PREMIER LIGHTING - CELEBRATING TWENTY YEARS OF INNOVATION

GUIDE TO LAMP SELECTION


Color Temperature Reference Guide

There are thousands of different lamps in production today, each with a different BASE, VOLTAGE, LAMP LIFE, COLOR TEMPERATURE and EFFICIENCY. Premier Lighting provides the most modern, widely available, energy-efficient options on the market.

These lamps comply with the Power-Smart/Energy-Star/Title 24 programs recommended by electrical authorities and government agencies throughout North America.

Premier recognizes that the maintenance requirements for a lighting system are a significant cost to the end user. The bulbs we recommend have a long life expectancy.

The color spectrum of lamps is generally limited to a narrow range. For parking lot illumination, where yellow hued high pressure sodium lamps are often used, color temperature is sacrificed for lamp life and light output. For intimate dining facilities the flattering effect of pink hued incandescent lamps is often recommended. For most indoor applications, lighting designers try to approximate daylight or white light by using LED’s, quartz/halogen, or fluorescent lighting.

The chart below explains the qualities of the lamps recommended for each of our fixtures.

Guide to Lamps

INCANDESCENT
INC. (incandescent lamps) have greatly evolved since first invented by Thomas Edison over a hundred years ago. Common incandescents have a color temperature of 2700K.

Quartz Halogen lamps, a modern variation of incandescents, give a much whiter light of 3000K. The lamp life of halogen lights and incandescents ranges from 2500 to 5000 hours.

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COMPACT FLUORESCENT
CFT, CFQ, CFTR, FT & F28D are all COMPACT FLUORESCENT or PL lamps, sized from 13 to 48 watts are smaller, more efficient versions of the fluorescent lamp. Gasses within the lamp are ionized, causing the phosphor coating of the bulbs to glow. Choose from WARM WHITE, at 2700K, to DAYLIGHT, at 5000k. Lamp life for compact fluorescents is 10,000 hours, or one year of continuous operation.

 

 

LED
LED’s or LIGHT EMITTING DIODES: LED’s have finally come into their own and for the first time certain models are now able to produce more lumens per watt than compact fluorescents. LED’s have an average lamp life of 50,000 hours or 5 years. LED’s are finding their way into the market. They account for 90% of stop lights, EXIT signs and are now being designed into step lights (like our LIGHT BEAM, in photo), garden lights and even street lights.

 

INDUCTION
MH (metal halide – 3000K to 4000K) & HPS (high pressure sodium – 2200K to 2700K) are HID (high intensity discharge) lamps. These are sized from 40 watts to 1,000 watts. They create light when a filament ionizes a combination of gasses and metals. The lamp life of HID lamps is around 20,000 hours, or two years of continuous operation.

INDUCTION or QL LAMPS: These are the longest life and most energy-efficient lighting system available (see chart below). They come in 55, 85, or 165 Watts sizes. There is a small, 10%, lamp derogation after prolonged use (compared to 25% for HID bulbs) and 100,000 hours, or 11 years of lamp life. These systems are very reasonably priced when color, consistency and maintenance factors are considered.