Suitable lumens for a living room - LED bulbs.

[CluelessDIYer1]

We're debating getting a new light unit for the living room as our room is approx 7mtr -x- 3.5 mtr & it's only got 3 E14bulbs in the centre of the room which point upwards.

Was looking at either:
1) http://www.diy.com/nav/decor/lighti...hts/Chorley-Semi-Flush-Ceiling-Light-10867695 Which we think looks better in person than on that page
2) http://www.diy.com/nav/decor/lighti...ts/Venus-5-Light-Semi-Flush-Downlight-9788966 which we didn't see in store.

Anyway, the wife doesn't like the cool crisp white light of LEDs so this would need to be warm lighting.

Just unsure what sort of LED bulb would be suitable for the living room & it can get a bit costly going for the trial & error approach.

http://www.ledhut.co.uk/led-bulbs/e14-led-bulbs.html

210-410 lumens
120-240 angle
I notice it doesn't give their kelvin rating


So from those with experience, what's suitable for the living room?

 

[JohnD]

In the old days, a room of the size you describe would have needed (with incandescent lamps) about a 100W lamp at each end. So about 2200lumens.

You could do it with two 24W CFLs, or a similar wattage of LEDs. However there is an advantage to having graduated lighting. A living room will often look better with one or two table or standard lamps, especially in the evening when you are relaxing, and you may be comfortable with only about half that if you are watching TV. A reading lamp will be useful. You can then switch on more or fewer of these lamps to suit your mood, even if you splash out on dimmables. The days of one pendant per room should be gone by now.

If you use a poor form of lighting such as downlighters or spots you will need more power (and expense).

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

We realised today how restricted we are with the mains.

I asked the Mrs if she was planning on any lamp & she said she thought of having one in the darker area of the room. Problem is, on the back wall where the sofa will be, there's no mains at all.

Opposite (wall where the telly will be) there's 2 sockets to the left of the chimney breast. On the right side of the chimney breast there's another 2 sockets & in the corner by the window is another 2 sockets & that's it.

Not a lot for a room that size. Certainly not a living room.

We've just had the place re-plastered too. It's doable with extensions (previous owners surely must've) but looking back on it we maybe could've had a spark wire in a few more in suitable locations (depending on what that even entails).

Telly, Sky box, broadband router - 3 things that will be permanently plugged in straight away.




The existing lighting is "ok" for the room. Nothing special, but once it warms up then it's probably bright enough. Can't really tell without the sofa, TV etc in there but it looks just "ok".

I've ordered some LEDs from LED Hut to see how they do. Eventually i want the entire place converting to LED lighting.

 

[JohnD]

you need more than 2,000 lumens in a room that size, IMO.

It will need quite a number of LEDs

Don't you like CFLs?

 

[maltaron]

GU10 LED's are available in cool white(daylight equivalent), warm white and almost any colour you want. I think LEDhut do BC and ES versions in similar colours. So your better half can have warm white like incandescent lamps in LEDs.

 

[maltaron]

Just a follow up. I have just checked the LEDhut site and if you click on any lamp it gives you all the options available in whites and dimmable etc. Warm white will be 3000-4000 Degrees Kevin and cool white is 6000-7000.

 

[ericmark]

I was rather surprised swapped lamps many times started with 2 x 100W tungsten then 6 x 40W tungsten then 6 x 11W CFL which was useless so swapped fittings again so 10 x 8W CFL still not great so then 8 x 3W LED + 2 x 1.8W LED and the room is really bright even though working on lumens it should be dimmer.

The lumen should relate to the light a human perceives but seems they got it wrong.

It seems the same with Kelvin mine are 3000 K and my camera confirms that setting but I see it as being very white we have now got use to it but was rather surprised.

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

Yeah i don't understand that kelvin at all.

I imagine it's the same when putting HIDs in cars headlights. In that case 6000k gives a blue tint. Not mega blue that you see on your average boy racer Saxo, but a hint of blue. 8000k is hey look at me i have pretty lights - BLUE. From research, 4300k was the accepted white - what factory fitteds have.

So when you get into 2500-3000 i'm surprised these are still white. If i remember the scale then the lower down the number you go then the more yellow it gets? So it shouldn't be white at all.



Oh & i googled CFL as i don't know what you were on about - same as some other abbreviations. Anyway it seems we already have them twizzy CFL lights in at the moment. IMO they're crap.

 

[AnotherTom]

you may find this useful

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kruithof_curve

it shows how we perceive different colour temperature according to brightness.

Tom

 

[jeds]

My living room is 5.5mx5.5m. I've got 6 wall lights on a dimmer, which we use all the time, and three ceiling lights which we only use when we want to light the room up.

About a year ago I bought 3 candle type LEDs from LED Hut plus an LED dimmer. They're ok. Light is good - warm white - and they dim ok. Recently I bought some more to replace the last of the old halogens. But this time I bought the new Lumilife 3.8w golf ball types. About five quid each because I bought 6 and got some discount as well. (LED Hut are always emailing 20% off vouchers) The new golf ball ones are brilliant. They dim over a much wider range and the colour temperature is exactly the same as a halogen. You can't tell the difference - except when you look at the energy monitor.

6x 3.8w LEDs in my 30m² living room is plenty. We mostly have them dimmed down about half way.

 

[MarkBarl]

I have purchased LED bulbs from LEDhut. I go for the "Warm White" option and have been very pleased. You will probably never quite replicate the tungsten feel but I found them to be quite acceptable. I prefer them to the CFLs as they don't have to warm up. I have been very impressed with the quality of the bulbs from LEDHut and their service, I would happily recommend them. Do keep an eye out for voucher codes as they will regularly offer anywhere between 5-20% discount. A popular one with them is LEDMORE which even if it isn't active, they will offer another code for you to use.

 

[JohnD]

what sort of dimmer do you need with leds?

 

[jeds]

what sort of dimmer do you need with leds?

Most standard dimmers won't work on loads less than about 25w. Half a dozen 3.8w LEDS is obviously less than that so a standard dimmer wouldn't get started. For LEDs you need a low load dimmer that will start at about 5w. If you've already got the dimmer and are changing over, a way around it is to leave one 30 or 40w bulb in the system.

Just to add; there are lots of potential issues with using incompatible dimmers. Really, each situation needs to be considered and a suitable dimmer selected.

 

[SimonH2]

We're debating getting a new light unit for the living room as our room is approx 7mtr -x- 3.5 mtr & it's only got 3 E14bulbs in the centre of the room which point upwards.

Was looking at either:
1) http://www.diy.com/nav/decor/lighti...hts/Chorley-Semi-Flush-Ceiling-Light-10867695 Which we think looks better in person than on that page
2) http://www.diy.com/nav/decor/lighti...ts/Venus-5-Light-Semi-Flush-Downlight-9788966 which we didn't see in store.

Anyway, the wife doesn't like the cool crisp white light of LEDs so this would need to be warm lighting.

Just unsure what sort of LED bulb would be suitable for the living room & it can get a bit costly going for the trial & error approach.

http://www.ledhut.co.uk/led-bulbs/e14-led-bulbs.html[/QUOTE]
Aha, one I can give first hand feedback for
SO has one of the 3 way Venus fittings in living room. Diverging slightly, I was sat there and casually mentioned that she could do with some lamp shades as I cringed at the bare bulb, in a plastic lampholder, grafted onto the remains of what must have been a metal light fitting (the base and stem were still there) - and with the redundant earth wire sticking out like a sore thumb. At which point, she pulled out a box and said something like "I've had this for about 3 years but don't know how to fit it". As I happened to have some tools and ladders with me (don't ask !), 5 minutes later it was fitted.

I bought two LED lamps (7W Megaman) and a dimmer (Varilight) from LEDstop to try out. What I found was :
Neither the golfball nor the candle fit the fitting very well. The LED bulbs are significantly longer than incandescents AND the electronics part is a fair length. The result is that the electronics fills the shade completely and the entire light emitting part of the bulb sticks out past the end of the shade - so the shade is dark while a bright bulb sticks out past it. While functionally either would have worked fine, aesthetically they didn't look right - and we stuck with incandescents (the halogen type with a small capsule inside a larger envelope).

Also, I found that the dimmer works fine with the halogen lamps - but while it "works" just fine with the LEDs as well, they don't actually dim to a very low level (ie the LED is still "quite bright" even with the dimmer on minimum).

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

Thanks for the input.

The unit we have in place right now is similar to the Venus except it points to the ceiling.

It currently has those CFL bulbs in it & they protrude beyond the shades. I put the golf ball LED bulb in there tonight & it sits inside the shade, so it certainly looks better, but as i say - all the light is directed to a small circle on the ceiling. Not good.

I think we should take the bulbs with us (or 1 bulb rather) to B&Q & see how it looks when screwed into their unit. The light output of the bulb is actually good.