Have you been thinking about changing your home office lighting and you have trouble choosing the right LED tube lights? Today, most home offices shun the traditional fluorescent lights for much better LED tube lights.Â
Why is the rush for LED tube lights given they require a lot in terms of initial investment? We could think about the following reasons:
- LEDs emit lights in a multi-directional way offering better lighting than omnidirectional fluorescents.
- LEDs have been proved to be more energy-efficient than other technologies currently in the market. For instance, a 12-watt LED will emit the lighting as a 15-watt fluorescent.
- Fluorescent lights emit dangerous ultraviolet light (UV), which is not seen with LEDs.
- LED lights are much as 13 times more durable than fluorescent models
- LEDs are more rugged and, therefore, more damage-resistant than their counterparts.
- LED lights do not flicker near the end of their lifespans, which is so familiar with fluorescent office lights.
As you can draw from the above discussion, LED lights have lots of benefits. Although initially expensive, you will save a lot more in the long run. You will also enjoy better, healthy, and eye-friendly light to work with.
Buying the best-LED tube light for your home office
Now that we have at par in our knowledge of LED lights, it’s time to know how to get the right one for your needs. We have put together five factors you must consider when buying LED tube lights. Let’s delve deeper into the discussion.
1. Energy Consumption
Human needs are always limitless, yet the resources to satisfy them are ever scarce. Does this sound familiar? I guess so unless you won a lotto jackpot. So one of the first areas to target while trying to save is energy consumption.
Conversely, minimizing energy consumption begins with installing energy-efficient fixtures. This is why you need to change your fluorescent lights with LEDs tubes. Such installations will reduce energy consumption in your home office.
Different LED lights have varying ratings in terms of lumens. Lower lumen LEDs are generally more affordable compared to those with more extensive measurements. Your choice should depend on your lighting needs.
On average, the best LED tubes have energy efficiencies ranging from 100 to 150lm/W and are capable of cutting your energy consumption by a whopping 80 percent.Â
2. Lumens Not WattsÂ
Traditional fluorescent office lights are rated in terms of watts which gives a measure of the light output. Thus brighter lights would feature larger wattage than dimmer lights.
The modern LED tubes measure light output in terms of lumens. The higher the lumens, the bright the light output. For instance, an incandescent bulb rated at 150W emits the same light as 25 to 28 watts for an LED. Thus one lumen is equal to about 5 watts.
Therefore when shopping, you need to consider the number of lumens depending on how much light you can comfortably use in your office. Using wattage would be a mistake because such LEDs of equal lumen can be extremely bright.
3. The Right LED Light ColorÂ
Incandescent or fluorescent bulbs emit a warm, yellowish hue, but LED tubes come in many colors. As a result, these modern lights can display an impressive range of colors from red to purple, blue to green, and a spectrum of yellows and whites.
However, for your home office, you will need a color that closely resembles that fluorescent bulbs produce. The LED lights offer soft white (or warm white) light and bright light (also known as daylight).
It means the warm white and soft white lights will produce yellow, candle-style lights similar to what incandescent lights make. But, conversely, the bulbs labeled daylight, or bright light produce are much whiter and therefore ideal for home office.
4. Pay Attention To The Non-Dimmable LEDsÂ
If you installed dimmable incandescent lights in your home office, you need to be careful when purchasing the best LED tube lights. Dimmers limit the amount of electricity sent to incandescent lights to control the brightness of light in the room.
However, do not expect this with LED lights. It would be a hard job to find LED lights that are compatible with dimmers. Alternatively, you can swap the previous switching system with LED, a switch that is dimmer-compatible.
An excellent way to avoid such unpleasantness is to opt for the type A LED tubes that you can plug-n-play. These lights draw a lot less energy eliminating the need for dimming.
5. Where Will You Install The LED Tube Lights?Â
You cannot just install LED lights on any fixture. Installing it on certain institutions will make them fizzle out pretty quickly. LEDs bulbs operate a lot cooler; however, they still produce a certain amount of heat and get hot.
The secret to their cool performance lies in the design, which pulls away by the heat sink in the bulb’s base. The heat then dissipates into the air leading to cooler LEDs. The best quality LED tube lights, such as T8 LED light fixture, operate so cool that they appear not to emit any heat.
Regardless, it is still essential that you install the LED in a fixture that allows the bulb to dissipate heat with ease. In an enclosed space, the bulb won’t have a way of getting rid of the heat. In addition, overheating dramatically reduces the lifespan of LEDs.
Final Thoughts
With so many benefits, it is wrong to waste time and money surviving with incandescent bulbs. This guide should provide you with the information you need to buy the best LED tube lights for your home office or other investment. Not all brands are equal; you need to work with one that is reputable such as Lepro. The brand makes some of the best quality type A tube lights and more.
