Ask A LED Tech Articles – What is color temperature?

I see Kelvin ratings on your website and don’t know what that means to me.

 “What is the Colour Temperature?” This question is asked of us nearly every day. In the early days of LED bulbs, customers were quick to notice that most LED bulbs were “too blue”. The white was too intense; especially in areas of the home such as the family room or bedroom. Now, it is very common to find a LED bulb that will be more suitable. To do that, you need to look on the package for certain information. That information will appear in a description such as “soft white, warm white, neutral white, cool white, or daylight white. That usually isn’t a lot of help. However, there should also be a more precise indication of what the light will look like, that is called the Kelvin Temperature. The process of determining the exact shade of white is called the “Correlated Color Temperature” or CCT. This process uses a scale that is called the Kelvin Temperature. Kelvin Temperature stated numerically describes where on the Kelvin Temperature Scale that a particular light falls. The lower the number, the warmer or more golden the light spectrum is. In the days when the traditional incandescent bulb was very widely used, the average 40, 60, 75-watt bulb would be around 3000-3500K on the scale. Fluorescent tubes usually were around 5000K and so were some halogen bulbs. The higher Kelvin temperatures were usually better suited to task environments such as offices, workshops and such. Industrial environments would often be closer to 6000K but that is usually thought to be too harsh for a more casual environment. If you are looking to purchase LED light bulbs, just ask yourself: Where do you want to use them? That will help you determine what colour temperature would suit your needs the best. As you look at the various LED bulbs we offer, you can now understand what is meant when in the specifications you see something like: “CCT: 3000K warm white”. You are then looking at a product that might emit a comfortable colour of white by your favourite chair in the family room but may not work so well at an office desk. Do you have a question about LED lighting? Email us. We’ll respond to you and also post your question here.

By: John Cody

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