Hi gang, so my house is a cornucopia of incandescent and CFL bulbs for all my lamps and fixtures. I want to convert them all to their LED equivalents, not just in terms of lumens, but also that I don't exceed the maximum wattage for my fixtures, such as what's specified for my floor lamps, ceiling fan lights, etc. because it's specified on the labels of these fixtures that I must not exceed the specified wattage, for example for one of my ceiling lamps I can't exceed a total of 190W for all three bulbs combined for it.

I'm searching throughout the internet and most of the comparison charts I'm seeing is for lumens, not wattage. Does anyone have a decent source, or a link, to a chart or website which shows the equivalent wattage between LED bulbs, and incandescents, CFL, etc.? Thanks in advance.

 

Bulb wattage used as a brightness gauge is becoming a thing of the past.
Lumens is a direct measure of light output.

I would not recommend using LED bulbs in a ceiling fan unless it specifically says they can be used. Most ceiling fans are equipped to dim incandescent bulbs only. Typically 60w max x two or three bulbs.

LED bulbs carry a color rendition rating based on the color of the light.
The chart below illustrates the different colors available.

 

You will never hit the maximum wattage a fixture is rated for because LED bulbs are so energy efficient and do not produce even close the heat that a standard incandescent or CFL bulb creates. That is the reason behind the wattage ratings on light fixtures. What used to take 60 or 100 watts now only uses 9 or 20 watts.

With lumens, you can compare apples to apples. A standard 60-watt incandescent will put out about 800 lumens. These LED bulbs, https://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmart...UL18/303574541 which is a 60-watt equivalent is also 800 lumens and only uses 9 watts.

In reference to PJmax's chart, incandescent bulbs are approximately 2700K in color. If you want the same look and feel of incandescent, then I would recommend staying about 2700K.

 

I found this chart that might be useful.

 

The bulbs should still list the wattage rating. Do not use the wattage rating as a brightness level but only as the wattage used or to put it another way, what you're paying the power company. Using lumens is the only reasonable way to come close to what an incandescent bulb will give. And also pay close attention to color. Most incandescent bulbs were warm white. LED's can come in anything from very bright white to very warm white.

Long story short, as long as the bulb you choose it isn't more than the rated wattage whatever bulb you use will be OK. Wattage is wattage regardless of how it is produced.

 

If you want a number of lights to be the same you should get bulbs for them all of the same brand and ratings.

LED bulbs may direct most of their light in one general direction and for this reason they may seem much brighter than incandescent bulbs of the same "equivalent wattage" or even the same lumen output. Also daylight looks brighter to many folks compared with soft white given the same number of lumens.

CFL fluorescents and actual fluorescent tubes in "compact" fixtures lose a lot of lumens because the tube itself shadows much of the light that the fixture reflector is supposed to "reclaim".

 

My 2 cents on color, comparing them side by side, I've found that the 2700 color temp of LEDs seem to be a bit more yellow than the old incandescents. It might be the LEDs "yellow" hue is more pure than incandescent, not sure. IMO, I find the 3000 LEDs give the best warm tones that I'm used to in the past while still providing the needed light..

Of course it could be my eyes are just older......

 

Ha!

I seem to want brighter and brighter or 5000K temp more and more. I need a magnifier to read the newspaper.

I'm getting an eye exam from an ophthalmologist next month. I think my cataracts are getting worse.

 

I had a heck of a time finding how to quote a post but finally found it because I wanted to respond to above. While maintaining within wattage anyways, a lot of my lamp fixtures have a maximum 13 watt rating, so with the LEDs my options were 8.5W, 2700K, 800 lumen bulbs or 14W, 5000K 1100 lumen bulbs, at least for Sylvania brand. Because I can't use more than 13W (though I can probably sneak 14W in but don't want to risk it), I went with the 2700K bulbs and yes, even as LED they were quite yellow, because they were the warm version versus the daylight. I haven't seen a daylight bulb at 2700K, I guess they have to be at least 5000K to be considered daylight. I do wish I went with the higher rating but since a box of 4 was only around 6 bucks I swapped the warm bulbs to bedrooms where we put them on timers just as basically large nightlights, as the ceiling fan lights also have these low wattage warm bulbs so they'll just end up supplementing each other (ceiling fan lights and lamp lights). Next time I'll go with the brighter 5000K daylight bulbs, as they are literally "white" light when lit.