I'm replacing the bulbs in a bunch of lights in the house, and upping them from 60w-replacement LEDs to 100w-replacement ones. What I'm replacing is Philips standard 'filament-style' LEDs (come in a purple box), which all claim to be 2700k; but having tried some replacements 2700k isn't what it used to be!
I've tried some Philips 'ultra-efficient' 2700k 100W-replacements which are properly yellow light; I've tried some 3000k Philips 'Master' LEDs which are better but still definitely on the yellow side of things.
So what light temperature/ range am I looking for? In the past I would've said it was Philips "bright white", whatever that was; obviously I don't want hospital style light, but this is for the kitchen, hallway etc, so I want white not yellow. Is 4000 'cool white' clinical hospital style? 'Daylight' is probably too much - what's the stw advice?!
Normal White is around 4-5000K and 5k being closer to daylight, if you want clinical i believe its 7-9k
I think you'd need bulbs in the 4000-4500K range for "white, but I'm not doing surgery" band
Ah cool, thank you, will check some 4000k bulbs then. Makes me think the old, supposedly 2700k bulbs are nothing of the sort!
This might help... i think 4000 would be a bit cold, depends on the colour of your decor though...maybe look at 3500?
5000 looks to be 'whitest', above that and it starts going dinstinctly blue.
I've got 4k in most of the main lights in our house, they give a much better general light IMO. We then used lamps if we want lower more relaxing light. I had to put a 2700k light in as a replacement and its bloody awful!
When we moved into this house all the bulbs were in the middle of the ceiling, 7000. Hateful! We've subsequently switched to 2700 in most places and higher lumens (with sidelights) which we like.
However I inadvertently bought some inbetween ones (probably about 4000) over a work area in the kitchen which we initially regretted and thought were on the cool side. However we're OK with them now, similarly with the centre lights in the living room (which don't usually come on).
I think our initial regret was an over-reaction because of our hatred of the 7000s. Not as strong as our daughter who is a commercial artist and doesn't half let us know if we've accidentally left one in their room when they visit.
Yeh I think 4000 would be fine for a kitchen or bathroom, to cold for a living room, IMO unless you have some table lamps/side lamps that are warmer for a more cosy colour when not needing the main light on.
I have 2700 in my living room as the decor is 'essex grey' 😐 themed complete with grey laminate flooring so the warmer bulbs balance that out - A living room with more warmer coloured decor though I'd go probably for a whiter colour temp.
I have some adjustable smart ones, best of all worlds 😉
We have 6,000k in our kitchen which is brilliant for that type of working environment. The other end of the kitchen is something like 3,500 for the chilling area
I've just checked mine, I have a mixture of 4500K and 6000K (along with colour-change smart bulbs) depending on location. The 4500K gives a warm, natural light, but they are Tesco specials so who knows where they get their numbers from. The 6000Ks as Dunc says are perfect for places like the kitchen. I'm perfectly happy with both temperatures, but it took a bit of frigging to get them in the right locations.
Are you sure you want 100W-replacement bulbs? The (my) cool white lamps appear brighter than their slightly amber counterparts, if you're coming from 2700K that could be significant. I think in your scenario I'd be buying bulbs in singles to test before buying a job lot.
One of the first jobs when I moved here was replace all the bulbs (and there are a LOT of bulbs in this house). They were a hodge-podge of explosion-in-a-Scrabble-factory branded LED, halogen and **** knows what in more different shades than a diversity march. Aside from saving a fortune in electrickery, it's hard to underestimate the value in having a 'standard' bulb throughout when one of them goes pop.
Yeah, I have actually ordered 4 different bulbs just to see - a 90 CRI 75W equivalent, plus some other 100W options, all in 400k. Fun times!
We've changed the light fitting in the landing from a 9 bulb hanging unit on the warmer side, to a unit with 4 downlighter spotlights, although MrsF picked the 'whiter' LEDS. Me and my daughter don't like it - way too white and bright. Great for a work area like a kitchen, but a bit blinding when you come out of bedroom lighting.
I use day white throughout house, about 4-4500k is my preference. They are not at all harsh, what people are noticing is the change between warm and white. IMHO if you want to use them you cannot mix warm / white colour temperatures otherwise it is jarring going between rooms. Years ago as an experiment we changed our lounge to white, after spending some time in the lounge the rest of the house looked sickly yellow. We had to update the whole house, I would never go back. The only thing you have to get right is brightness. We also have remote controlled RGB lights if we want to create a mood though not in the lounge we just turn them down in the evening.