LED lighting is pretty much commonplace in homes across the USA. Although primarily used in commercial applications, it has a reputation for being monotone albeit efficient lighting. Incandescent lighting, which is traditional lighting suffers from being inefficient, but it delivers color and warmth that made people feel comfortable.
LTD.guru is excited to bring the next frontier to lighting your world: LED Color Tuning! Advancements in solid – state lighting (SSL) technology means we have better LEDs and luminaire architecture that allow LED color to be adjusted, either in terms of white point, full color, or both, almost infinitely to supply the perfect color temperature for any application. So what does this mean?
Color tuning technology allows LTD.guru lighting designers to create your overall lighting schemes temperature, warmth, brightness and at the same time provide energy efficiency, for your comfort and well-being. The color of the LED light being controlled can be modified to create a variety of environments. There are three predominant color tuning techniques, methods, and solutions on how to achieve the right environment for your space.
1. Dim to warm is the capability of reducing the color temperature of a light source in proportion to the intensity. This mimics the color shift of incandescent lamps as they are dimmed to a lower intensity (warmer color temperature at lower light levels, cooler color temperature at higher light levels).
2. Tunable white is the capability of achieving any color temperature at any intensity of a light source, within specified parameters.
3. Full color tuning is the capability to change the relative mixture of multiple independent base colors (such as red, green, and blue) within a single source of a fixture.
There are two key terms we consider when designing our applications using LED Color Tuning technology:
Correlated Color Temperature (CCT). Many LED lighting fixtures offer a choice of color temperature to differentiate various hues of white. CCT is measured in degrees of Kelvin (K), on a scale of 1,000 to 10,000. The higher the degrees Kelvin, the closer the light’s color output will be to actual sunlight. Warm, amber light is typically 2700 to 3000K, and if you want to go brighter, 3500 to 4000K is a cooler, whiter light. Choose which is more appropriate to the room’s function, the mood you want to set and your taste.
Color Rendering Index (CRI). This is the measure of a LED light’s ability to show realistic or natural colors on such things as artwork, furnishings and even fruit that may be in a bowl in your kitchen. On the CRI lighting scale of 0 to 100, LED light sources with a 90+ CRI are considered to be the best at color rendering. So if you want colors to look accurate under LED lighting, a higher CRI should be used.
Color tuning essentially makes LED lighting dynamic. It is a great option if your color temperature needs to be precisely dialed-in or changed over time. Specific applications where color tuning particularly shines include settings where you would want to change the color temperature of your lighting based on time of day, seasons, or even specific product displays.
However, when it comes to selecting the right color for your space - remember each LED has its own DNA and is unique. Each manufacturer has its own processes and designs. Therefore, not all 2700K or 4000K products look the same across different manufacturers, so you can either try a few samples in your space yourself or have LTD.guru design experts show you what will work for your space.
Taylor St Clair and his team of lighting designers have been providing, architects, designers and builders hands-on lighting design & project management across the United States for over 20 years.
