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Wat(t) is the power of a lamp

 

 Until recently the power of a light was defined by its wattage (watts), however nowadays you will see that LED packages will also show lumens as well as volts, but what is the difference between these three? Well we answer all of these questions and more!

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Watt vs. Lumen

Wattage of a lamp is the amount of energy/power that the lamp consumes and lumen is a unit for the amount of light/brightness produced by a light source. Lumen is actually a better way of knowing how bright a bulb really is as it indicates the light intensity and the output of that specific light whereas watt only indicates the energy consumption of the light. So the higher the lumen output is the brighter the light is, this is why now lumen is at the forefront on bulb and light packages when it comes to indicating brightness, so pay more attention to lumen output rather than watts!

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LED en wattage

It is impossible to convert wattages to lumen, they are two completely different measuring units. It used to be indicated that a higher wattage would give out a certain amount of light, however that has changed so now you see some LED bulbs that have low wattage lights can give out a lot of light output also. So now its best to look at the lumen output of a light source rather than the wattage.


What is voltage?

Voltage or Volt indicates the electical voltage of a lamp. The main power in UK households are usually 230V standard, almost all lamps will work with this standard voltage, howver there are exceptions such as some recessed lights being is 12V. If you want to convert high voltage (from 230V) to a lower voltage (to 12V) you will need a transformer. A transformer will ensures that the power is converted from 230v to 12v, examples of a transformer is the charger for your mobile phone or the adaptor in your laptop.

It is important to remember the following: The difference between 12v and 230v, below we list advantage and disadvantages. The advantage of a 12v light is that they last longer because they work on low/less voltage, a disadvantage is that it will only work with transformer. The advantages of a 230v light is no transformer is required and it can be installed straight into your mains also with a 230v can be used with almost all bulbs.