If you’re not in lighting or an electrician, sometimes there’s a lot of lighting-related jargon that’s thrown at you, and we thought we’d take the opportunity to explain some of the more common terms in lighting terminology and provide their definitions.
A unit of measurement that quantifies the total amount of visible light emitted by a light source in all directions. It represents the brightness of a light source. The higher the lumens, the brighter the light. The typical lumen level of a home globe is around 500L. A warehouse light, like a highbay, will be around 21,000L.
The amount of electrical power consumed by a light source. In traditional incandescent bulbs, higher wattages generally meant brighter light. However, with the advent of energy-efficient lighting technologies, like LED, the relationship between wattage and brightness has become less direct. Now, you can expect a traditional downlight to be around 5 watts, where a highbay will be around 60W.
A unit of measurement used to describe the color temperature of light. Lower values, such as 3,000K, produce warm, yellowish light (resembling traditional incandescent bulbs), while higher values, like 5000K, produce cooler, bluish light (similar to daylight). We have written a whole blog post on how to select the right colour LED for your home. Our standard downlights are 3,000K, where highbays for warehouses will be around 5,000K.
Should you make the step and upgrade to LED? Are LEDs more energy efficient than other globes and if so, why? Find out here.
We answer the question - are LEDs more efficient that CFLs and is it worth your time upgrading your property from CFL to LED?
What is the difference between a standard downlight and an integrated modular (IC Rated) downlight? And, are they free to upgrade?
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