TUNABLE LIGHTING IS NOT ALL THE SAME
Not too long ago, you might get a shrug if you asked someone what tunable lighting was. Even if people don’t know the term, now most know about Philips Hue and dozens of other LED lights that can vary color temperature and display color. But they might not know that not all tunable lighting is made the same way.
Our tunable lighting solution of choice for our Calabasas, CA clients is Lutron’s Ketra. Ketra was a pioneer in the top tier of this space for both residential and commercial applications, and no one does tunable lighting better. Keep reading to learn more about the Ketra lighting difference!
SEE ALSO: Why You Need Ketra Lighting in Your Home
WARM DIMMING
Dimming is a capability that separates lighting solutions. Some do it well, others relatively poorly. What do we mean by warm dimming? Most incandescent lighting was able to be dimmed down (with a well-matched dimmer switch) to the color of candlelight, achieving that warm glow you might want to set a relaxing mood. Unfortunately, many LED lights don’t do this well at all.
LED technology is different from incandescent and presents a challenge for good dimming capabilities. Incandescent lighting works by having electrons flow through a filament—the more power that flows, the more heat that’s generated. The filament glows starting at an amber/reddish color and moves to more neutral whites at full brightness. Incandescent lighting is available in a few color temperatures, from warm to cold. But if you want a different color temperature, you must change the bulb or fixture.
A typical white LED light is composed of a blue LED with a yellow phosphor coating. The blue LED light is mixed with the yellow light from the phosphor. When you dim the light, you get less output – it’s a colorless dim, not one with a warm glow that you might expect.
KETRA LIGHTING
Ketra does LED lighting differently. They combine saturated red, green, and blue light sources with a phosphor-covered white LED. The result is quite different, allowing for dynamic and precise color control. When you dim a Ketra light, you get the warm hue that you want that mimics the rays from the setting sun. And what’s more, you can customize that further with color.
Lighting is also differentiated by how much of the light spectrum they cover. There are limited-spectrum and full-spectrum lighting systems. Cooler light is the upper part of the spectrum, measured in Kelvin. Light at 4000K and above is a bright white, with a larger amount of blue light. For example, daylight – like the bright light of a noonday sun – runs around the 5000-6500K range. In contrast, 2000K and below is the range inhabited by warm candlelight.
If you really want that warm, glowing light – the kind that naturally triggers our bodies to relax – you want a lighting system that gets down to 1400K and lower. That’s the beauty of full-spectrum lighting from Ketra. When you need daylight to match the light outside to focus, you can have it at the touch of a button or a swipe on a touch screen. And when you want to wind down, your Ketra lighting transforms your space with a warm glow, like having a sunset indoors.
Ready to transform your illumination with Ketra lighting? Malibu Wired is your local Ketra expert. Contact us by giving us a call, filling out our online contact form, or chatting with an expert in the pop-up window below to schedule a no-obligation consultation. We look forward to working with you!
