17 m² living room — 2550 lumens
A room at 150 lux needs 2550 lumens. That is 25.5 watts of LED, or 4 bulbs of 800 lumens.
Watts are not brightness
Equal lumens mean equal brightness; what changes is the electricity. An LED makes 100 lumens per watt, a filament 13 — nearly eight times apart. The monthly figure below assumes five hours a day for thirty days.
- LED100 lm/W25.5 W
- fluorescent60 lm/W42.5 W
- halogen20 lm/W127.5 W
- incandescent13 lm/W196.2 W
- Light reaching the floor
- 150 lux
- Light you need
- 2550 lm
- Room size
- 17 ㎡
- In pyeong
- 5.1
- In 800-lumen bulbs
- 4
- A month of electricity
- 3.8 kWh
- Extra watts if incandescent
- 171 W
Several lamps beat one
The same lumens crammed into one fitting light the spot beneath and leave the corners dark. Splitting them across several 800-lumen lamps softens shadows, and one failure no longer means a dark room.
Nearby cells
Same room, other uses
Same use, other sizes
How to read this
- The light you need is lux times floor area; the use decides the lux.
- Watts are only that light divided by the lamp’s efficacy — not a measure of brightness.
- Bulb counts round up from one 800-lumen lamp.
- Ceiling height, wall colour and shades are not in this calculation.
Frequently asked questions
Q. How many lumens for a 17 m² living room?
2550 lumens — 150 lux times the floor area.
Q. How many watts should the lamp be?
25.5 W as LED, 42.5 W as fluorescent. An incandescent would draw 196.2 W — 171 W more.
Q. How many bulbs do I need?
4 at 800 lumens each. Spread them out rather than stacking them in one fitting.
Q. What does it cost to run?
On LED at five hours a day, 3.8 kWh a month.