How to Choose the Fitting LED Lightbulb In the times of incandescent mild bulbs, you may decide the bulb's brightness by the number of watts printed on the package deal. With right this moment's LED bulbs, brightness is measured in lumens. However, what the heck is a lumen? How is it completely different than a watt? How are you able to tell which LED bulb you want on your lamps and lighting fixtures? Luckily, it is easy sufficient to kind out any confusion. When buying an incandescent bulb, the watts rating offers shoppers a superb indication of how bright a bulb is. The extra watts, the brighter the bulb. That rule would not apply to LED bulbs, although. An LED that uses 60 watts is by no means comparable to an incandescent bulb that makes use of 60 watts. In fact, a 60-watt LED simply could blind you. LEDs are designed to make use of much less energy and naturally have a lower watt rating. This implies it is useless to use watts to determine brightness. To fix the problem, bulb firms have started using lumens to price bulbs. This provides you a extra accurate indication of how a lot mild to count on from an LED. Measuring in lumens isn't a brand new concept designed just for LEDs. It's a rating that's been used for decades as a measurement of how a lot gentle a bulb (or anything) emits. It just hasn't been predominantly displayed on packaging till not too long ago. In 2011, the US Federal Commerce Fee started requiring manufacturers of compact fluorescent, incandescent and LED bulbs to make use of lumens as an indication of how brilliant a bulb will probably be. FTC stated in a press launch. On packaging, the lumen score is indicated by a quantity adopted by "lm," the abbreviation for lumens. The higher the lumen score, the brighter the bulb shall be.