How To Select the Right Bulb for Each Room | Bulb Buying Guide
You spend a considerable amount of time at home, so it’s essential that you make that space as welcoming and as comfortable as you can. Room lighting has a significant impact on your interior decor and can even affect your mood and sleep. With technological advancements, light bulbs are more energy-efficient and long-lasting and they also offer a wider range of warmth, brightness, and aesthetics to suit your home. Having a good understanding of the various types of bulbs available today makes it easier to make the right purchase.
Types of Light Bulbs for Each Room
Here is a breakdown of the different light bulb types and where you must install them for maximum efficiency and effect.
LED Bulbs
LED bulbs are growing in popularity, since they are energy efficient and long-lasting, with an average lifespan of 25,000 hours. Crompton’s Dynaray LED lamps provide omnidirectional light with extra brightness and up to 300V high voltage protection. They help in reducing your electricity bills and require less maintenance and replacement, making them among the best bulbs for home.
Use in: Foyers, False ceilings, bathrooms
Incandescent bulbs
Incandescent bulbs produce a warm yellow light and are the most commonly used bulbs, slowly being replaced with LED bulbs. They are dimmable and produce light without flickering. They are affordable but not very energy efficient and emit a lot of heat making them prone to shattering. Hence it boils down to choosing affordability over sustainability.
Use in: Bedrooms, and hallways.
Halogen bulbs
Halogen light bulbs are an upgraded version of incandescent bulbs that are low cost and give out a powerful white light similar to daytime lighting. They last at least 3 times longer than incandescent bulbs and prove useful in areas that require bright light without looking unnatural. Check out Crompton’s Halogen Lamps which offer long-lasting lighting that can light up your room and effectively increase the brightness of huge spaces.
Use in: bathrooms, bar spaces
Fluorescent bulbs
Fluorescent bulbs are considered more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs. They produce a cool, white light which makes them ideal for task lighting in areas that require bright, focused lighting. They have a lifespan much longer than incandescent lamps making them a cost-efficient option as well.
Use in: Study rooms, kitchens, library
Compact Fluorescent Bulb
Compact Fluorescent Bulb is a twist on the traditional fluorescent bulb. They are a more ergonomic option since they give out the same intensity of light by using significantly lesser energy than fluorescent bulbs. Crompton CFL bulbs have higher durability than traditional incandescent bulbs. These energy-efficient CFL bulbs provide a much cooler lighting solution; hence, are the best bulbs for home.
Use in: bedrooms, and living areas.
Choose the Right Bulb
The light bulb market has transformed enormously since the incandescent bulb was replaced by more energy-efficient lighting options. Choosing the right bulb for the room can be a hit or miss without equipping yourself with knowledge about the different bulb sizes, shapes, types, and brightness.
Bulb sizes and shape
Each bulb shape provides a slightly different angle and spread of light. Here is a breakdown of the most common bulb shapes
- Traditional/GLS: It is pear-shaped and the most common bulb shape, ideal for general home lighting.
- Golfball: slightly smaller than the traditional/GLS bulbs and ideal for tight spaces due to its space-saving size. It comes in the category of small light bulbs.
- Globe: Often used as decorative lighting, such as around a mirror.
- Candle: Another decorative lighting, used in chandeliers and in wall fittings.
- Capsule: Used as decorative or landscape lighting, it is often used in medical, stage, and studio equipment.
- Tube: Shaped like a long cylindrical tube, it is often used in retail stores, offices, hospitals, etc.
- Spiral: Spiral bulbs are most commonly used in fittings where the bulb will not be exposed, for example, lamp light bulbs.
Energy consumption and illumination output
Watts are a measure of how much power a bulb consumes, it is not a measure of brightness, but how much energy it takes to reach a level of brightness. Lumen output is the measure of the total quantity of visible light emitted per unit of time based on the human eye’s sensitivity to wavelengths of light. The higher the lumen number the greater the light bulb brightness.
There are different lumen-to-watt ratios depending on the source of light. For example, a 24-watt new-age energy-saving LED bulb with a light output of 2250 lumens has the brightness equivalent to an old 130-watt incandescent bulb.
Colour temperature
How warm or cool the colour of light is measured in Kelvin, which is also the measure of light colour temperature. The higher the number of Kelvin, the whiter the light will be. Low Kelvin generates a warm white colour which is perfect for cosy environments such as the bedroom, living room and dining room. Higher Kelvins generate a more energizing cool white for high-paced environments such as the office, kitchen or gym.
Crompton’s 3-in-1 Star Lord LED colour-changing panel can achieve three different whites viz., Cool Day Light (6500K), Natural White (4000K) & Warm White (3000K), to light up your room according to your mood.
The lifespan of a bulb
In the lighting industry, the lifespan of a bulb is measured as Average Rated Life or ARL. ARL refers to the time it takes for 50% of bulbs in a test batch to die out while the rest continue to burn. The ARL of a bulb reduces if it is frequently turned on and off.
The ARL for various bulbs is as follows:
- Incandescent – 750-2,000 hours
- Halogen – 2,000-4,000 hours
- Compact Fluorescent – 10,000-20,000 hours
- Fluorescent – 24,000-36,000 hours
- LED – 40,000-50,000 hours
Innovative Smart Bulbs
Smart lighting is an important component of home automation and is gaining traction due to ease of use and innovative functions. All the smart bulbs at your home or office are connected to each other via an internet-connected centralised hub. A smart LED bulb like Crompton’s Immensa bulb gives you easy access where you can control the lighting of your house from anywhere.
- Dimmable and tunable: Crompton’s smart LED bulb is dimmable as well as tunable. Depending on your mood you can dim or brighten the lights, or tune between warm, cool or natural lighting.
- Multiple light grouping: You can group all the lights in the house together and control them through the app. This is a great way to switch to control your lighting if you have left the house and forgotten to switch off the lights in separate rooms.
- Wifi enabled: The smart light bulbs are connected to wifi for seamless operation. As long as the wifi is working properly, you can switch on and off the lights from anywhere, without having to move an inch.
- Voice-based control: Smart bulbs are not only accessible via smartphones but can be managed and controlled by voice commands as well. Lighting systems like Crompton Smart LED bulb support all of the popular voice assistants like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant. These platforms handle your voice commands, and upon translation convey them to your smart lights to execute them.
With our comprehensive guide on the different types of light bulbs, you will be able to find the right light to suit your needs. Crompton has a distinctive selection of top-quality smart light bulbs to brighten your home.
FAQs
- How do I pick the perfect light bulbs for every room?
Ans: Each room serves a specific purpose, therefore the best bulb for the home must allow the smooth execution of that function. In rooms that require higher light levels like kitchens or offices, choose light bulbs with higher lumen levels. You should also take a look at the lamp holder and see whether you have a B22 lamp or an E27 lamp. The B22 is a standard lamp holder while the E27 has a screw-type base which is commonly used in old map holders and chandeliers.
- How many bulbs do I need for a bedroom light?
A bedroom will generally require around 10-20 lumens per square foot. To find out the lumens you need, multiply the square footage of the room by this figure.
2. Is 60 watts enough to light a room?
Yes, 1 LED lamp of 60 watts is enough to light a room with some amount of natural light. However, the size of the room also matters.
3. Which colour bulb is best for the bedroom?
The bulb colours are very warm white (2200-2700K) and warm white (3000K) are the most suitable colours for bedrooms. Warm light bulbs provide a cosy, and relaxed environment which is conducive to sleep.
4. Which light should I choose for the bedroom?
The best light bulb type for the bedroom is the one that sends out at least 800 lumens. LED warm light bulbs are the best choice for bedroom lights.