Few Things To Know Before Buying LED Lightbulbs
1. It’s Not About Watts
You’re probably used to shopping for lightbulbs in watts, with watts determining the brightness of the bulb. The brightness of LEDs, however, is determined a little differently.
Actually, wattage isn’t an indication of brightness. It’s a measurement of how much energy a bulb is drawing. So an LED would draw less than an incandescent.
So forget about watts here. The measurement for LED bulbs is lumens. This is the brightness of the bulb. An incandescent can draw up to five times as many watts for the same number of lumens. To shine at 800 lumens (lm), you’d use the 60-watt incandescent or a 8-12 watt LED.
2. LEDs Are Colorful
LED bulbs are capable of displaying an impressive color range, from purple to red, to a spectrum of whites and yellows. For the home, however, you’re likely looking for something similar to the light that incandescents produce.
The popular colors available for LEDs are “warm white” or “soft white” and “bright white.”
Warm white and soft white will produce a yellow hue, close to incandescents, while bulbs labeled as bright white will produce a whiter light, closer to daylight and similar to what you see in retail stores.
Light color (also known as color temperature) is measured in kelvins. Your typical incandescent is somewhere between 2,700 and 3,500K. So this is what you’d look for when shopping for LEDs.
3. Dimming Options
Most dimmer lights are designed to work with incandescents, and they work by reducing the amount of electricity sent to the bulb. Since there’s no direct correlation between LED brightness and energy being drawn…you have to consider what to do if you are replacing a dimmer light bulb.
You can either find an LED bulb that’s compatible with a traditional dimmer, or replace your current dimming switch to make it LED-compatible. You can usually see on the bulb packaging label whether it is capable of dimming.
4. Stay In Shape
Because of the heat sinks, many LED bulbs have a metal fin at the bottom. This makes the lightbulb have a shape that only an engineer could love
