Why no KELVIN specs for LED's?

brightnorm · Nov 26, 2007

Kelvin specs (color temperature) of various HID lights are posted on many sites, but I have never seen Kelvin specs for any Led light. It's nice to know that LED X... is warm or LED Y... is cool, but these are vague labels that give vague information.

I've often wondered:Why aren't Kelvin temperatures given for LED's?

Brightnorm

Gunner12 · Nov 26, 2007

That is what the bin code is for(Well, not specifically but gives you an idea of what tint you are getting). Check this thread.

Some companies put a range of values, for example 5000-7000K.

Marduke · Nov 26, 2007

Bin codes and tint codes give you that information.

mahoney · Nov 26, 2007

Some of the warm white and cool white Luxeon bins are cross referenced fairly specifically to Kelvin, but it really is only "suggestion" of what you would really see. LEDs are not full spectrum emitters like a heated black body would be. Once you started lighting something besides a white wall, the difference would be apparent. Personally, I'd like to see a spectral distribution chart for the various bins instead of a Kelvin rating.

brightnorm · Nov 27, 2007

Thanks for info

BN

LED_Thrift · Nov 27, 2007

mahoney said:
Some of the warm white and cool white Luxeon bins are cross referenced fairly specifically to Kelvin, but it really is only "suggestion" of what you would really see. LEDs are not full spectrum emitters like a heated black body would be. Once you started lighting something besides a white wall, the difference would be apparent. Personally, I'd like to see a spectral distribution chart for the various bins instead of a Kelvin rating.

The LED Museum does spectral graphs of many lights, although I guess only a few of the lights are known to have a specific bin code LED.

Check out this thread, it gives the distribution in nm:
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=177051

MikeLip · Nov 28, 2007

Kelvin specs are more applicable to a thermal source with a continuous spectrum like a hotwire than one with a somewhat discontinuous spectrum like a white LED.

brightnorm · Dec 15, 2007

Mike,

Can you explain the difference between the two? (in layman's terms please)

Thanks,
Brightnorm

Marduke · Dec 15, 2007

Look at the spectrometer distributions for an incan vs. an LED. White LED's generally have two peaks, where incans emit across the entire spectrum.

post 5 vs 56 for example
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/177051

brightnorm · Dec 16, 2007

That helps clarify it. Thanks

BN

ACMarina · Dec 17, 2007

I though Kelvin and Hobbs were fighting over this stuff again..

Good ol' Kelvin

Lightingguy321 · Dec 17, 2007

LEDs (if you buy from known manufactures like Cree, SSC, Lumileds, Edison.. etc) all use bin codes to show tint and CCT of the LED. Cool white should be within the neighborhood of 5000°K and 10000°K. Neutral should be around 4000 to 5000°K and warm white should be around the 3500 zone.

Why no KELVIN specs for LED's?

brightnorm

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