LED Brightness

[Lance Jones]

Is there a way to determine LED brightness that is comparable to the watt system? i.e 40 watt bulb?

[Ted Pounds]

The only way is to find out how many lumens each puts out.  (or you can use candlepower; 1 candlepower (candela) = about 12.5 lumens)  Many LED's will list their equivalent to watts of incandescent illumination, but that is an approximation as all incandescent bulbs are made the same.  Which is also true of LED's by the way.  Two LED's of different makes but the same wattage may produce different amounts of light.  For a discussion of illumination (pun intended  ) see: http://www.ehow.com/about_5385320_candlepower-vs-lumens.html

[Ron Hill]

Lance : When you get a LED bulb you probably want to get the "flood" rather than the "spot".  Also the brighter LEDs are the bright or cool, rather than the warm.

[Lance Jones]

Thanks Ron.