What are lumens?
Lumen is a unit of luminous flux. Luminous flux is the total amount of visible light emitted by a light source in all directions. A lamp with a higher number of lumens is therefore brighter than a lamp with a lower number of lumens.
Why is lumen important?
Lumen is an important factor to consider when choosing lighting. The number of lumens you need depends on the space you want to illuminate.
How many lumens do I need?
Generally, you need about 50 lumens per square meter of space. This means a room of 10 square meters needs about 500 lumens.
But what does that mean in practice?
A lamp with a light output of 500 lumens is sufficient to properly illuminate a 10 square meter room. This is enough for reading, working, or relaxing.
More or less light?
If you want more light, you can choose a lamp with more lumens. A lamp with a light output of 1000 lumens is sufficient to properly illuminate a 20 square meter room. This is enough for reading, working, or relaxing in a larger space.
If you want less light, you can choose a lamp with fewer lumens. A lamp with a light output of 250 lumens is sufficient to properly illuminate a 5 square meter room. This is enough for reading, working, or relaxing in a smaller space.
Pay attention to the color of the light
The color of the light also affects the number of lumens you need. Warm light has a lower light output than cool light. This is because warm light contains less blue radiation, which increases light output.
What are high lumen LED lamps?
The more lumens per watt, the more light output the lamp produces. From 120 lm/W we talk about high lumen. This means that per 1 watt, 120 lumens of light output are produced. This is very strong/bright light. LED lamps with high lumen are sometimes a bit more expensive than a comparable lamp with fewer lumens, but the more light output per power, the more the lamp saves compared to traditional lighting. This is because you sometimes generate up to 85% more light output for the same power. High lumen lamps are often used for business and professional purposes because the high light output provides better visibility and higher productivity. In a domestic setting, this is not always necessary unless the light is used for a hobby or space where it is desired. For example, in a shed, garage, or hobby room.
What is the difference between the number of Watts and Lumens of a lamp?
The number of Watts indicates the energy consumption of a lamp and not the light output (brightness). When buying LED lighting, it is therefore important to look at the number of Lumens instead of the Wattage.
Below we have compared Lumens with the power in Watts of an LED lamp, a halogen lamp, a compact fluorescent lamp, and an incandescent lamp.
|
|
LED | Halogen | Compact Fluorescent | Incandescent |
|
50-200 Lumens |
1-2 Watts | 18 Watts | 5 Watts | 25 Watts |
|
200-300 Lumens |
2-3 Watts | 18-28 Watts | 7 Watts | 35 Watts |
|
300-500 Lumens |
3-5 Watts | 35 Watts | 10 Watts | 40 Watts |
|
500-700 Lumens |
5-7 Watts | 60 Watts | 13 Watts | 50 Watts |
|
700-1000 Lumens |
7-11 Watts | 65 Watts | 13-17 Watts | 60-80 Watts |
| 1000-1250 Lumens | 11-13 Watts | 100 Watts | 17-22 Watts | 80-100 Watts |
| 1250-2000 Lumens | 13-20 Watts | 120 Watts | 22-33 Watts | 100-150 Watts |
How many Lumens you need per space in your home, for example, is difficult to say. It depends on the size of the room, type of lamp, and of course your own taste. To give some idea, we have a small chart with average Lumen usage per room. Keep in mind this is an average per room. Make your choice based on your personal situation (layout, taste). The more lumens, the more light.
|
Room
|
Kitchen | Living Room | Bedroom | Bathroom | Hallway |
|
Lumens per m² |
700-800 | 400-500 | 300-400 | 700-800 | 300 |
What is Lux?
Lux (symbol lx) is a unit of illuminance: 1 lux is the illuminance produced by a light source with a luminous intensity of 1 candela on a surface perpendicular to the light rays at a distance of 1 meter from the source. Lux therefore corresponds to the illuminance when each square meter of the considered surface receives a luminous flux of one lumen. The number of lux is thus found as the quotient of the total received luminous flux, expressed in lumens, and the size of the illuminated surface expressed in square meters. 1 lux = 1 lumen/m².
Examples of Lux
- Sunlight: 100,000 - 130,000 lux (100 - 130 klx)
- Daylight, indirect sunlight: 10,000 - 20,000 lux (10 - 20 klx)
- Cloudy day: 1000 lux (1 klx)
- Sunrise / sunset on a clear day: 400 lux
- Office: 300 - 500 lux
- (Open) train station platform: 5 - 20 lux
- Very dark day: 100 lux
- Office building hall, toilet lighting: 80 lux
- Living room: 50 lux
- Public spaces with a dark environment: 20 - 50 lux
- Dusk: 10 lux
- Dark dusk: 1 lux
- Full moon: 0.1 lux
- Quarter moon: 0.01 lux (10 mlx)
- New moon without clouds: 0.001 lux (1 mlx)
- Cloudy night without moon: 0.0001 lux (0.1 mlx)
