How to Calculate the Number of LED Light Bulbs You Need in a Room

If you’re looking to replace the lights in your Scottsdale home with LEDs, the first step is figuring out what kind of LEDs to buy, and more importantly, how many to get. For years, all consumers had to do was look at the wattage rating on a light bulb to get an idea of its brightness. Basically, the more watts in a bulb, the brighter it was, or so the conventional line of thought went. Most people simply got used to the intensity of light they got from 40-, 60-, and 100-watt incandescent light bulbs.

LEDs and Other Energy Efficient Lights are Changing the Rules

The advent of energy-efficient lighting solutions like LEDs has changed the unofficial “rule” of referring to a bulb’s watts rating to determine brightness, however. Today, lighting manufacturers use lumens to describe a light bulb’s brightness because the low energy consumption of LEDs has made our former expectations of brightness relative to watts obsolete. A lumen is the measure of a light source’s brightness as perceived by the human eye.

In other words, LEDs use such small amounts of electricity that it’s become hard to judge how bright they are based on watts alone – hence the introduction of lumens as a measure of brightness. For example, a 60-watt incandescent bulbs LED equivalent has an energy input of just 6 to 8 watts.

Retrofitting Your Home with LEDs

If you’re looking to replace your Scottsdale home lights but don’t know how, here’s a short guide to help you out.

1. First, you need to determine the lux level for each room/space in your home. Lux refers to the intensity of light as seen on a surface. The appropriate lux level for a room depends on the activities happening there (e.g. eating, cooking, resting or sleeping, studying and working, general lighting).

2. Different lighting specialists and policymakers have different guides for determining recommended lux levels for living spaces. For example, this guide recommends the following standards:

Kitchens

– General kitchen lighting – 300 lux

– Counter top lighting – 750 lux

Bedrooms

– General bedroom lighting – 300 lux

– Task lighting – 500 lux

Bathrooms

– General bathroom lighting – 300 lux

Dining Room

– General dining room lighting – 200 lux

Living Room

– General living room lighting – 300 lux

– Living room task lighting – 500 lux

3. Measure the room’s surface area in square meters.

4. Calculate the required total lumens number for a room by taking its recommended lux level and multiplying it with the room’s total area.

5. Divide the result by the lumens rating of your desired LED light bulb.

6. The result will be the total number of LED light bulbs required.

When in doubt, it’s always a good idea to consult with a lighting designer or even a contractor when designing your home’s lighting layout. Just remember to think of the activities likely to happen inside a room, and plan accordingly for these specific applications.