A few decades back, everyone used to believe that the flow of charges generates current, which then operates a bulb. Since then, many new improvements in this concept have been made, with terms like watts and voltage rating introduced.
Here’s a detailed guide regarding LED watts and how LED to-watts conversion is done.
Impact of Wattage
The wattage rating practically describes the power consumption of a bulb. A higher wattage rating means the bulb will consume more power.
A lower wattage rating means that the bulb will consume less power.
In either case, the Wattage plays a crucial role in determining how the bulb will work and what its limits will be in the first place.
Modern-day bulbs have played a crucial role in lowering the high wattage ratings of past light bulbs. This whole approach has increased the efficiency of light bulbs by many times.
How to Calculate a Bulb’s Wattage?
There are two ways through which a bulb’s Wattage can be determined. That, too, with great accuracy and effectiveness.
The first one is to read the manufacturer’s wattage rating on the bulb’s manual. This rating will be present in the form of a range mostly.
The second method is to calculate the wattage rating manually. This is where electronics and Ohm’s Law comes in. Wattage means the power of a bulb.
And in correspondence to Ohm’s Law, there are several ways to calculate the power of a bulb if you know about two factors voltage, resistance, and current of the bulb.
The LED Watts myth
Many myths revolve around LED bulbs and how the Watts distribution heavily influences these bulbs.
The most popular one is where users believe LED lights to be dimmer than incandescent bulbs. The base for this rumor? The wattage rating of incandescent bulbs is much higher than that of LED bulbs.
Remember, the Wattage of a bulb has nothing to do with its luminance. The Watts to LED conversion models are a clear example of that. The luminance of a bulb is an independent factor from that of the power rating.
Do People even use Wattage these days?
That is a great question, indeed. Yes, there are manufacturers and people out there who still use the wattage parameters these days.
The majority of such belongs to developing countries as new technology is slowly introduced in the society there.
The rest of the world has now switched to the lumens or the voltage rating of the bulb once again.
A major reason behind this is that the Wattage of a bulb doesn’t determine if the bulb will have an efficient performance in the first place.
Does more Wattage mean more light?
No, more Wattage doesn’t mean more light. It is a misconception that is still pretty common among users all around the globe. The wattage rating simply depicts how much power a bulb consumes.
Now, how much power a bulb consumes doesn’t determine the luminance of the bulb in the first place.
For example, incandescent bulbs are known for having the highest wattage ratings. Are these bulbs brighter than that LED bulbs? Not. Also, these bulbs aren’t as efficient as that LED bulbs, even with the higher wattage rating.
- Lumens to Incandescent Wattage conversion
Lumen is the parameter that determines how bright a bulb will shine following the wattage rating. When analyzed thoroughly, you will see a major difference between the lumens of a bulb and what Wattage it is consuming in the first place. The first conversion will be that of an incandescent bulb.
We will be taking 250 lumens and 1100 lumens into consideration for comparison. At 250 lumens, an incandescent bulb’s wattage rating is around 25W. For 1100 lumens, the wattage rating of the bulbs jumps up to 75W.
- Lumens to CFL Wattage conversion
The CFL bulbs were regarded as the upgradation of the traditional incandescent bulbs to make them more efficient. The CFLs failed to capture a global audience compared to halogen bulbs, but a certain portion of the world population still uses these amazing light bulbs.
At 250 lumens, the wattage rating of a CFL bulb is around 6W. As compared to that of an incandescent bulb, this was a breakthrough in terms of wattage efficiency. At 1100 lumens, the wattage rating of a CFL goes up to 18W, which is still quite efficient compared to its predecessors.
- Lumens to LED Wattage conversion
Lastly, we are talking about the most efficient light bulbs available today. LED light bulbs were introduced to solve centuries-old efficiency and performance problems of traditional incandescent or CFL bulbs. The power rating efficiency and the brightness of the bulbs are spot-on.
At 250 lumens, the LED bulbs hardly consume 2W-3W of power. That is just a fraction of what incandescent bulbs used to consume at that lumens. At 1100 lumens, the wattage rating of LED bulbs hardly gets to the 10W-15W rating. This is quite efficient when compared to the performance of these bulbs.
Should Wattage rating affect your preference in the light bulb sector?
Time to answer the big question now. Should wattage rating affect your preference in the light bulb sector? Yes, but only in certain situations. For example, you should consider the wattage rating of a bulb if you know what the power rating is of the fixture you have for that bulb.
That’s all where the wattage rating is used these days. The lumens of a bulb and how long it will be able to perform that way don’t depend on the bulb’s power rating. So, you can ignore the wattage rating to some extent when it comes to better performance.
Final Note
The light industry has seen many marvels in the last few centuries. It all started with Edison’s incandescent model and has come up to the traditional LED bulbs. Many factors have indeed contributed to the progress of LED bulbs in these years.
Well, we hope that now you have the necessary knowledge to understand the Watts to LED conversion model. If you still have any questions, feel free to ask us.
