The right lamp for the right job
The brightness of an LED lamp is measured in lumens. Lumens measure the
total amount of light output of the bulb – so always look for total lumen output, not watts.
Warm or Cool? The picture on the right is a display cabinet with toughened glass shelves containing glassware. The two sides of the cabinet are isolated from each other to prevent light interference. See the significant colour difference between the warm and cool white lamps? Because of the way the colour temperature of LEDs is controlled, the cooler lamps are more intense than the warmer ones. We describe the two lamp hues as ‘warm’ and ‘cool’; the light from a warm white lamp is similar to a standard halogen lamp. The cool white lamps are not actually cold; they produce a pure brilliant white light, more akin to natural daylight.
| Traditional |
Lumens (brightness) |
LED equivalent |
| 25w |
230 |
3-10w |
| 40w |
41 |
6-20w |
| 60w |
710 |
15-30w |
| 100w |
1340 |
30-50w |
For a standard ‘halogen style’ lighting effect and for general use we advise the fitting of Warm White lamps. For a cleaner ‘pure white’ more modern look, or for display lighting where accurate colour reproduction is important, we advise use of the Cool White lamps. The ‘colour’ of light is measured in degrees Kelvin. A Warm White lamp should be somewhere between 2,600 and 3,000K. A Cool White lamp should be in the 4,000-5,500K range in order to not appear too ‘blue’ in the presence of traditional tungsten lighting.
