Difference Between ANSI Lumens and Lumens

Lumens are a measure of how much light is emitted by a source, such as an LED or incandescent bulb. The higher the lumens number, the brighter you can expect the light to be. However, not all lumens are made equal — there are different types of lumens that measure different things.

Lumens

Lumens are a measure of the total amount of light emitted by a light source. They’re not a measure of how bright it is, just how much light is being produced.

The ANSI Lumen (lm) is the standard unit for measuring lumens in the United States and Canada, while the Candela (cd) is used in Europe, Asia and other parts of the world.

Luminous flux

Luminous flux is the measure of light output. It’s measured in lumens, a unit that’s equivalent to 1 lumen per square meter.

Luminous intensity is a measure of luminous flux per unit area and can be expressed as candela (cd) or nit.

What is lumens?

Lumens is the unit of measurement used to quantify the amount of light emitted by a source. It’s measured in lumens, which is the same as luminous flux. To put it simply: lumens measures how much light you get for your buck.

Lumens can be used to compare different types of bulbs or lamps (such as incandescent vs fluorescent) and even lighting fixtures themselves (e.g., 100W halogen lamp vs 60W CFL bulb).

The ANSI lumen standard

The ANSI lumen standard is the current standard for measuring lumens. The ANSI lumen standard was developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), a nonprofit organization that develops standards and programs for industries in the United States. The luminous flux of a light source is determined by measuring how much light it emits over all angles when you shine it on a surface at 1 meter away, then dividing that number by 4π to get an average value for how much light falls onto any given square meter.

The ANSI lumen standard is based on this measurement of luminous flux, which means that it can be used to compare different types of lights (such as LEDs versus incandescents) and even different manufacturers’ versions within one type (like Cree vs Philips).

ANSI lumen measurement techniques and measurement uncertainty

There are two ANSI lumen measurement techniques. One is the integrating sphere method, and the other is the direct beam method. The uncertainty of each technique depends on how it’s used.

The integrating sphere method uses a calibrated light source to measure total flux output, which can then be converted into an absolute luminous flux value for purposes of comparison between lamps or luminaires. This technique does not require knowledge of lamp geometry, but does require knowledge of spectral power distribution.

There are several possible sources of error in this type of measurement:

• Uncertainty due to measurement equipment (error introduced by the use of any measuring device)
• Uncertainty due to lamp specifications (for example, if your light fixture requires an 11 watt bulb but you only have 10 watt bulbs available)
• Uncertainty due to spectral power distribution

Color rendering index (CRI)

The color rendering index (CRI) is a measure of how well a light source renders colors. It’s a number from 0 to 100, with higher values indicating better color rendition. A CRI of 90 or above is considered excellent; 80 or above is very good; 70 or above is good; 60-69 is fair; and 50-59 is poor.

How many lumens do you need?

The amount of light you need depends on the size and shape of your room, where you plan to position it in relation to other rooms, and what kind of fixture you’re using. The more lumens per square foot (lm/ft2) you have in a room, the brighter it will be at night when all of your lights are off (or turned down low).

Lumens are measured by how much energy they consume–the more watts used by an LED bulb means more energy is being converted into visible light. For example: if two bulbs both use 10 watts but one has a higher lumen count than the other then technically speaking it would produce more lumens per second than its lower-lumen counterpart.

Takeaway:

Lumens are a measure of how much light is emitted by an object or source. Lumens can be used to compare the brightness of different sources, such as bulbs and flashlights.

Lumens are also sometimes referred to as foot-candles or lux (the unit used in photometry).

We hope that this article has helped you understand the difference between lumens and ANSI lumens. Lumens are a unit of measurement used to describe how much light is emitted by a source. The ANSI lumen standard is an internationally accepted method to measure the brightness and quality of light sources in order to ensure consistent results across all manufacturers.