Why are some light sources bad?

If you've ever wondered why your lighting just doesn't look good, you're not alone. With the proliferation of energy-efficient lighting, consumers are faced with a daunting list of specifications to choose from. With LED bulbs being the dominant technology today, not only do you have to make sure your LED bulb is mechanically and electrically compatible, you also have to know the difference between various CCT, CRI and brightness specifications.

If you're struggling with your lighting, you've come to the right place! As specialists in LED light quality, we've become very familiar with many of the pitfalls that our customers face when looking for LED lights. Below, we've compiled a list of the 5 most common reasons that we have found our customers are unhappy with their existing lighting.

1) You Chose the Wrong Color Temperature

Incandescent bulbs are not available in color temperatures higher than 3000K, simply due to mechanism behind how the filament emits light. In the past, you simply could not go wrong, because consumers only had one choice. Now, with fluorescent lamps and LED bulbs, other colors and color temperatures are freely available.

The addition of more options is a generally a good thing, but this means that you may have purchased a bulb with a color temperature that is not a good fit for your needs.

For example, for a typical residential application, you will most likely want to choose a light bulb with a color temperature of 2700K or 3000K. The emitted color will be similar to that of incandescent or halogen lighting, providing a nice, relaxing atmosphere that most (but not all) of us prefer in our homes.

If you think your lights appear too harsh, blue, stark, or sterile, chances are high that the bulbs have too high of a color temperature. Typically, the bulb itself will be marked with a 4-digit number, followed with the letter "K" to indicate the color temperature value.

Any color temperature higher than 3000K will be bluer and whiter than a traditional incandescent or halogen bulb. If you want to retain that nice, warm and cozy ambiance, be sure to purchase a bulb with a color temperature of 3000K, 2700K, or even 2400K.

Explanation:

LED bulbs contain toxic heavy metals. ...

These bulbs can increase risk of macular degeneration, a disease of the eye that leads to blindness.

LED bulbs give off blue light, which can stimulate the brain, disrupt sleep, and cause eye strain and headaches.

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