[Shop-talk] led security lighting vrs incandescent`

[Peter J. Thomas]

On 11/5/2014 6:39 PM, Randall wrote:
>> so I'm thinking of replacing and considering LED....  I know the cost
>> difference but I like the low wattage and long life expect...     my question
>> is the light output   how do they compare watt for watt as far as flood light
>> illumination !!!   are they as bright ??   fill me in led gurus
> Actual "watt for watt" they are much brighter, the difference is roughly 7:1.  However, watch out for "equivalent watts" as they frequently don't tell the right story.  Compare lumens, not watts.

The ratio for halogens will be a little lower.  Halogens are more 
efficient than non halogen incandescent.  Probably closer to 5:1 but 
still a significant savings. Randall is correct, lumens are a better 
comparison but if you don't know the lumens a good guess is 100W LED 
fixture.

Daylight bulbs are little more efficient than soft white.  LED bulbs are 
actual florescent because they use phosphors to improve the quality of 
the light.  A white LED without phosphors produce a bluish light, 
guessing 7000K, so phosphors provide a color shift by absorbing the 
7000K light and remitting 5000K.  The higher the kelvin light color of 
the bulb the higher the efficiency.  Though I stick to a kelvin around 
5000K.  Higher than that you are might be wasting energy producing 
colors that you can't see well; meaning though a 5000K and a 6000K might 
put out the same lumens the 5000K will seem brighter because your eyes 
can see all the lumens.

Peter T.