Help with new LED bulbs

[mike2874]

I have a 10’ x 10’ office with the only lighting being a ceiling fan with 3 lights. The light sockets have a 40-watt max and I have been using CFL EcoSmart 60 watt equivalents/900 lumens with a 2700K color temperature.

My office is so dimly lit that I want to try some LED bulbs but wondering whether I should get a 75 or 100 watt equivalent and whether they should be a Bright White in the 4000K range or 5000K Daylight?

LED bulbs are kind of expensive so could use your input so I don’t waste money buying the wrong ones for my situation.

Been looking at Home Depot’s website for EcoSmart, Philips, Cree, and Feit... are they all equally decent?

 

[Greenman]

Those 4 and 5k range LEDs are pretty horrible, way to blue. I'd use the 3k bulbs.

 

[bbhaag]

I'm gonna have to agree with Greenman. The 4k and 5k bulbs look way to institutional for me. Think hospitals and colleges for example. I like the more warm light of the 2700k to 3000k bulbs around the house but in an office setting maybe the 4k and 5k spectrum might be more suited to help brighten up your space.

 

[Micrornd]

Depends what you do in your office. The Daylight temp bulbs give you a truer color rendition, while the 3k bulbs are about the equivalent of the old warm white or incandescent bulbs.
I prefer to see "things" the same colors indoors as they are outdoors. That may not matter in your line of work.

I really don't see the "blueness" in "daylight" bulbs that some people do, but that may be just me. I do always notice the "orangeness" in the 3k bulbs though.

Forget wattage equivalents that's grossly overrated. Lumen output is what you should look for, and you'll find quite a variance in the same "wattage equivalents".
In the 40w socket you mentioned, you can easily this 23w bulb - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D8VP91V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Of course at 2550 lumens, it may be too much light

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've been using LED bulbs in my floor-lamp fixtures ($10 from Walmart, with a "arm" posable lamp, and a top torchiere-style 3-way lamp, that I don't use), with LED bulbs, one's a Phillips that I picked up like 5 years ago at Staples for like $5, and the other one, I don't recall.

But, LED bulbs (well-made ones) last damn near forever. Even when lit 24/7.

 

[mike2874]

Sorry I was waiting to be alerted of any replies and never did get any then got busy.

Well like I mentioned already I'm already using a 900 lumin CFL with 2700K and it's definitely not bright enough for my office it has too much of a dark yellow tinge for my my tastes. So I think I need a bright white or daylight but can't decide on lumins 1100 vs 1500-1600... going from 900 lumins x3 (3 bulbs) to 1100 lumins will it be that much of a difference? I'm sure going to 1500-1600 will be a huge difference but will it be too bright and not pleasant?

 

[ElFenix]

Buy both and return the one you decide not to use. Wear a mask.

 

[PowerEngineer]

It might be difficult to get the right lighting from a single ceiling fixture. You might think about adding a desk and/or floor lamp.

 

[bbhaag]

Buy both and return the one you decide not to use. Wear a mask.

Indeed, this seems to be the simplest and most straight forward solution to the OP's situation.

 

[mike2874]

Yep you're probably right I'll see about ordering online I have yet to feel comfortable about going into stores.

 

[Mark Holmes]

"standard floor lamps", I bought and used them and I am very pleased with them. It’s impossible to go wrong with the standard choice. One of the brightest floor lamp.
This type of light is suitable for task-oriented purposes such as reading or working. Because of the way these lights can emit light in multiple directions, they are best used as ambient or general lighting in one spot.
Given how these illuminants can cast lights in multiple directions. Therefore, you’d see standard floor lamps placed on the room’s edge or corner.

 

[Paperdoc]

RE: colour temperature - it's your preference. For me, the "ideal" is the 4000K ones, but they are getting hard to find. I think 3000K and lower are too "creamy" for my taste, and 5000K are just a bit too blueish, but not by much. So If I can't get 4000K I'll go 5000. Subjectively, some people find that 4000K or 5000K light seems "brighter" for the same Watts or Lumen ratings.

Re: power, brightness, temperatures. I agree with Micrornd - forget Watts, look at Lumens output. For your situation looking for a significant increase in brightness, try for more than double what you have been using. Operating Temperature (not normally spec'd and NOT the "colour temp") considerations are different for LED lamps. Each such bulb has a "driver" circuit in its base that converts household power to what the LED's inside need. That circuit produces waste heat, but it is concentrated in the base, not in the upper part with a filament like on old bulbs. Light fixture Wattage ratings are based mainly on ability to get rid of heat at the fixture lamp base when using older filament bulbs (depends on base material and wire insulation), and those have the main heat source far out from the base. In your case, the sockets can withstand the heat from a 40 W filament bulb, so it PROBABLY can stand the heat from the base of a LED bulb rated in the 20 to 30 W area. Such a bulb can give you a LOT of light in LED type. For example, the Lohas bulbs linked by Micrornd above use 23 W and claim to generate 2500 Lumens at a colour temp of 5000K. I'm using for high-brightness locations these similar LED's from Energetic Lighting

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KG3MSGV?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

rated to consume 21 W for 2600 Lumens at 5000K. I also use these for a bit less light from Phillips

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01GFOR37W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

using 14 W for 1500 Lumens at 5000K.

Re: Costs and Lifetime, I think the estimated lifetimes quoted by LED makers are unreliable, but do offer some useful info. Forget "years of use" numbers - use only the HOURS specification. 10,000 hours is poor. 30,000 hours and sometime more is good IF you do get that. But it will be at least a couple of years before you know! My inclination is to rely more on well-known makers. I DID keep track on some 60 W equivalent LED's from Phillips I use in a Living Room fixture. They certainly exceeded the spec's Phillips quoted on them - I calculated over 30,000 hours on several when I replaced them, so I bought a bunch more of the same ones. I do notice that many cheaper LED lamps spec their lifetime lower that better lamps.

In your case, OP, you do not need ones that claim to be good for use with dimmers. SOMETIMES you get ones rated that way for almost the same price but probably rated for longer lifetimes. I suspect that these ones have tougher components in the drive circuits in their base to deal with a different type of power input. In fact, I also suspect that what limits the lifetime of LED lamps is that driver circuit. That's not like the older lamps whose lifetime was determined by the filament.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Those 4 and 5k range LEDs are pretty horrible, way to blue. I'd use the 3k bulbs.

Agreed, 5k is too much like an office
2700 to 3000 is the way to go for a home, unless it is an area where you need really bright/colorless light basically office light.

 

[mindless1]

Old topic, but no one mentioned CRI? I prefer 3K to 4K color temp and CRI 90 or better, in any room I'd spend a lot of time in. Higher CRI may even be more important the lower the color temp is... might just be a subjective impression but when I see low CRI, 3K light, it gives things an olive green/gray hue.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I like 6400k for office/workshop and similar style environments as it's a nice pure white light. It will look blue if compared to lower temps but if you are in a room with only those, it really appears as a nice white light, like the sun. I have not found that available in LED. When I do my garage I'm putting in a bunch of T8 fixtures and 6400k T8 bulbs. I don't like that lot of LED fixtures now have integrated LEDs either. It means the whole fixture is a dud when the driver fails, which it will, because they're made so cheap. Then you won't be able to get the exact same fixture anymore because they'll have stopped making them by then. This is something to keep in mind when looking at any light fixture, avoid the ones with integrated LEDs.

 

[mindless1]

^ There's nothing pure about 6K4, rather it is more blue than anything that exists, on earth, besides LED bulb manufacturers trying to squeeze a few more lumens out.

Further, it is a more glaring light that doesn't even allow seeing things as well as a cooler color temp at the respective lower lumens. That's just how the human eye reacts, there is no point or good reason to choose above 5K color temp.

The sun is not 6K4 color temp, especially at this, fall, time of year.

 

[Paperdoc]

I agree with Red Squirrel about the new LED strips that have integrated LED's to replace fluorescents. Replacing one of these when it fails is 'way more expensive than a fluorescent tube would have been, and that is because you are replacing a LOT more resource materials. I'm doing a garage now, too, and have found what I consider a better alternative. They are called LED Conversion tube lamps.

To convert an old fluorescent fixture into using replaceable LED's in tube forms there are two options. The simplest are "drop-in" units that look like fluorescent tubes and are simply installed into the fixture sockets at each end just like the old tube. Since fixture sizes and electrical connectors are the same for the older T12 and newer T8 tubes, the drop-ins will fit either. They are certainly more expensive than old fluorescent tubes. What I don't like about them is their projected lifetime - typically 10 to 15 thousand hours, less the a fluorescent and MUCH less that good LED's. I am pretty sure this is because they must be built with driver circuits fed very high voltage in pulses from the fixture's ballast circuits. Those ballast systems were built to fire high voltage through long gas-filled tubes. What I conside better are the BYPASS type of conversion tubes. They also are exactly the same size as what they replace so they do fit correctly into an older T12 or T8 fixture. BUT you MUST do a one-time modification to the fixture. The wiring inside needs to be changed to eliminate the ballast from use (best to just remove it from the fixture) and alter the remaining wiring. These lamps are fed directly from the 110 VAC power lines and contain in one end a driver just like most other LED lamps to feed power to a long strip of LED's down the lamp. They come in two sub-varieties. One has the two power lines connect to the two pins on ONE end of the lamp, and the pins on the other end are not electrically active, so they only fit into their socket for mechanical support. The other design has power fed to TWO ends. At each end the pins are connected together, so one power wire is fed (to either or both pins) at each end. I have bought lamps by Feit of this latter two-end connection variety. They are about twice the price of old fluorescent lamps, but their lifetime is in the 35 to 50 thousand hour range, and they are replaceable. (I just have to hope these devices will stay on the market for decades.) Note that using these means you are NOT using the ballasts, which are components that wear out and are getting really hard to find.

For my garage project I went to a local firm that accepts used electrical junk for recycling or proper disposal, and luckily they had four 4-foot two-lamp T12 fluorescent strips they sold me for about the price of one new one. I stripped out the ballasts and set them aside in case I might need to replace one in an older T12 fixture in the house. I bought a couple about eight metres of white 16-gauge wire rated for 90 C and installed in each fixture a 5-foot piece to reach from the 4 wires (two sockets) at the "far" end back to the "near" end where the power supply wire will come in, and they are ready to install. I bought a case if 10 of those Feit two-end Bypass-style LED lamps and that gives me two spares to start with.

I started my garage project planning to use all T8 fixtures and tubes but ran into the reality that, even now, it is getting hard to find such items. So I switched about half my lighting plans to these converted fixture units.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'm hoping they standardize the retrofit ones eventually so that once you rewire it, you only need to do it once. I noticed a lot of them want you to change even the tombstones. Either way it's not too hard to rewire. That's probably what I will end up doing at some point. I will buy 2 boxes of T8 bulbs and as they die I will replace with the retrofit ones. They put some in at work and you couldn't even tell that they are LED, they still put out a nice white light.

 

[mindless1]

I just keep my T8 fixtures going as fluorescent. I only have them in areas where the lights stay on for a while when used, so I get pretty long tube lifetime hours.

Not too long ago a few at the same age (about 20 years?), coming on together on same switched circuit, needed new ballasts, but those were only $11 on Amazon. Hmm, price creep, now $14:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQRFS8

I may end up switching them to LED after I use up the last 12pk of tubes I bought, as they were only $2/ea in a 12pk at the time but are also creeping closer to $4/ea.