What Is The Equivalent Wattage For LED Bulbs?

If you run to the nearest home depot to buy lighting fixtures for your home or business, you will be met with so many choices.

One of the most popular options is the LED bulb. However, before buying anything, don’t forget to learn about the equivalent wattage of LED Bulbs.

What Are LED Bulbs?

An LED bulb is an electric light source produced by using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Over the years, it has become the top alternative to Halogen, Incandescent, and Compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs).

While all these belong to the lightbulb family, LED bulbs are known to have lower wattages. Given that, what does this mean exactly? Well, wattage (W) is a term that refers to the amount of electric power a tool or equipment produces.

So since the wattages of LED bulbs are lower than others, they produce less energy. When compared to incandescent lighting, LED bulbs produce 75% less energy.

With this, you can easily tell that there are massive differences, not only in terms of  wattage, between LED bulbs and the others.

What Are The Wattage Equivalents?

Regardless of the type of lightbulbs you have, they pretty much serve the same purpose. They are there to light up whatever spaces you have. However, not all lightbulbs are created equal.

And you will learn what these differences are once you figure out the noteworthy distinctions. Here we get into figuring out the different wattage equivalents of LED bulbs when compared with other types of bulbs.

Lumens

Before getting into the thick of things, there is also one other important matter related to lightbulbs that you should remember. Despite producing less energy than other kinds of bulbs, the brightness of LED bulbs is not dependent on their wattage or electric power.

If you want to know just how much light you can get from a bulb, you should check its Lumens. If you are shifting to LED ones, this is one factor that you should not disregard.

Lumen is probably the best way to measure LED watts. While there might be people out there who would argue about this, the truth of the matter is it does make sense to know more about how bright these LED light bulbs are.

It would probably surprise someone who is not too keen with learning the ins and outs of lightbulbs that a 15 Watt LED bulb and 60 Watt Incandescent bulb have the same brightness.

This basically tells you that a light bulb can achieve the same brightness  with the use of less energy.

In some countries and territories, light bulb manufacturers, including producers of LED bulbs are required by law to put information such as the brightness (in Lumens) on the label.

This information, together with other details such as yearly energy cost estimate, on the packaging informs the consumers about what kind of bulb they are spending their money on.

Luminous Efficacy

Knowing about both wattage and lumen plays a part in understanding Luminous Efficacy. It is the measure or ratio of how well a light source produces visible light. It refers to the conversion of energy (measured in watts) into light (measured in lumens).

If you wish to understand the efficacy in light bulbs, there might be some maths involved. Don’t fret! It’s not as complicated as you think. If you replace an incandescent lightbulb with an LED bulb, you can use this ratio.

Your go to ratio can either be 5:1 or 6:1. Here’s an example that would make it easier for you to understand.

If you have a 40-watt incandescent light bulb that you wish to trade for with an LED bulb, you can divide the wattage by 5.

The quotient of 8 would be the LED bulb wattage equivalent. See it’s that easy. With this rough estimate, you can, more or less, get the right wattage conversion.

Some LED light bulb brands indicate the wattage equivalents, making it easier for people to figure out what they are getting. However, in case they don’t have these disclaimers, you can go ahead and use the ratio guideline.

This guideline is not only applicable to incandescent bulb to LED bulb wattage conversion. It also works for other types of lightbulbs. Consider using the ratio every single time you make a lightbulb purchase.

LED Wattage Equivalent Guide

If you are about to pick up LED light bulbs but don’t have time to crunch numbers, you can just go ahead and refer to this wattage conversion table.

It’s not that hard to interpret this table. If you are worried about not getting the brightness you want if you switch to an LED bulb, looking at these numbers would make things easier for you.

While the numbers above are average estimates or ranges, they are good reference points. At the end of the day, each LED light bulb in the market has its own specifications and these are dependent on their manufacturers.

If the equivalent wattage of the LED bulbs you are looking at is not there, feel free to do your own calculations and estimates.

By looking at the equivalent wattage table, you can see that with LED bulbs, even if you want a lightbulb that has high lumens, the energy required for it to work is exceptionally lower than compared with the Incandescent and Halogen bulbs.

This guide would serve you well if you are thinking of upgrading your lighting system

Convert To LED Bulbs

Converting to LED bulbs is not as difficult as you think. Perhaps one of the challenges of making the shift to LED bulbs is making sure they fit the base of your light bulb.

After figuring out the equivalent wattage for LED bulbs, you should also consider the size and shape. You might have found the perfect LED bulbs as a replacement for your old bulbs, but it would be a waste of money if they don’t fit.

Once you get the size, shape, base, and wattage right, you are on your way to maximizing the benefits of using LED bulbs.

When speaking about LED bulbs, energy efficiency seems to be one of the top reasons why you should make the change. However, there is more to this than meets the eye.

In this case, after learning about the importance of LED wattage equivalents. There are several reasons why you should make the shift to an energy-saving alternative.

Longevity

If you want something that can last longer than CFL and incandescent bulbs, then go get some LED bulbs. On average, LED bulbs can last two to four times longer than CFL. It can last 25 times or more than incandescent bulbs.

Some studies suggest that LED bulbs can last up to 50,000 hours. With this, you don’t have to replace your bulbs constantly. Of course, if you use it more frequently, the shorter its lifespan would become.

Produces Less Heat

Contrary to what others believe, LED bulbs also emit heat. However, it’s far less than the heat produced by other traditional bulb types. Some factors can affect the amount of heat LED bulbs release. It depends on its size and light output, as well the location.

Only about 5% of the light emitted by LED bulbs becomes heat. The rest – 95% – is converted into light. Despite only producing 5% of heat, it’s still not advisable to directly touch the LED bulbs, especially if lit. You might risk burning your hand and hurting yourself.

Since they produce very little heat, LED bulbs should be kept away from anything hot. When exposed to something that gives off excess heat for an extended period, it shortens the lifespan of your LED bulbs.

Friendlier To The Environment

Lighting, including the use of bulbs, contributes to Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions. Since LED bulbs produce less energy than some of their other counterparts, they also have fewer carbon emissions.

Since more and more people around the world are using LED bulbs to light different indoor and outdoor spaces, there has been a significant decline in the carbon footprint.

Hopefully, the technology involved in developing LED bulbs improves even more. Continuing this progress would further reduce CO2 emissions on Earth.

Light It Up With LED Bulbs

Making the switch from a particular light bulb type to an LED bulb is not that hard. You would not waste time and energy in making the change if you know what you want, and you have an idea about the equivalent wattage for LED bulbs!