More information on LEDs

LED White Colours

Differences between the main white colour LEDs

If you have read through the information on the product pages on our LED listings, you are bound to have come across the terms Kelvin and Lumen ratings. Now as confusing as these terms sound they are simple to understand so here is a brief explanation of their meanings.

Lumens indicate the brightness of a light source if you look at it, and Kelvin indicates the colour.

It was never going to stay that simple was it. Here is a bit more information on those two terms.

Lumens - The number of lumens indicates how bright the light source will be. Generally, the higher the lumen rating the brighter the LED.

Kelvin - Every lamp has a Kelvin rating that indicates the colour temperature of the lamp and therefore the colour of light the lamp with emit. The lower the Kelvin (K) score the redder the lamp will appear and the higher the K value the bluer the light will appear.

The Kelvin ratings range we are concerned with relating to white LEDs range from 1500K to 7000K.

We have all heard of the three common terms in use for colour temperatures for white LEDs which are warm white, natural white and cool white.

Warm White is around 3000k.

That is the colour temperature to recreate a nice warm, relaxing ambient light given off by traditional incandescent light bulbs which can look a little yellow in colour and is found in more older types of buildings and houses.

Natural White is around 4000k.

This is a more natural light than warm white and can be similar to natural daylight or lighting in modern shops and houses.

Pure White is around 5000k.

This is a more neutral white that is a bit light a bright summers day or similar again to lighting in modern shops and houses.

Cool White is around 6000k+.

A blue ish light that looks like the light given off by higher power fluorescent strip lights and halogen spot lights and can look very white in a scale model.

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