{"id":848,"date":"2015-07-23T17:38:34","date_gmt":"2015-07-23T17:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ledsupply.com\/blog\/?p=848"},"modified":"2019-12-04T13:56:05","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T13:56:05","slug":"what-is-the-brightest-led","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ledsupply.com\/blog\/what-is-the-brightest-led\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the brightest LED? Lumen Outputs and Comparisons"},"content":{"rendered":"

So you want to know what our brightest LED is? I can tell you first hand that you definitely are not alone on that one. We get that question asked a lot, and to be honest, there is no straight up answer. We have different kinds of LEDs, different color temperatures, and different arrays that make the answer long winded which is why I’m dedicating a whole blog post to answering it as best I can.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is worth noting that the days of measuring brightness by the wattage of a bulb are coming to an end as LEDs continue to gain traction. Component LEDs are measured in Lumens which is a measurement of light that is hard to explain if you don’t already have a rough idea of Lumen outputs and such. The best way I can explain it is with this diagram I made up a ways back that shows certain Incandescent bulb wattages and the Lumens they give off so you have an idea of what to compare it to.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Incandescent<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Larger LED Arrays<\/h2>\n

As I touched on in the opening paragraph it is hard to straight up compare all of our LEDs as we carry many different kinds. Our chip on boards like the Cree CXB<\/a> will be the brightest option you can buy as a single board from us here at LEDSupply. The CXA is a high density array that gives off crazy Lumens for a small footprint as you can see from the output numbers on the product page and in the tables below. You also will notice that they can run at lower current ranges and the voltages are much higher as well, making it so wattage of your light will even out a bit (wattage = current (A) x forward voltage). So basically, if you are looking for a quick answer, here it is, the Cree CXA is our brightest option as a single LED light! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you want more information and other options, keep reading…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The last kind of odd ball LED we offer is the Cree MC-E<\/a> which is a multi-die LED. The MCE has 3 die in the center all under the same dome. The MCE is good if you want to drive at low currents and still get good output but as far as brightness goes you could definitely do better as other LEDs are capable of being run at much higher currents.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now that we got the odd ball LEDs out of the way it is time for more straight forward comparisons. We sell our high power LEDs as bare emitters or in surface mount 1-Up and 3-Up options on our MCPCB Star Board. We set the LEDs on these boards for you so that you can easily connect power to them and so forth. The board is .75\u201d in diameter and has solder points around the perimeter. These LEDs are mostly from the Cree XLamp family, however, we also carry the Luxeon Rebel which will be included in the Lumen comparisons below.\"LEDs<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Testing Temperatures and Hot Binning<\/h2>\n

Before we jump into the actual Lumen numbers I want to clarify that the below charts and tables show lumen numbers when tested at 25\u00ba<\/span>C. This is the standard for testing Lumen output and we pulled all of our information straight from this Cree LED comparison tool<\/a> and the Luxeon Data sheets. These Lumens are accurate when the LEDs are running at temps around 25\u00ba<\/span>C, however, sometimes it is hard to keep LEDs at that low of a temperature which is why we have Lumen numbers tested at 85\u00ba<\/span>C on some of our product pages. This is a process called hot binning as it shows the LEDs output when running at hotter temperatures. I just wanted to point this out so you didn’t see these lumen numbers here and then go to the product pages and see different numbers and get all sorts of confused. Just make sure look at the test temperature listed so you know what to expect and understand the difference.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Color Temperature and Brightness<\/h2>\n

\"LED<\/p>\n

Color temperature has a direct effect on brightness. Color temperature works in the sense that lower temperatures around 3,000K are warm white, and higher temps like 6,500K+ are cool white. Neutral white is the middle ground usually around 4,000-6,000K. It is an industry standard that cool white LEDs are brighter than warm white. If you take the XP-G2<\/a> for example you can see that the lumen output for the LED ran at 350mA is as follows:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n