Replacing an Incandescent Bulb with LED Bulb

Posted by Steave Austin on March 21st, 2020

When we talk about replacing an incandescent bulb with LED bulb, one question comes in everyone's mind: Is it possible to use a LED bulb that has higher wattage equivalent than the fixture I have?

Well the answer is Yes, as far as the LED bulb uses less wattage than your fixture. If you see the label states "100 watt LED equivalent" it does not mean that the LED bulb is using 100 watts, it means the bulb produces an amount of light (Lumens) equivalent to a 100 watt incandescent bulb. When your socket says do not exceed 60 watts, it means the dangers of high heat output is associated with Incandescent bulbs.

LEDs do not discharge the dangerous levels of heat. Thereby, if the fixture states "not to exceed 60 watts" and you want to use a 100 watt equivalent LED bulb, this remains safe to do.

Why LEDs are so much efficient?

Because LED bulbs or tubes don't use direct heat to produce light, where Incandescent bulbs give a much bigger spectrum of radiation since they are heating metal as the lighting source. An important question that often asked by people: "How can I know if my LED bulb will be bright enough or not?" When we deal with LED bulb brightness, we need to think about Lumens, not watts. As per general standard, 800 lumen LED bulb generate the same amount of light as an old 60 watt incandescent bulb. Maybe you would like to use a bulb that is more brighter. So, for 60 watt fixture, you can use 100 watt, 125 watt or even 150 watt LED equivalent because as far as electricity consumption is concern all above mention replacement bulbs uses under 60 watt, and 150 watt LED equivalent produces about 2,600 lumens brightness, while only uses nearly 30 watt.

It means you can use 150 watt LED equivalent bulb in 60 watt fixture and get three time or more than three time brightness of your traditional 60 watt incandescent bulb.