Using high-tech LED lights is a great way to bring eco-friendly efforts to your home without compromising on the quality of lighting available. They come at affordable prices, last for a long while, and are quite gentle on your power bills. But, it is important to note that buying LED fixtures isn’t as simple as shopping for the required ‘watts.’ There are numerous other things to consider as well.
Things to Consider When Purchasing LED Fixtures
· Look at the Lumens, Not the Watts
It is a relatively common practice for watts to be considered the same as the light output of your LED bulbs. However, watts are just a measure of how much electricity your lamp or light fixture takes to work well. The correct way to find out how bright your bulb will be is to determine its lumen output.
Lumens measure how much light is being given off by the light source. It is the only accurate way to determine the brightness of your LED bulbs, regardless of whether it is installed in a lamp or any other fixture.
· Consider Color Temperature
The next factor to consider about LED fixtures is the color temperatures. Lumens alone won’t give you that ideally comfortable light for your living room or bedrooms. Instead, you should also study the color temperatures of your LED bulbs as it describes how warm or cool their emitted light would be.
Also called the Kelvin Temperature, the color temperatures of a bulb range from 2700 to 3500 K. Different Kelvin fit into different modes of light like ambient, task, and decorative lights.
· Understand the Lifespan Specifications
You’ve probably come across advertisements that claim LED bulbs can easily last for 40 or even more years. Well, the fact is that the electronic driver of the bulbs actually determines their lifespan.
Screw-in LEDs don’t require any retrofitting into your existing sockets as they come with the light-emitting diode as well as the electronic driver that makes them work. Therefore, more often than not, you will get a maximum of five years warranty on your LED fixtures. If you want to increase this, you can swap your LED trim kits with better quality drivers from A Lamp and Fixture Corp. to enjoy a significantly longer bulb life.
· Learn About the Color Rendering Index
Lastly, look into the Color Rendering Index (CRI) of your LED fixtures. The CRI measures how well a light shows the actual colors of the things in its cast. The higher the CRI of your bulbs, the real-er your item colors will appear under its light.
It is not important to have high CRI lamps in every spot of your home. Just think of the places where you need light to resemble natural light and fit these bulbs in those. A great example is your makeup vanity.
