What are lumens?
Lumens are 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 lumen count is therefore brighter than a lamp with a lower lumen count.
Why are lumens important?
Lumens are 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?
In general, you need about 50 lumens for every square meter of space. This means that a room of 10 square meters requires approximately 500 lumens.
But what does that mean in practice?
A lamp with a light output of 500 lumens is sufficient to adequately illuminate a room of 10 square meters. 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 adequately illuminate a room of 20 square meters. 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 adequately illuminate a room of 5 square meters. 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 for every 1 watt, 120 lumens of light output is 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 watt, the more the lamp saves compared to traditional lighting. This is because you can sometimes generate up to 85% more light output for the same wattage. High lumen lamps are often used for business and professional purposes, as the high light output provides better visibility and higher productivity. In a home setting, this is not always necessary unless the light is used for a hobby or in a space where this is desired, such as 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 (the brightness). Therefore, when purchasing LED lighting, it is important to look at the number of Lumens instead of the Wattage.
Below we have compared the 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 Watt | 35 Watt | 10 Watt | 40 Watt |
|
500-700 Lumen |
5-7 Watt | 60 Watt | 13 Watt | 50 Watt |
|
700-1000 Lumen |
7-11 Watt | 65 Watt | 13-17 Watt | 60-80 Watt |
| 1000-1250 Lumen | 11-13 Watt | 100 Watt | 17-22 Watt | 80-100 Watt |
| 1250-2000 Lumen | 13-20 Watt | 120 Watt | 22-33 Watt | 100-150 Watt |
How many Lumens you need per room in, for example, your home is difficult to say. It depends on the size of the room, type of lamp, and of course your personal taste. To give you a rough idea, we have a small chart with average Lumen usage per room. Please note that this is an average usage per room. Make your choice based on your personal situation (decor, 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?
The 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. Thus, the lux corresponds to the illuminance one has when every square meter of the considered surface receives a luminous flux of one lumen. The number of lux is therefore 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: 1,000 lux (1 klx)
- Sunrise / sunset on a clear day: 400 lux
- Office: 300 - 500 lux
- (Open) platform train station: 5 - 20 lux
- Very dark day: 100 lux
- Hall office building, toilet lighting: 80 lux
- Living room: 50 lux
- Public spaces with a dark environment: 20 - 50 lux
- Twilight: 10 lux
- Dark twilight: 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)
