Types of lamp, which one should you choose for each room?

Types of lamps

There are an extraordinary number of types of lamp, but when choosing one for a certain space there are a number of factors you need to take into account. So here is a selection of some of the main types.

Incandescent

These can easily be defined as the traditional lightbulb. These bulbs had an electrical conductor made of tungsten that was heated up by the passage of electric current. The filament was kept under vacuum inside a glass bulb. The bulb was also filled with an inert gas.

We are speaking in the past because this type of bulbs have no longer been manufactured in the European Union since 2012 since their energy efficiency is low compared to other alternatives that we will see later. They have a very limited useful life which does not exceed 1,000 hours and they require significant electricity consumption. Only 5% of the energy they use is used directly to illuminate.

Gas-discharge

In this case, light is produced by the passage of an electric current through a gas-filled bulb, unlike filament lamps, where an electric current passes through a solid element (filament).

This category includes what we call fluorescent lighting. These types of lamps use mercury vapour at low pressure. The light that is generated is ultraviolet, but thanks to the fluorescent powders with which the tube is covered, it becomes visible and therefore useful. They are usually cylinders with electrodes at both ends.

The power, pressure, tube coverage, ambient temperature, etc. are what condition the type of light they give. They have a useful life of 5,000 to 7,000 hours.

There are also high pressure mercury vapour lamps, mixed light, lamps with metal halides or sodium vapour, both at low and high pressure.

Halogens

These are like the incandescent lamp, but with a Tungsten filament inside an inert gas and a small amount of halogen (usually iodine or bromine). The chemical balance of the gases and filament improve the performance and useful life of this type of bulbs.

Another improvement over the incandescent lamp is the use of quartz instead of glass, which resists heat better. Finally, despite its small size, it has a high lighting capacity. It can have a useful life of up to 4,000 hours.

LED

The name refers to the acronym in English which means Light Emitting Diode. The light from a single LED lamp is not very powerful, so several are gathered together in a single lamp.

As they are so efficient, they are frequently used both in homes and in workspaces, from traffic lights to Christmas decorations. When talking about the advantages, there should be special mention for energy efficiency (they consume almost 80% less than an incandescent lamp), the fact that they lack polluting substances such as mercury or tungsten, their instantaneous start and their long useful life, which can be up to 50,000 hours.

Below, there is a table with the different types of lamps we have talked about, their advantages, disadvantages and their consumption:

Characteristics

Lighting

Both too much and too little lighting are common mistakes. Also, depending on the area and the time of day, you may need one type of lighting or another. If you use the living room as a workspace during the day will need more powerful lighting, and at the end of the day the lighting should be dimmer so you can relax.

Which is why we recommend combining different types of lamps and include lighting systems that help to graduate the light.

Colour

Finally, we need to talk about colour temperature, which ranges from the intense red of 1,000 K to the intense blue of 12,000 K. The warmer temperatures are reddish and relaxing, while the colder temperatures are bluish and invigorating.

So it is essential to know the activity to be undertaken in the area to be illuminates, to be able to choose the right lamp.

In this article we will give you a few tips on how to choose the lighting for your home and take a tour of the rooms.