If you need to know how bright 470 lumens is by conventional wattage, it’s 40 watts.
That metric is however outdated as the era of incandescent lighting is over. Less power is required with LED lighting to produce the same amount of lumens, so a new comparison needs to be made.
470 lumens of light on average is:
Not all LEDs require the same amount of power to create the same light output. Here are some example products and their corresponding wattages:
A 470 lumens A19 2700K LED bulb will use 4.23 Watts @ 111 lm/W
A 470 lm LED Spot GU10 2700K PAR16 uses 5.05 Watts @ 93 lm/W
A 470 lumens B10 E12 Clear 2700K LED bulb will use 3.98 Watts @ 118 lm/W
A E12 base LED golf ball bulb will use 3.4 Watts @ 117 lm/W
A 470 lumen 3000K polycarbonate recessed ceiling light requires 5.66 Watts @ 83 lm/W
A recessed ceiling can light with an 470 lumen output requires 6.53 Watts @ 72 lm/W
A 4.8 W/m 70 LED 3000K strip will use 4.95 Watts to create 470 lm @ 95 lm/W
As lumens measure the amount of light and watts the amount of power used to create that light, the only accurate way to calculate the power consumption in Watts, is to know how efficient the light source is.
To convert 470 lumens to Watts, we first need to know the efficacy of the light source.
Efficacy is a measure of how well a light source produces visible light. It is measured in lumens per watt (lm/W) or light output per watt.
A higher efficacy means more light for the same amount of power, with different light types and even different models within a light type varying quite a bit.
For reference, here are some average lm/W efficacies for various light types:
So now a more accurate lumens to watts calculation is required to find out how much power your LED light will consume.
The power in watts (W) is equal to the luminous flux in lumens (lm), divided by the luminous efficacy in lumens per watt (lm/W):
Watts = Lumens / Efficiency
For example, an LED with an efficiency of 75 lumens per watt would require 5.53 watts to produce 470 lumens.
470 lumens / 85 lumens per watt = 5.53 watts
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