The right lamp for the right job

The most accurate measurement to determine the brightness of an LED lamp is Lumens. Lumens measure the total amount of light output of the bulb – so look for Lumen output, not Watts.

Equivalent light output: EU legislation mandates the equivalent light output in Watts, dependent upon the lumen output in a published table. For example, to qualify as being comparable to a 60 Watt bulb, the EU say that an LED lamp must produce AT LEAST 806 lumens.

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.