LED Products and Color Temperature

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Selecting the right LED product for your project is not an easy task. Aside from finding the product that throws the right amount of light for your application, there is an important decision to be made on the proper color temperature for your application as well.

What is Color Temperature?

For white light, color temperature is the color of white light that is emitted by the LEDs used in the particular fixture. Color temperature is usually described in terms of Kelvin temperature ("K").

Color temperature is the color appearance of the light. In general terms the color temperature of a white light is categorized as warm, natural (or neutral), day white and cool white. While color temperature varies slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer and by manufacturing lot, below is an image showing ranges of color temperatures and their generally associated color temperature category. 

Color Temperature Classification Chart

In General:

  • Warm White has a pinkish yellow hue and is generally recommended for residential, restaurants, hotel lobbies and retail stores.
  • Natural or Neutral White has a true white appearance making it ideal not to alter the color of graphics or textures being illuminated.
  • Day White has a bit of a green hue and is generally recommended for showrooms, bookstores, closets, retail and office spaces.
  • Cool White has a blue hue and is generally recommended for jewelry stores, contemporary homes, showcases, hospitals, commercial spaces, art studios, workshops and car dealerships

While other factors must be considered in your product selection process (i.e. wattage, lumen output, beam angle, driver selection and UL safety) color temperature is certainly near the top of that list.

DS&L offers a wide range of LED products in a variety of color temperatures, single colors and changing color options. There are even white light products that allow you to dial into the color temperature of white light desired for a particular project or application.

For more information on LEDs or assistance with selecting lighting for your next project, please contact your partners at Display Supply & Lighting, Inc.