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(04-23-2018, 10:04 AM)Foggy Wrote: Light fixtures are rated for maximum wattage based on the heat output of incandescent light bulbs. What size LED bulb
heat output is equal to that of an incandescent 100 watt, 75 watt, 60 watt, and 40 watt bulb. In other words: How bright a LED bulb can I put in place of an incandescent bulb?
Hi
Foggy - you are almost unlimited w/ LED bulbs which are usually rated by wattage and lumens - check this
CNET Article for a thorough explanation and the chart below from the same link - throughout my house I've replaced nearly all my lights w/ LED equivalents, e.g. the 6 in my den ceiling now consume about the same wattage as one of the old incandescent ones!
In my basement shop, I have all LEDs in the ceiling fixtures (except for one 2 bulb fluorescent fixture over my oldest shop bench) - these are at least 100 to 150W LEDs - could go even higher as implied in the chart below. Dave
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(04-23-2018, 10:04 AM)Foggy Wrote: Light fixtures are rated for maximum wattage based on the heat output of incandescent light bulbs. What size LED bulb
heat output is equal to that of an incandescent 100 watt, 75 watt, 60 watt, and 40 watt bulb. In other words: How bright a LED bulb can I put in place of an incandescent bulb?
In terms of heat, a watt is a watt. If the fixture is rated for 100 watts that's what size lamp you can install (100 watts actual, not 100 watts equivalent). Realistically, any LED that fits will be fine.
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Just one caveat to all of the above - some LED units don't like heat,* like many compact fluorescent bulbs, so do be aware that sticking a 500W equivalent into a non-vented recessed can with cover lens may cause excessive temperatures in the LED bulb, while being far from excessive for the can.
*Or more like, the enemy of most electronics is excessive temperatures, but what is considered excessive will vary among devices. But you get the idea.
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It is not clear to me if you are referring to the actual temperature of the fixture or the color temperature of the light.
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Just beware that the belief is that leds don't produce heat. Which is incorrect. They don't produce the infrared heat that regular bulbs do. But they do produce quite a bit of heat that has to be conducted away with a heat sink and the powersupply create heat as well.
Led bulbs will never last their rated life. They will fail not because of the led but because the capacitor in the power supply will fail and many led bulbs use garbage capacitors.
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So... Is a 100 watt equivalent LED bulb equivalent to a 100 watt incandescent bulb in the number of lumens produced [brightness] or in the amount of heat produced?
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Another way of asking: how bright of a LED bulb can I put in a fixture rated 40 watt incandescent without cooking the wires? Or: How hot does a Led bulb get relative to its wattage or lumens?
My boss is a Jewish carpenter. Our DADDY owns the business.
Trying to understand some people is like trying to pick up the clean end of a turd.