Are LEDs cooler then Incandescents

[icu222much]

I purchased a few 2700k A19s LEDs to replace my incandescents and noticed that the LEDS are slightly whiter then the incandescents. I compared the new A19s to other 2700k A19 LEDs of other brands that are in the house, and noticed that they all are slightly whiter then the incandescents. I am wondering if 2700k LEDs produce a cooler colour then incandescents?


I am unsure what the temperatures are for incandescents as those bulbs look to be ~15 years old (they came with my home).


Also, these are the bulbs I purchased: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07SSBM16V/

 

[snakebite]

its possible your old incans are the 130v long life type.
those are yellower.
keep in mind that leds have a tall spike in the blue.
you may be seeing that.
every eyeball is different so its whatever YOURS perceives.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I haven't seen any regulation in the market that concerns color accuracy (2700k) such that it is possible that the bulbs are within the range of 2700 but could be 2400-3000 etc if they were a little over 10% off. LEDs do change tint some when voltage drops but not as much as incan do so if your voltage is below spec for the bulb then it will shift the tint accordingly.

 

[electromage]

It's hard to say what you're getting from the incandescent bulbs. Tungsten melts at about 3600k, but very rarely will they be operating near that. Depending on the rated voltage and your line voltage you may be getting less than 2700k easily, making the LEDs cooler. If they're both rated at 2700, and you're operating them at the designed voltage, they should appear about the same.

If you want warmer, there are some "filament style" LED bulbs that are very warm white or even amber you could try.

 

[broadgage]

Agree, the actual color temperature of incandescent lamps varies according to the supply voltage and the design voltage of the lamp.
A 130 volt lamp worked from a 120 volt supply will be warmer than if worked from 130 volts.
Likewise a 120 volt lamp that is supplied with 110 volts will be warmer than at 120 volts.

Futhermore the stated colour temperature of incandescent lamps is often a "nominal" or "average" figure and not that accurate.
In general, higher wattage lamps of otherwise similar design have a slightly higher color temperature than lower wattage lamps. A standard household 100 watt bulb will have a slightly higher color temperature than a similar 40 watt bulb.

And the stated color temperature of LEDs is often an approximation, more so with cheaper ones.

 

[Dave_H]

LEDS are "way cool" regardless of what you're comparing them to!

In my limited experience with 2nd-sourcing white LEDs for a keyboard backlight application, "chromaticity" binning of the LEDs can cover a bit of range, therefore end product can have some variability. I have not given too much attention to household bulbs apart from their specified CCT and efficacy.

The light-producing mechanism for LEDs and incans is quite different, and the spectra are different in this case. I think it is LED bulb manufacturers' best attempt at matching incan. bulbs given the cost and service life involved.

There is a trend recently towards imitating "vintage" bulb appearance down to 2200K (including Ikea) and perhaps lower.

A side note, I bought a couple of A19 LED plant-grow bulbs which happened to be cheap, $4 each. One had a distinct pink tint which is not unexpected. The other has light much closer to a regular household bulb but with a subtle orangish tint which struck me as closer to an incandescent than most regular LED bulbs. Not that everyone should go and buy these particular bulbs (Noma brand) but interesting finding.

Dave

 

[wus]

If you old incans are 15 years old and have actually been used a considerable number of hours, it is likely that some of the tungsten evaporated. This means a reduced diameter of the filament wire, resulting in higher resistance, and the higher resistance in turn results in lower power consumption. And with less power, the filament won't get as hot, resulting also in a lower color temperature.

So it is well possible that they have somewhere between 2200 and 2500 K. That will make the 2700 K LEDs look somewhat "whiter" or cooler in comparison.