LED bulbs and You
Choosing LED bulbs and you are going to meet in the future if you haven’t met already. Whenever an old incandescent bulb burns out we are faced with a question. Do we replace them with LED bulbs? LED light bulbs will cost more. But LED bulbs are rated for a longer life cycle, the cost of the bulb is also offset by reduced electrical usage. About a 90% reduction in electrical usage on average.
So you made up your mind to buy LED bulbs. You’re going to need to know a couple of things if your buying LED bulbs.
The most important things to know is what the lumen output is going to be from your new bulbs. Here is a table for incandescent bulb rating and their light output in Lumens.
How Much Light Will You Need?
| How Much Light Will You Need? | |
|---|---|
| Incandescent Bulbs WATTS | Minimum Light Output LUMENS |
| 40 | 450 |
| 60 | 800 |
| 75 | >1,100 |
| 100 | 1,600 |
| 150 | 2,600 |
When you are purchasing new LED bulbs you need to look at the output light in lumens. You will need to know that the new light level from the LED bulbs will be the same as you had with the incandescent bulbs.
All E12 LED bulbs – Amazon.com
The Kelvin temperature chart
Once you know how many lumens you need, you will need to know what temperature of light, based on the Kelvin scale, you want or are willing to live with. Somewhere on the package, there will be a number for the temperature of the light color the LED bulb will produce. Find that number and compare it against the chart below.
Light bulb base
You will also need to know what base your fixtures use. The Edison screw standard is used in North America. The numbers used are in millimeters. So for example, an E26 base equals an Edison screw base 26 millimeters in diameter.
All LED Florescent Replacement Tubes – Amazon.com
| Commonly Used Thread Size Groups | ||
|---|---|---|
Edison Base Common Name | Sizes used in North America | Sizes used in Europe |
| Candelabra | E12 | E11 |
| Intermediate | E17 | E14(Small ES, SES)^ |
| Medium or standard | E26 (MES)^ | E27 (ES)^ |
| Mogul | E39 | E40 |
The most common bases used in North America are the E26 and E12.
So there you have it. Now you know Lumens, Temperature, and base. With this information, you can make an informed decision on LED light bulbs that you will live with for the next 10-15 years.
^[Medium] (one-inch) Edison Screw (ES or MES)
^Small Edison Screw (SES)
^[Medium] Edison Screw (ES)
Related Article: How To Repair LED Bulbs
(By Maksym Kozlenko (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)
(By Maksym Kozlenko (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)
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