We often find there is a lot of confusion between Lumens and Foot Candles and Lux. And even more confusing is how some represent conversion from traditional light sources like Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium in terms of watts, and not lumens. So why all the confusion. Well, it may be because those who represent this conversion are trying to avoid letting you know about the efficiency of the LED lights, so they claim you can replace X watts of Metal Halide with X watts of LED. What they should really say is that you can replace a 400W Metal Halide with X lumens, and their lights only need Y watts to produce these lumens. We’ll dive into this a little later, but lets first talk about lumens vs foot candles vs lux.

What is a lumen? A lumen is a measurement of light related to (1) fixture or bulb. So when we talk about lumens, we say that a fixture or bulb creates (X) lumens. These lumens are determined by sophisticated measurement equipment.

What is a foot candle? A foot candle is a unit of measurement at a specific location in a room or outdoor location that is created by 1 to many lights. It is a cumulative reading of 1 to many light sources at a specific location. It is both real and calculated. Real in the sense that you can take a light meter and walk to any location in a room or outdoor location and take a reading that represents the amount of light recorded from all contributing lights or fixtures. Calculated in the sense that you can use software to predict the foot candles of a space based on the placement of lights within the simulation.

What is lux? Lux is identical to foot candles. It is a measurement of real or calculated light, but it is done on a different scale. As a rough estimate, 1 foot candle = 10 lux.

So, simply stated, lights produces lumens, and the cumulative lumens of all lights are then determine the foot candle or lux measurement of light at a specific point in an indoor or outdoor space.

If your electrical panel has fuses rather than circuit breakers, safety can be an issue. Even some electrical panels equipped with circuit breakers can pose safety hazards and need to be upgraded.

Another reason to upgrade your electric panel is if it’s too small. To say it’s “too small” means it doesn’t supply enough power. One sign of insufficient power is that fuses are frequently blowing or circuit breakers are flipping off. Or possibly, a contractor has told you that your home or business needs more power for a new air conditioner or other installation.

What is an electrical panel?

The power from the electric utility company flows through large wires to your home and into the panel, a large metal box with fuses or circuit breakers inside. The panel controls the flow of electricity throughout the house, cutting the flow with fuses or circuit breakers if power levels rise too high.

If you think of your home electrical system as having branches and twigs like a tree, your electrical panel is the tree trunk. From the panel, the current flows into major electrical branches which dwindle into smaller and smaller branches and twigs, serving every part of your home.

An electrical panel may also be called a:

These all mean the same thing.

How do fuses and circuit breakers work?

If too much power were to flow into the wires in your home, they could melt and a fire could start. If you were to accidentally touch a damaged overloaded wire, you could receive an electrical shock.

To prevent more electrical flow than the wires are designed for, your electrical service panel is supposed to detect the problem and stop the flow immediately. In older electrical panels, a fuse blows. In newer ones, a circuit breaker flips off. Both fuses and circuit breakers are designed to break the circuit and cut the power to wires. Properly functioning circuit breakers (or fuses) are vital for your family’s safety and the safety of your home. Click here for more information about how to get the power back on if a circuit breaker has flipped off.

How do I know if my electrical panel is too small and should be upgraded?

If circuit breakers are flipping or fuses are blowing often, it likely means that your electrical system needs enlargement, including possibly a panel upgrade. Here are common situations which call for enlarging an electrical system:

Fuse Boxes

Older electrical panels have fuses rather than circuit breakers. In the days when fuse boxes were installed, homes needed considerably less power. Many fuse boxes were designed to handle 30-60 amps of power whereas the appliances and electronics in today’s homes often require 100-200 amps of power or more.

Fuse boxes may become overloaded, blowing fuses and shutting down your appliances. This is an inconvenience, and there’s a temptation to buy larger fuses so that they won’t blow so often. But, oversized fuses can allow overloading and overheating of wires. Occasionally, someone will have put a penny in the opening to replace a blown fuse. This can really create a fire hazard because a penny can’t break the circuit.

A little known danger of fuse boxes is that homeowners can accidentally stick their fingers into the fuse opening, possibly while changing the fuse, and be electrocuted. The safe solution is to upgrade with modern circuit breakers.

Circuit Breaker Brands

Specific brands of circuit breakers, especially those installed in earlier decades, have been found to deteriorate with age and pose a safety hazard. You can go to the free website Inspectopedia  and search on the brand of your circuit breaker to check its safety.

If you want to learn more about electrical panels, including some unsafe brands, click here. You can also ask us to check out your electrical panel. Call us 8-5 at (800) 990-9490. The Electric Connection provides free over-the-phone estimates and free home inspections, including checking the safety and sizing of your panel, with every electrical job. We look forward to talking with you.

Kim Hopkins

CEO, The Electric Connection

Many of us know as the years go on families grow in number and size. Unfortunately, our homes don’t expand to make room for us all. To get that extra square footage or an extra room, a home addition is ideal. But it is important to remember that the additional room needs to be connected to the house perfectly in every way. There are many points to remember with home additions and its important that they are done right or you may need to end up redoing the room you just completed.

Whether you are looking at a kitchen expansion, a new bathroom, or a room addition, there are many things to keep in mind before you put the drywall on. The new space will new lighting, switches, outlets, and even temperature controls. Depending on the size of the space these items can require a significant amount of electricity. Adding this extra load to an existing circuit can bring that circuit over the limit. If this happens you are prone to power surges, electrical outages, and even fires. Depending on the size of your room you may need a new circuit in order to properly handle the new electrical load. This means doing an addition to your electrical panel. If not implemented properly, additions to the service panel can be messy and dangerous. Because the main service panel is the heart of your home’s electrical system you want it to be in the best shape it can be.

After reading this it can seem like a home addition is a larger undertaking than you previously imagined. That is why it is important to get professional help. There can be many code violations and hazards in your new home addition and you don’t want to close them up until you are sure you are safe. An expert electrician knows what to look for and what should be done to make everything right. And when it comes to electrical panel upgrades a professional can make sure that the panel does not become a dangerous container of wires.

If you are performing a home addition or room expansion, make sure that you are keeping your home safe and up to code. The last thing you want is to expand your home and lose most of it to an electrical fire. With an expert electrician you have peace of mind knowing that everything behind the walls is done correctly.

We are very proud of our LED Retrofit Kits – DesignLights Consortium came out with a new standard, Version 4, that allowed the most efficient LED Retrofit Kits a higher efficiency category. So be careful, there is no need to purchase DLC Standard LED Retrofit Kits when there are DLC Premium Qualified LED Retrofit Kits available. And this is important, because the more efficient the product is, the more you save. And the savings don’t end there. The whole reason for the more efficient standard was to offer larger utility rebates at time of purchase.

So you save 2 ways: potentially at time of purchase and over the life of the product. Let’s do the math, because the numbers don’t lie.