Is a lumen a lumen or does the diffuser and bulb shape etc make a difference

What is the best way to illuminate a large house with the least amount of watts?

I. have noticed spotlights i.e gu10s have very narrow angles and you actually need a lot of them in a room wattage wise compared to an LED surface mount panel light.

Then old school ES27s seem to give off good light but are not aesthetically pleasing?

So far my experience suggest recessed LED panel lighting is the best bang for your buck?

Edited May 17, 20233 yr by Lee2

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Edited May 17, 20233 yr by Lee2

On 2023/05/17 at 1:50 PM, Lee2 said:

Is a lumen a lumen or does the diffuser and bulb shape etc make a difference

What is the best way to illuminate a large house with the least amount of watts?

I. have noticed spotlights i.e gu10s have very narrow angles and you actually need a lot of them in a room wattage wise compared to an LED surface mount panel light.

Then old school ES27s seem to give off good light but are not aesthetically pleasing?

So far my experience suggest recessed LED panel lighting is the best bang for your buck?

...think of back in the days when school experiments were exciting. You could use aluminium foil to scatter the light... no?

well I'm no expert but the less diffusion and bouncing the light does before it hits the desired area the more efficient. but diffused and bounced light is prettier. so I guess its a trade off.

and yes there are different grades of LED's and also the drivers make a difference. Less heat = better for both. A high quality LED source driven by an efficient constant current driver is probably the best. as constant voltage LED arrays use resistors to limit the current, wasting (a small) amount of energy.

Edited December 1, 20232 yr by zylinx

A lumen is a light output unit of measurement; thus, a lumen is still a lumen no matter what is used as a source or diffuser. Nevertheless, the distribution of light can be effectively carried out through the factors such as the bulb shape, diffuser, and beam angle. Light from a narrow-beam GU10 spotlight is concentrated in a restricted area, therefore you will probably have to use more fixtures to light a larger area. Conversely, a surface-mount LED panel or table-mounted LED panel interferes with the light distribution, so there are fewer fixtures that can wrap around a room. Speaking of the energy efficiency aspect and hence making light only with low power consumption, the recessed LED lights can be the best option water head, because of being the uniform and wide option with low wattage consumption. For example, conventional ES27 bulbs that might already give out good light, can still be energy wasteful, and also they may look too old-fashioned as compared to the more trendy bulbs. In a nutshell, the type of lighting chosen is based on the combination of them you prefer, the amount of biological time you can use for them, and the level of evenness that you want.

Edited November 15, 20241 yr by brook

I have had good results with this kind of lighting. Has a magnetic base, and fits into the existing fixture. You just need to get the AC feed to it. This is 24W and 2000 lumens. Gives good light for our living room

 

 

Edited November 14, 20241 yr by Bobster.