| It's not that simple, sadly. My house has 100+ canned recessed lights, all of which had been filled with Sylvania 50W Halogen PAR30 & PAR30LN bulbs. I have been desperately trying to find a replacement LED that matches the same warmth and color. This bulb claims to be the exact replacement: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00467E3LA/ But yet this one and others that have similar lumens, temperature, and equivalent watts all don't even get close to the warmth that the halogens produced. Fortunately, I found a cheap alternative: http://www.amazon.com/Philips-424374-7-watt-Household-Dimmab... It's the A19 40W that the article cautions against, and it looks slightly less sexy in the recessed can, but the color almost exactly matches the halogens I have (except when dimmed -- nothing can match the fireplace-like glow). What's weird is that the lumens and temperature for that bulb aren't even close to what the halogens claim, but they look almost identical. Which has made me wonder if this switch to LED is way more complex than just those two measurements :P |
I can't talk specifics (under NDA from a former employer), but this is a problem for which solutions exist. I don't know that manufacturers think there's much of a market there, however.
> Which has made me wonder if this switch to LED is way more complex than just those two measurements :P
It is. There are a bajillion things going on. One which you've already noticed is how dimming impacts color temperature. CRI is also a huge issue. Then there's the optics - LEDs are very directional, so they require pretty advanced lenses in order to achieve a desired lighting pattern [1]. Optics impact all kinds of things, including color temperature, and since the development cost is high you can expect cheap brands to skimp there. If you're comparing them by looking directly at the bulb, internal glare/reflection is hard to match as well.
I'd still caution against using the A19s in a recessed fixture. It's not a safety issue (that I'm aware of), but you definitely won't get the rated life out of the bulb.
Out of curiosity, did you try an LED BR30? I think you might find one from a quality manufacturer to be a bit better than the A19.
1: $20 says the lighting pattern on the Sylvania LED is smoother/more regular than the Sylvania halogen, but I'm biased since I know the guy who designed the lens.