vintage bulbs
Incandescent Edison Bulbs - Two most asked questions:
As we approach 12 years of selling vintage Edison bulbs I can tell you the two most important and most asked questions about Edison Bulbs. These important facts are also the main reason customers return them or unhappy with them.
What you must know before buying Incandescent Edison Light Bulbs:
- Brightness:
Incandescent Edison bulbs are not as bright as a standard incandescent bulb. The brightness is usually about half or even less than half of what you would expect from a standard incandescent bulb with the same watts. This means that a standard 60-watt incandescent bulb produces 800 Lumens and the Edison incandescent 60-watt produces 400 or fewer lumens. (lumens is the measurement of brightness, higher number means brighter light). So keep this in mind when ordering these Edison vintage bulbs. They are not supposed to be used as the main light source for a room, bathroom, kitchen, or a dining room. They should be used as an accent, ambiance light. They are impressive and captivating, use them correctly so you can fully enjoy them.
- Color:
All incandescent Edison bulbs produce a warm amber color. Unlike the LED Edison where you can get them with white or even cool white color, the incandescent vintage bulbs have a smaller range of warm color temperature. The range is 2000K to 2700K, which means very very warm to warm. The lower the number the warmer the color. For a point of reference: The standard incandescent bulb we used to have before any LED bulbs came around were 2700K. Now, 95% of all incandescent Edison bulbs are 2200K. This means the color is much warmer than the standard incandescent light bulb.
These Edison bulbs are also available with a clear glass or an amber-tinted glass which seems to confuse some of our customers. The fact is that the color of the glass has an extremely small effect on the color the bulb produces. A clear glass Edison bulb does not mean a cool or white color Edison bulb. The color of the glass is only visible when the bulb is off.
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Rich Lewis
June 13, 2023
Thank you for the great article. Will really help me in buying lights for my rental properties. I bought lights for a rental property for in the bedrooms and they take a ST58 light bulb. The lights give off no light at all. Can I put a regular 60 watt Led light bulb in the light? They are Home Decorators Collection purchased from Home Depot. Thank you for your help.