What’s the difference between Lux and Lumen #4 - LED Driving Lights & Spotlights.

What’s the difference between Lux and Lumen #4 - LED Driving Lights and Spotlights.

Ok, so we have covered a few different aspects and applications where the Lux and Lumen differ depending on the type of light.

And just to summarise the difference between Lux & Lumen, “LUX is the light intensity over an area, the lumen is the measured brightness of the light source, or, one lux is one lumen per square meter”.

Today I will focus on LED Spotlights and Driving Lights so you can get a better idea of which light will best suit your need.

There are a couple of factors to consider for driving lights and spotlights, The size of the light, The type of lens and reflector, The depth of the reflector, & The type of LED chip.

The Size of the Light.

Obviously, how much room you have will determine the size of the light you can fit. In saying this, bigger is better, as you will get more light coverage.

If you can only fit a smaller light on, the best one we have seen in the smaller sizes is the 5” 80W LED Driving Light.

It is not a pencil beam style light, but a driving beam, (around a 30 degree angle) and will give you distance and width and add twice as much than your high beams, and give you a maximum light efficacy (how much lumen gets through the lens), and maximum lux, (how much light area you get on the road).

The Type of Lens and Reflector

Generally, you will get three types of lenses and reflectors, an open style reflector, where the light source is directed by the reflector, an optical lens, optical lenses can be from the light source itself, and/or is projected like a magnifying glass forward out of the lens, and the last type is a hybrid lens.

Most modern led driving lights use hybrid lenses, (our 5” 80w LED Driving Lamp uses hybrid lenses).

A hybrid lens uses both optical lenses + reflectors to maximize the direction and amount of light that is directed onto the area in front of the vehicle, to give you the best lux of light.

This means a good hybrid lens will give you more lumen over a given area than a standard reflector style lens will.

The Type of Led

It really goes without saying that a CREE, Osram, or Phillips LED light-source will help give you a better lumen and lux of light when used correctly in your light.

In saying this, it is also the type of lens the led is using that will directly relate to how much light gets onto a given area. 

For example, if I use a CREE XHP70 in a reflector style housing, because the CREE XHP70 is an optical led, it defeats the purpose of putting it onto a reflector, it would be much better being used in a “projector” lens.

Some companies still think, “lets put the brightest led in”, but it simply does not have any extra benefit, you need to deal with a company that has quality optical and lighting engineers to get the best lumen and lux from your light source.

The Depth of the Reflector

The last thing I will go over is the depth of the reflector.

The reflector these days is usually used as an added aid to the direction, distance, and beam angle of the light.

For example; In our Black Diamond 7” 135w LED Driving Lights, it has less amount of reflectors, but they are deeper and wider than a comparative light such as our 7” 140w LED Driving Light.

The Black Diamond 135w also use a different led than the 140w, the black diamond use a 15W USA Made Luminus LED, while the 140w use a 5W CREE XT-E LED.

So, how does this affect the lumen and lux?

You will get more distance out of the Black Diamond 135W (about 30% more) than you will the 140W, but you will get more light area with the 140W.

Horses for courses.

That’s it for today, give us a call or send us an email if you need more information.

Lex.

Tel: +61 2 9698 2543

Email: info@arcoimports.com