What Is Colour Temperature In Lighting?

What Is Colour Temperature In Lighting?

Write By: FansOnSale Published In: Ceiling Fans & Lighting Blog Created Date: 2017-04-20 Hits: 4631

Colour temperature is the difference between having a warm yellow light or a bright white light. This difference is measured as a temperature in kelvin (K). The kelvin number describes the colour output of the light, where generally the higher the number, the whiter the light. 

his can be thought of as a hot metal filament of a globe. At low temperature (small kelvin) it will be red, but when it gets hotter and hotter it will become more orange, then bright yellow and eventually nearly white (high kelvin). These colour temperatures usually very between 2700K (warm white) to 5000K (cool white). Normally incandescent and halogen lights are only available in a warm colour (around 3000K) as they work with a hot filament. Compact fluoro lamps (CFL) and LED lights are typically available in either both warm and cool white colours, and at times may have multiple colour temperature options.


Lighting Colour temperature


  • 2500K – 3500K Warm White

    This colour temperature provides a warm feel and is usually recommended for bedrooms or smaller areas where a soft or background light on the eyes is best, especially during the evenings.
  • 3500K – 5000K Natural/Cool White

    This can still work for bedrooms are but can sometimes be a little too intense on the eyes. Usually, this colour temperature is used in dining and living areas where more light may be preferred.
  • 5000K – 6500K Cool White/Daylight

    At this cooler feeling colour temperatures, the light tends to get bright and is often used for an office, laundry and possibly a kitchen or bathroom area and above mirrors. This temperature range gives good light reflection off surfaces to give the illusion of bright light with bright vivid colours. In most cases, as these colour lights tend to feel very bright, dimmers are often used in order to be able to tone down the light if needed.
  • When it comes to choosing a colour temperature, there is no right or wrong answer as it comes down entirely to preference. Often when the choice between warm white (3000K) and cool white or daylight colours (5000K) seems difficult, the natural white (4000K) is a good compromise in the middle.

    It is important to note that the colour temperature does not always directly translate to the brightness of the light. While the higher temperature lights such as 5000K or more tend to feel brighter and more powerful, the lumen output of the light is what determines how bright a light is.


    What is lumens?

    Luminous Flux is the measure is the total amount of the light that reaches the eye and is usually measured in lumens (lm). Lumens number can be thought of as a measurement of the 'amount' of light a
globe
    produced. In simple terms, lumens equals brightness, while the other hand the wattage does not necessarily. The wattage measure the energy used by the light fitting itself, which can vary a lot depending on the type of light. This is especially the case with new technology LED lighting as it can be misleading to try to compare wattages for measuring the amount of light output and overall brightness.