Is An 800 Lumens Light Bulb Bright Enough To Be The Main Ceiling Light?

Last Updated on July 27, 2023 By Emma W. Thomas

Yes, an 800 lumens light bulb is bright enough to serve as the main ceiling light for a small to medium-sized room. It provides ample illumination for daily activities and creates a comfortable environment. Consider higher lumens for larger spaces.

Is 800 Lumens Bright Enough As the Main Ceiling Light?

Yes, 800 lumens can be bright enough as the main ceiling light, depending on the size and purpose of the room. Here are some details in points:

1. Room Size: 800 lumens is suitable for small to medium-sized rooms, such as bedrooms, home offices, or bathrooms.
2. Ambient Lighting: It provides sufficient ambient lighting for general activities like reading, working, or getting ready.
3. Energy Efficiency: LED bulbs producing 800 lumens consume less energy compared to traditional incandescent bulbs with similar brightness.
4. Adjustable Lighting: Some LED bulbs allow you to adjust the color temperature (warm to cool white), offering versatility for various tasks and moods.
5. Layered Lighting: For larger rooms or areas that require more illumination, consider supplementing the main light with additional light sources like floor lamps or wall sconces.
6. Task Lighting: In spaces where specific tasks are performed (e.g., kitchen or study), combining the main light with task lighting ensures ample brightness for those activities.
7. Personal Preference: The perceived brightness is subjective, and individual preferences vary. Some may find 800 lumens comfortable, while others might prefer brighter lighting.
8. Dimming Option: If the bulb is dimmable, you can adjust the brightness to suit different occasions and create a cozy ambiance.
9. Light Fixture: The fixture design and shade can also impact the perceived brightness. A diffused or frosted shade may distribute light more evenly.
10. Consider Higher Lumens: For larger rooms or spaces with high ceilings, choosing bulbs with higher lumens might be more appropriate to adequately illuminate the area.

How Bright is 800 Lumens LED?

An 800 lumens LED light emits a moderate level of brightness. To put it in context, it’s equivalent to the brightness of a traditional 60-watt incandescent bulb. This level of illumination is suitable for small to medium-sized rooms such as bedrooms, living rooms, or offices. LED technology ensures energy efficiency, longevity, and the ability to produce a warm or cool white light, depending on your preference. It’s essential to consider the room’s size and purpose when choosing lighting to ensure the right amount of brightness for your needs.

What Other Lights Can You Use?

Lighting is not always about one lamp. You can use a lamp that produces 800 lumens with a 2700 kelvin lamp, and your room will still look dingy and yellowish as if there is not enough light. Alternatively, you could have a 650-lumen lamp with a 3800 kelvin color temperature making your room light like a sports stadium. The best option is to go for lamps with a high CRI rating and adjust the wattage to suit your needs. A dimmable fixture and a dimming multi-state lamp are usually the best options.

It is important to consider the correct lighting fixtures that will provide the right brightness for you. Each lighting fixture has a unique operating characteristic. Choosing the right light source depends on the quality and its power usage, function, and price. Some alternative light sources include; 

LED Light Bulbs

Light Emitting Diodes(LED) functions using a diode that emits light. Their sources light up immediately and consume little energy. They are usually a bit expensive but have a long shelf life and are dimmable. To ensure you have good lighting in your home, you should consider using A+ or A++ LED bulbs with accurate temperatures to provide a warm-spectrum light.

Energy-Saving Bulbs

Energy-saving bulbs consume less energy and have a long service life. They are safe to use and relatively cheap. Such bulbs take time before they reach their maximum performance, and they are not dimmable. You should dispose of the energy-saving bulbs and compact fluorescent lamps carefully as they contain mercury.

Halogen Bulbs

Halogen bulbs are a very good alternative as they have a good job in color production and light spectrum warmth. They light up immediately and are cheap. However, halogen bulbs consume a lot of energy with a short life span making them expensive to use in the long run. In case your halogen incandescent bulb fails, you should consider replacing it with LED light sources.

What Is A Lumen, And How Different Is It From Watt?

A lumen can be defined as a unit of luminous flux equal to the amount of light given out by a source of one-candela intensity radiating equally through a solid angle in all directions. In the lighting industry, the lumen measures brightness. On the other hand, watts measure the energy used but not the light output. A standard 75-watt bulb should be replaced with an energy-saving bulb of about 1100 lumens. When shopping for new bulbs, using lumens is better than watts since it is easier to identify the right brightness you need from a room. Lumens will tell you the amount of light your bulb will have, whereas watts will calculate the power used. The table below shows how lumens and watts relate to each other;

Watts (Energy Used)	Lumens (Light Output)
35	325
40	450
60	800
75	1100
100	1600
125	2000
150	2600

How Do You Lumen-Light Your Rooms?

There are several options for lighting your home. Do you need your rooms too bright, making everything stand out, or soft lighting just enough to navigate your way through the house? It may seem confusing since all rooms should not have the same lighting as they serve different purposes. Some ways in which you can use to light your house rooms with lumen include;

Kitchen

A kitchen is a busy place with a lot of activities involved. It also has sharp objects like knives and forks that could be dangerous if poorly lit due to poor vision. In that case, you should go for anything from 1000-1600 lumen LED bulbs to ensure there is enough brightness in your kitchen. It would help if you considered going for bulbs with cooler temperatures to enhance alertness. 

Dining Room

 Some people prefer a lot of brightness when eating, while others opt for an atmospheric ambiance. A mid-range 440-800 lumen bulb would work perfectly to light up the dining area to create balance. Some people argue that dimmer switches work best in the dining rooms. In such a case, you can use warmer temperature bulbs to soften up the dimness making it bright enough to create a better dining atmosphere.

Living Room

A living room is where you will sit to relax and forget all the day’s troubles. In most cases, a soft light will work perfectly, creating a relaxing mood. A 230-440 lumen should work and suffice, offering a stunning and soft feeling. It would help if you topped this up with warm light for the perfect living room lighting.

Bedroom

 Bedrooms serve the same purpose as the living room, which is relaxing. Similarly, the lower end of lumens (230-440 lumens) is recommended. They should also come in warm temperature light. To make the bedroom lighting even more welcoming, you can consider investing in quality bedside lamps to complement the existing ambiance.

Home Office

 Due to the covid-19 pandemic, most people ended up working from home. For this reason, working from home became even more popular than before. For a home office, you need bright lights around the room, but not too much to the extent of blinding you from your computer screen. Several 400-lumen lights would be perfect as long as there is the right light source. Alternatively, you can go for an 800-1000 lumen bulb, which would also be fine. A home office will also need a cool temperature bulb just like the kitchen to help you with the motivation you need to work.

Bathroom;

The bathroom is usually the trickiest room when it comes to lighting. Some people consider it a serene place such that they take their time to relax and wash off the day’s fatigue, whereas others will walk in and out. Spotlights are common in bathrooms making a couple of 330-400 lumen light bulbs the best option. You can also change the lighting effect by using a cold or warm temperature, depending on your taste and preference. 

Generally, room lighting is done according to everyone’s tastes and preferences. Whereas someone would like a very bright and warm-lit room, someone else will opt for dimmer and cooler lighting options.

What Factors Do You Consider When Choosing Lumen Light Bulbs?

There has been an increase in options and choices ever since the emergence of higher-efficiency lighting technologies. What used to be a simple purchase routine for lighting bulbs has become a complex activity involving a lot of research before buying the right bulbs. However, it does not have to be difficult, and since most of these new technology light bulbs have a long shelf life, you do not have to shop for them often. Some of the main considerations you should involve when selecting the light lumen bulb include;

Light Output

Traditionally people used to buy bulbs based on watts and relating them with brightness. Traditional incandescent bulbs and lamps that have been labeled with watts have become obsolete and phased out with time. Nowadays, most manufacturers label their incandescent bulbs, CFL, and LED lamps with different wattages related to light output(lumens). Lumens have replaced wattages making them the key characteristics of most bulbs and lamps. When purchasing a light bulb, consider the specific amount of light you want. Using lumens on the labels of the new technology bulbs will help you decide on the one to buy.

Efficacy

Bulb efficacy refers to how efficient a lighting bulb is and is stated in terms of light output. Traditional lamps provide about 15 lumens per watt, whereas the new technology halogen incandescent can produce about 20 lumens per watt, making them more efficient. Some CFLs can have as high as 78-130 low depending on the light bulb application.

Color Temperature

Bulb color temperature is the white light they emit and are usually related to the value reported in Kelvin(K) on most lamp and bulb packaging. Low Kelvin translates to warmer light which enhances a red and yellow tone, while those with higher values give out a cooler white light that enhances blue and green. High Kelvin lights are usually referred to as natural, bright white, or daylight bulbs. You choose the color temperature based on the shade you want for your room.

Other factors you should consider when purchasing light bulbs and lamps based on the number of lumens are the bulb’s shelf life, dimming, durability, decorative lighting, and other environmental impacts.

Conclusion

An 800-lumens bulb alone is not enough to light up a room. It will require the right lamp to ensure it provides the right light temperature and ambiance. It would help if you balanced to using either too low or too high color temperatures. The best temperature range to use with an 800-lumen light is about 3500K which is likely to create the required balance.

References:

https://recessedlightspro.com/how-bright-is-800-lumens/
https://www.condochance.com/how-bright-is-800-lumens/