Question Which light bulb is the brightest for a ceiling fan?

tezarin

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Feb 25, 2015
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Hi all,

I have a ceiling fan in my master bedroom and need to find the brightest light bulb (E11 base), I'm not sure if I should pick one with hight watt or high volt or high lumens. I bought one which was too dark:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KTK8S4L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Will any of these ones below be any brighter?

1. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-El...MERCH=REC-_-searchViewed-_-NA-_-309695008-_-N

2. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07M5VK7MN/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3459LHWU7FFZ&psc=1

Or can you please recommend one?

Thank you
 

Math Geek

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the illums is what you need to look at. that's how bright the bulb is.

what i did was to go with LED bulbs. they use very little power and have much higher illums for the power used. you'll get the brightness of a 100w bulb out of a 10w LED!! this allows you to get a brighter bulb that still uses less power and won't overdraw the socket. i have a 40w socket in my ceiling fan. no regular 40w bulb was even close to bright enough. i ended up with a 20w LED that was 3x the illums and does not get real hot.

you'll want white/clear bulbs for best results rather than those yellow or frosted ones. they block a lot of light.

walmart brand LED's are pretty cheap and have worked well for me so far. i'm slowly replacing those crappy ass reg bulbs with these as they burn out.
 

tezarin

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Thanks much for your helpful reply. Can you please recommend one that s the brightest and has an E11 base? Thank you
 

Math Geek

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something like this would be plenty bright.


its over 1000 lm. i do not see any pure white or clear bulbs though so this will be yellow tinted. they only use 9w for over 100w worth of brightness!!!

as a side note when looking at specs, you'll see a number followed by a k. such as 3000k for this bulb or 6500k or whatever. this is actually a kelvin temp they use in bulbs to describe the color of the light. the higher the number the whiter the light it gives off. so stuff like a blue or other "cooler" color will have a lower "k" number than a "warmer" yellow or white colored bulb.

so if you hit the store to look for options you want to look at the illums for brightness and the "k" number for how white the light actually is. and finally the wattage to be sure it does not overdraw the socket. LED uses so little power this is not really an issue but with normal bulbs or halogen models it is an issue that needs to be looked at. for safety sake though, look at the socket to see what it is rated at for wattage. it should say right on the socket what the max wattage it supports is.
 
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tezarin

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Math Geek

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those halogen bulbs actually use 100w of power. so that's where you need to be sure the socket can handle it. don't think i've seen many 100w sockets on a ceiling fan. but it's possible. they will put out a lot of heat though. that's for sure. you could probably get a tan sitting under them!!

1100 illums is about the highest i see for LED bulbs. it's pretty bright though. i have 600 illum bulbs i bought and only used 2 of them as 4 was serious overkill for the room!!!
 

Math Geek

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sorry i missed that piece. though the one i posted will use a lot less power it won't be an brighter. illums is illums no matter what wattage it takes to get there.

thos halogen bulbs you listed are your best bet really if 1100 ilums is not enough. check to be sure your socket can handle the bulb and then go for it. 1600+ illums is about the best you can hope for in that socket type.
 

tezarin

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sorry i missed that piece. though the one i posted will use a lot less power it won't be an brighter. illums is illums no matter what wattage it takes to get there.

thos halogen bulbs you listed are your best bet really if 1100 ilums is not enough. check to be sure your socket can handle the bulb and then go for it. 1600+ illums is about the best you can hope for in that socket type.
Hi again,
Just wanted to thank you again for your help. I ordered both LED and regular bulbs and the non led one was brighter:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07M5VK7MN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These LED ones were too dim:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JB3L4XP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Still not as bright as what I used to find in HomeDepot, wish I could remember the brand. Thanks again for your help :)
 

Math Geek

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hopefully you found something that will work. sounds like you're looking for brighter than death valley light!! lol

at least i got to share some really random knowledge about light bulbs that i happen to know. my sister owns a pet store and she started asking me about the specs on the various lights they sell. so after a lot of research i was able to understand them all. other than my sister, you are the first person i was able to share such random info with :)

hopefully you are as satisfied as i am.