If you’re currently in the process of considering lighting options or are searching across both the internet about LED’s, you might have come across the term ‘lumens’. As they often use it as a means of comparison amongst different types of LED lighting. It’s quite possible that you may be unclear about the terms or may be unfamiliar with it. So here’s hoping that reading this will elucidate what they mean and bring some clarity.
The dictionary definition of Lumens will be described as:
‘The SI unit of luminous flux, equal to the amount of light emitted per second in a unit solid angle of one steradian from a uniform source of one candela.’
In simpler terms however, Lumens are a measure of the total amount of visible light to the human eye from a lamp or light source. The higher the lumen rating the “brighter” the lamp will appear. They offer a method of brightness and power for LED bulbs.
Here’s a comparative measure of Lumens and Watts to further help you:
- To replace a 100-watt incandescent bulb, look for an LED bulb that gives you about 1600 lumens.
- To replace a 75W incandescent bulb, look for an LED bulb that gives you about 1100 lumens
- To replace a 60W incandescent bulb, look for an LED bulb that gives you about 800 lumens
- To replace a 40W incandescent bulb, look for an LED bulb that gives you about 450 lumens
If you want more brightness, look for higher Lumens, if you want the light to be dimmer, look for lesser Lumens. It’s as simple as that. Here’s an overview of how many Lumens are required per square meter for different room settings. Via which, you can calculate what types and how much LED lighting you should use.
- Kitchen = 700-800 lumens/sq.mt
- Living room = 400-500 lumens/sq.mt
- Hallway= 300 lumens/sq.mt
- Bedroom = 700-800 lumens/sq.mt
- Bathroom = 700-800 lumens/sq. mt
Hopefully, this brings some clarity to the measure of LED that you would require. You can always choose to make your home brighter or moody, atmospheric and slightly darker. Good luck!!