out ladders and playing with different bulbs / configurations.
Is there anything that could contribute to this issue?