Good BR30 >65W Equivalent?

[schalliol]

I'd like to replace my 65Ws with something with more light and dim them down a bit. However I see products from Cree and similar at 65W. Any recommendations? Thanks!

[Pete F.]

Schalliol, thank you for your post. A 65W bulb will create about 800 lumens, so when searching for a bulb, select one with that approximate lumen output. As for recommending a specific bulb, people have different preferences in an LED. We would recommend going to our LED Product Selection Tool. There, you can see report cards for specific LEDs that we have tested. The report card will show you dimming range, the maximum bulbs per dimmer and any other performance related observations that were noticed during testing.

[schalliol]

I didn't realize you could select the BR30 there, but I appreciate it. I hoped someone had personal experience (something you could add to your tool is personal reviews). One question, if it says dimming 93% to 9% or similar, does that mean that you cannot have it on at 100%? I assume that's possible.

[Pete F.]

The 93% to 9% is the measured light output of the bulb. You can slide the dimmer all the way to the top, but the measured light output will be 93% of the rated total light output, as stated by the LED manufacturer.

[schalliol]

Interesting. So in this 850 lumen unit, why would a RRD-10ND only provide 756 lumens while a Grafik Eye 3000 would provide 841? Can't a 10ND just give all the power to the line like a basic switch?

[Pete F.]

Triac based dimmers dim by turning the lights on and off 120 times a second. So, even at high end, the light is off for 120 times a second. This can result in a small decrease in power and light output. The light output is also based upon how the LED reacts to the voltage and the dimming signal that is being sent to it. This dimming signal varies from control to control, so the LED could have varying performance from control to control.

[schalliol]

Looks like there are only a couple BR30s above 800 (most are below!).
One that looks goo is the 900 Lumens: TCP LED12BR30D41K (No RRD-6NA listed, but the HxD-6ND is along with the 6CL and 10ND, would the 6NA work too?). I assume or at least hope that the 30K and other color temps would perform the same.

[Pete F.]

We can only recommend dimming solutions that appear on the report card. If a specific dimmer does not appear there, then we cannot recommend using it. The color temperature of the bulb should not change the performance of a bulb.

[schalliol]

Thanks. When are 6NAs going to be tested? In most cases they are not tested. Thanks!

[Pete F.]

The 6NAs are tested very often with LEDs. The report card will only show the dimmers that have passed testing. If an LED was tested with a specific control, but did not have satisfactory performance, then it will not appear on the report card. Glad that I could help.