Light Source Buying Guide
Click here for the list of our recommended light sources.
As Poul Henningsen said, “Once you have experienced real lighting, life is filled with new values”.
Today’s lamps make it easier than ever before to achieve real lighting, making life more beautiful at any moment, no matter how much or little natural light is streaming in. The key to getting the optimal ambience and aesthetic is choosing the right light source.
However, finding the right lightbulb for your lamp can be difficult, so we’ve compiled some tips and important things to be aware of when choosing a light source.
Download a complete US Bulb recommendations guide
Choose Your Socket
Islands or rooms of light are e.g. hanging a pendant low above the dining table, placing a floor lamp next to the armchair for reading a book, a table lamp on the window sill or on a chest of drawers or a book case – all these little light islands create the pleasant atmosphere that we call ‘hygge’ in Denmark. You frequently see this more widespread in Scandinavian countries where inhabitants are used to coping with long, cold and dark winter periods. Fortunately, you do not need to endure a single Scandinavian winter to gain better lighting. To obtain optimal lighting, all you must do is consider the general types of light and advisably use more than one light type in each room.
Choose Your Bulb Type
Halogen:
Good colour rendering, dimmable and energy-saving compared with incandescent.
Energy-saving:
Energy-saving lightbulbs have poorer colour rendering properties than halogen and incandescent bulbs. On the upside, these lightbulbs use less energy than halogen and incandescent bulbs.
LED:
Many new LED lightbulbs deliver good colour rendering and are also dimmable. LED lightbulbs have a very long life and use very little energy compared to halogen and incandescent light sources.
Choose the Brightness
The lumen value indicates the amount of light coming from the light source. The higher the value, the more light, the bulb emits.
Choose Your Desired Ambience or Activity
The colour characteristics of light are often described in terms of what is called “colour temperature” – usually either warm (yellowish) or cool (bluish), with the temperature measured in degrees of Kelvin (K).
The higher the number, the cooler the light.
Low colour temperature is best for recreational activities and socialising. High colour temperature and intensity are best for concentration.
For more information about selecting the ideal light source for any of our lamps, you can always find a complete, up-to-date version of our Light Source Overview here.
Phase Dimming:
Imagine the light switch at home. If you were so quick with your fingers that you could turn the light on and off many times a second, you would do Phase Dimming.
In reality, this is exactly how Phase Dimming equipment works. A special Phase Dimming controller (in the case of LED an integral part of the driver) built into the luminaire, and a spring-loaded switch on the wall makes it possible to dim the brightness and saves energy.
The number of luminaires operated by the switch is limited by the maximum rated power of the controller, which must be higher than the total power of connected light sources.
1-10V Dimming:
Here, a separate control cable consisting of 2 conductors is required between the controller and the switch on the wall. The switch is a special device - usually with a rotary or slide button that regulates the voltage in the control cable from 0V (lights off) to 10V (max brightness). Depending on the voltage in the cable, the controller regulates the brightness of the light source accordingly.
The number of luminaires on one 1-10V string depends on the controller capability, often several hundreds and even distributed over several fuse groups.
In summary,
1-10V Dimming uses a separate control cable but is smoother and more precise, whereas Phase Dimming is often cheaper to acquire and does not require a separate control cable, which also means that it is often preferred for existing installations.
