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How bright is 3 lumens? We give you specific scenarios and comparisons to help understand the light output of this lumen level.
Table of Contents
A Lumen is a measure of the total amount of light emitted from a source.
3 lumens means the light has an intensity of 3 lumens of light.
When you are looking for how bright a certain light bulb or lighting product is, the number of lumens is what you need to use as your comparison.
Lumens is the unit measurement of brightness, with 1 lumen equalling the brightness of 1 candle, so 3 lumens have the brightness of 3 candles.
3 Lumens is a very low level of light. It’s suitable for the intimate light from candles, LED tea lights and remote controlled replica flickering candles.
3 lumens is bright enough to light the inside of a camper van or small tent. It is also a low level of light useful for the softest of accent lighting as a source of light in an interior space.
To compare how much light you get with different lumens levels, imagine a one-by-one meter room. If the room has an incandescent bulb that emits 3 lumens then it can illuminate that area to roughly 0.03 lux (depending on the reflectivity of surfaces in the room).
As 3 lumens LED products are predominantly decorative candles, they replicate the extremely warm white of fire at around 1000K and do not feel bright.
Most people will feel that an LED light with cool white tones, emitting a color temperature between 4000K and 6300K, is brighter than a soft or warm white light of the same amount of illumination.
3 lumens looks more powerful in a dark space as the only source of light, producing enough light to faintly fill a space. However, this weak level of light is easily drowned out by other sources and is not useful for any practical purposes other than close up work or deliberately weak ambient light, such as for night time toilet breaks.
A Christmas tree light is usually between 3 and 4 lumens.
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Low Lumen Output |
The LED tea light is a battery-operated candle that provides lighting for decoration in the home, as well as intimate experiences like dining and bathing.
1 lumen from these low-level lights is as bright as an actual tea light candle, so 3 tea lights together would create 3 lumens of brightness.
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Low Level Light Mode |
A penlight is a small flashlight that is used to illuminate situations where low-light is more appropriate. It is often used in medical settings to check pupils, throats, and wounds and avoid the uncomfortable glare from stronger flashlights.
Some EDC flashlights offer this on a low level mode too.
A flameless flickering candle typically has a brightness of 1 lumen, which recreates the effect of a real candle. These candles are often used in clusters to create different light outputs.
Therefore, 3 LED flickering candles grouped together would approximately create 3 lumens of light.
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3 lumens to watts is approximately a 0.03W LED light source.
To convert 3 lumens to watts you need to consider the type of light source being used as the greater the efficiency the higher the lumen level created per watt of power used.
Although wattages are often used when describing how bright a bulb is, lumens are a more accurate measurement.
Useful comparative measurements often asked:
Lux can only be measured by knowing the distance and the area the lumens have to travel to.
3 lumens is 3 candlepower.
The degree of kelvin is the unit of measurement for color temperature, therefore there is no direct comparison between kelvin to the lumen. However, an impression of brightness will increase with a high degree of kelvin as the light seems colder and brighter to the viewer.
Lumens and Candela. Lumens is the total amount of light from a fixture. Candela is how much of that light from a fixture shines in one direction. So 3 lm would be less than 3 candela with the candela only quantified if the angle of beam width is known.
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