LUMENS PER WATT– The number of lumens (light emitted) per single watt of power used.
There are two different ways to measure lumens per watt.
- Lumens per watt RAW: Before a lens cover is applied, the light emitted (lumens) for each single watt is measures. Without a lens, there is less breakdown of the light emitted as it does not need to pass through anything. The lumen output is emitting at its full potential.
- Lumens per watt EFFECTIVE: The light output (lumens per watt) is measured AFTER the lens is applied. When a lens is applied, the light must pass through that lens decreasing the amount of light visible to your eye. Lumens per watt effective is how all lights on the market to end-users should be labelled.
When considering a light to buy, many people are stuck on shopping for watts per dollar. The trouble with that is that not all lights are made to the same standard. With fast-changing LED technology, the amount of light (LUMENS) a light can now give off has changed the way you should shop! 3-5 years ago, a top of the line LED light may have been giving off 120 lumens per watt effective. Whereas the newest LED chips and drivers are now giving 190 lumens per watt effective. When looking at those numbers it may not seem like a very big difference. However, when you consider it as a 200-watt light, the difference would look like this:
200 watts x 120 lumens/watt = 24,000 total lumens effective output. (other guys light)
Vs.
200 watts x 190 lumens/watt = 38,000 total lumens effective output. (Kodiak LED light)
That is a large difference of workable light output. Our light with 190 lumens per watt is giving nearly 60% MORE light per fixture. To have EQUAL workable light in your space you would need 6 of our lights or, comparatively 11.5 of the other guys’.
Not only would you need to buy 5.5 more fixtures which will cost more money upfront (we know you can’t buy a half of a light, but for the sake of accuracy, we’ll go with it!). But also, you would have 5.5 more lights drawing 200 watts of power each time you turn on your switch! That is 1100 watts x hours used x kWh cost $ x 365 days a year. If you run 1000 watts for 1 hour you’ve used 1000 watt-hours or, 1 kWh. To make things easier, we will use a difference of 1,000 watts instead of the actual 1,100w.
Example: You run your light 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. The cost of kWh is $0.1504 (median cost in Saskatchewan).
1000W x 8hrs (a day) = 8 kWh x $0.1504 = $1.20 a day x 365 days a year = $439.16 extra cost per year by NOT going with our lights!
The idea that you should count the watts per dollar to find the best deal can often do the opposite for you. Thanks to advances in technology, we can now pull MORE lumens from lower wattage lights. To get the most for your money you should be shopping for LUMENS PER WATT to give a true comparison from light to light.
For example, our 200-watt yard light priced at $550 will give you as much light as the other guys 300-watt yard light. They are charging $800 for their light as well. So, you would save the initial $250 on the light sale plus the cost of to run the extra 100 watts by going with our light.
Here at Kodiak LED Lighting & Accessories, we believe in full transparency and keeping our customers happy. After all, without our customers our business would not survive. We promise to be upfront and to never skew numbers to make our lights seem better than they are as we only carry the best. We carry the BEST quality, have an outstanding warranty with fair pricing and we pride ourselves on that!
Everybody knows that LEDS are brighter than incandescent lighting by large percentages. But most people don’t realize that even in the world of LED lighting, there can be gains from one LED light to the next.
As noted, not every led light is made to the same standard. That is why it is so important to look at the lumen output on the light to compare instead of comparing by watts and dollars.