Tunable White Lighting means the ability to control the temperature of a light source output. They are also known as custom temperature color lighting by some brands. Companies manufacture strip lights with different color temperature LEDs to create tunable white functions. Here is a complete guide to help you understand more about these tunable white LED strips.
1. What is Color Temprature? How Do We Define White Light?
Usually, when you purchase an LED or a bulb, they are classified as warm, cool, daylight, bright white, or soft white. It indicates the color temperature of white that’ll emit from the light source. To better understand this, you need to learn more about CCT (Correlated Color Temperature).
CCT refers to the light color temperature measured in degrees directly correlated to how we humans will see the white light. CCT shows the precise color of the light source, helping you decide if the particular color will suit the environment or not.
Cool lights are primarily used in offices, libraries, and wherever people want to stay active for work. Warm lights are usually used in hotels, studios, or anywhere people want to relax.
2. How Does Tunable LED Change The CCT?
People are interested in RGB LED lights because of their multiple colors and mesmerizing looks. They also come with a remote control allowing you to mix two or three colors to generate a different color.
Dual white LED strips work similarly to RGB, changing the white color temperature to control the warm and cool tones. Like many other lighting technologies, many levels of sophistication and quality are involved in creating tunable white lighting, but the most crucial aspect is the blending process.
The Blending Process
A tunable LED light must combine multiple LEDs outputs to generate the desired results. The best quality tunable white LEDs will utilize multiple outputs of white light, merging channels of white lights that produce temperatures at different Kelvin ranges.
The remote control helps direct the blending process to achieve the intended CCT since a tunable white LED can shit from one CCT to another. The first generation of tunable white LEDs takes time to change the temperature as the LEDs demand time to warm up. The modern system is relatively fast and works in real-time, where you press the button and instantly see the change in the light temperature.
3. Benefits of Tunable White LED Lighting?
Regardless of where you want to install LED lights, there comes a time when you want to change the lights. Cooler lights during the day can help lift your mood, while warm lights at night can help you feel better.
The option to control the lighting can be helpful in many ways:
Perfect for your Circadian Rhythm
Circadian Rhythm is your body clock. Your body knows when to wake and when to sleep. In the daytime, your body needs to be active, and your body requires sleep at night. Tunable LED lights help your circadian rhythm by offering cool and warm lights. Change the light to bluish-white during the day for work and warm, soft light for the night when you want to relax and sleep.
Visually pleasing and cost-effective
Thanks to the soft and warm light, tunable white LEDs look visually pleasing and won’t cost you a fortune despite their extreme quality.
Increase Productivity
Tunable white LEDs can also help increase productivity in your work. Bluish white light creates an active environment where employees and students may be more productive.
Create a Peaceful Environment
Warm light is better for restaurants to set up a peaceful environment. It can also be used in hospitals to help patients feel relaxed and sleepy.
4. How to Control Tunable Lighting?
You must have a remote control system to utilize tunable lighting fully. A basic remote control gives many options like adjusting the brightness and one tap temperature control. These basic controls won’t offer precise control over light temperature, but they can help you alter the Kelvin presets.
Installing these lights into the control architecture of the building generates the best results. You can program them to manipulate the circadian rhythm of room occupants. Either use a preset that changes with time or manually override the settings to adjust your desired light temperature.
At Myledy, you can find many different tunable lighting strips, from dim to warm, dual white, and 2-in-1 dual white stripes. The Kelvin range of these strips goes from 2000K-6500K, enough to create the environment you list the most.
5. Should You Choose Tunable White Lights?
Our bodies are more awake in bright white lights and relaxed as the lights turn warm.
The day starts with a warm tone that turns blue to white, and the same happens as the sun sets. Tunable lights help us stick to our natural circadian rhythm by offering us the same range as nature provides.
The morning starts with 2700K reaching 6700K as the sun hits the top. These tunable LEDs give you the same range, from 1800K to 6500K. You can choose near 6000K to remain productive and alert. Tone it down to 3000K when you want to relax. Tunable white light is helpful even if you want to take a power nap in the office.
The tunable white LED lighting is a very good scheme to adjust the color temperature of the light. We do not need to buy two light strips with different CCT, just install this dual strip light, and then choose CCT and change the brightness through the remote controller. This brings great convenience to our life.
6. A Guide to Choose Tunable White LED Strips.
Choosing an LED strip should be simple, but there are a couple of things to consider before helping you choose the right light for your setup.
Application
Start with the location and place where you want to install the lights. Also, consider what it is that you want to light and where you’ll attach the LED strips.
Check CCT
Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) is the main reason to get these tunable LED strips. You need to confirm what color temperature you want and choose the LED strip accordingly. At Myledy, we provide the CCT range from 2000K to 7000K. If you are unsure, here is some information on CCT.
2000-3000K: Soft relaxing light, preferable for dining rooms or bedrooms.
3000-4000K: The warm white glow is best for offices and kitchens.
4000-5000K: Best for schools, and it is excellent to reduce eye strain.
5000-7000K: Such CCT range produces a bright white light, which is suitable for areas requiring high illumination.
Check CRI
Color Rendering Index (CRI) indicates the accuracy of light color. The higher the CRI score is, the better color accuracy the LED will provide. It is important to get an LED strip with a CRI of above 90 so you won’t get distorted warm colors from the LED strip.
Brightness Levels
In lighting, brightness is measured in lumens; higher lumens indicate that an LED will show bright colors. For accent lighting, you won’t need more than 200-500lm/m. Choose an LED with higher lumens if you want to light up more area.
Heat Dissipation
The quality of chips used in your LEDs will determine how good it is to avoid overheating. At Myledy, we use top-quality chips from manufacturers worldwide, so they won’t burn or stop working if you alter the temperature multiple times.
IP Ratings
IP levels indicate the protection level of electrical equipment against liquid and solid. You’ll always see IP ratings in two numbers: the first number will be 0-6 showing how strong the equipment is against dust or debris. The second number (0-8) shows the level of liquid protection.
Higher numbers denote better protection. All tunable LED strips at Myledy offer anti-yellowing, high and low-temperature resistance, and multiple IP ratings (IP62-IP68) to ensure our products stay safe even in harsh environments.
7. Buying Tunable White LED Strips
Myledy offers a wide range of tunable white LED strips, dim-to-warm strps, dual-white tunable LED strips, and two-in-one dual-white LED strips.
Take note of your requirements, and buying LED strips won’t be a difficult task. Know your area restrictions, installation, colors, and power demand to make purchasing easy. Our wide range of LED strips will help you fulfill your lighting needs.
Final Words
The choice is clear: tunable white LED strips are the best if you want multi-purpose LED strips to help increase productivity and relaxation.
At Myledy, you can find top-quality tunable white LED strips at a reasonable price. We have excellent customer support and offer a cost-cutting experience to our customers.
