Create Atmosphere with the Retro Look of LED Filament Bulbs
The soft, warm glow of Sunco LED Filament bulbs delivers the vintage look of traditional incandescent filament bulbs with the added advantage of the long lasting and energy saving attributes of LED lighting. These filament glass bulbs can enhance the style of your home, restaurant, bar or patio with their popular retro styling.
These light bulbs are ideal as accent lighting in open light fixtures, suspended in pendants, in wall sconces or in chandeliers.
Filament as an Accent Light
Accent lighting is considered by lighting designers, interior designers, and DYI home decorators as something you layer to create an atmosphere. The basics of interior design mean that you want to layer your lighting with ambient, task, and accent lights.
Ambient is either natural sunlight through your windows or lighting that substitutes for natural light. Secondary lighting is for tasks and would include pendant lights, table lights, vanity lights and swing arm lamps in a home. Accent lighting can be mood lighting, but it also highlights specific aspects of a room. Accent light fixtures might include a wall sconce, chandelier, or open frame modern light fixture.
Our filament LED bulbs provide a warm, omnidirectional light which makes them best suited in accent light fixtures rather than relying upon filaments for task lighting. This is due to the purposefully warmer tone of these vintage style bulbs. They mimic the traditional look of incandescent bulbs from the turn of the last century.
The warmth of a 2700K Soft White color temperature provides you with a more amber hued quality of light. It is similar to candlelight and is suitable for a relaxing atmosphere. Due to the relaxing nature of these bulbs, E26 base filament bulbs across the industry are around 800 lumens of brightness. This combination of warm tone and lower brightness helps you create a calming and relaxing space.
Task lighting is bright in nature and needs a cooler quality light, whether it is bright or more subtle. Task lighting is similar to sunlight and pure white light (moving into more blue hued light as the color temperature increases). If you are seeking both the steampunk look of a traditional bulb like our LED filament bulb line - yet also allow for task lighting - then you may be happier with selecting a 5000K Daylight or 5000K Daylight Deluxe bulb.
If you are bothered by the typical bright. overhead lights in an office why not consider adding a desk lamp with a filament bulb for the warmer tone of light? Due to the slightly lower lumen count, you may find the warmer tone in an accent light more suitable for your specific needs while the cooler, ambient lighting provides you with the task light you require.
If you are unfamiliar with the terminology of warm/cool light you might want to read our blog on light quality or explore light applications in our blog on utilizing color temperatures and Kelvin levels. The second blog includes a helpful chart on which light applications match specific color temperatures.
You can set off your LED filament bulb nicely by displaying it in an open frame light fixture. This allows the retro styling of the bulb itself to be enjoyed.
Light Fixtures to Enhance the Retro Look
One of the keys to setting off your LED filament bulb so people can admire its vintage styling, is to place the bulb inside an open fixture, a pendant, a wall sconce or a chandelier. This allows you to showcase the bulb look and creates a talking point in your room or accents a specific region. Group multiples together to create more visual interest or provide more light to a dining room table or living space.
We currently offer these three waterproof filament bulbs to suit your varied needs:
Specs and Features:
- E26 base
- Suitable for accent lighting, such as a cluster of hanging pendants, modern dining area lighting, wall sconces, string lights, and open fixtures
- Wet rated / IP65 rated
- Range of color temperature choices: 2700K Warm White, 3000K Cool White, 4000K Daylight, 5000K Daylight Deluxe
- 800LM
- 5W
- 60W Equivalency
- CRI 90+
- Flicker Free
- Instant On
- Dimmable
Specs and Features:
- E26 base
- Suitable for exterior entryways with open pane wall sconce, string lights in bars and restaurant patios, and pendant chandeliers or on porches
- Wet rated / IP65 rated
- Range of color temperature choices: 2700K Warm White, 3000K Cool White, 4000K Daylight, 5000K Daylight Deluxe
- 800LM
- 5W
- 60W Equivalency
- CRI 90+
- Flicker Free
- Instant On
Specs and Features:
- E12 base
- Wet rated / IP65 rated
- Suitable for candelabras, chandeliers, and wall sconces
- 2700K Soft White Color Temperature
- 8W
- 40W Equivalency
- Flicker Free
- Instant On
- Dimmable
- 15,000 lifetime hours
- Rubber bushing acts as a protective barrier and ensures a solid fit in fixtures
Soon we will have more filament bulb styles available! Want to hear about that? Sign up for our newsletter in the footer.
In addition, using a light fixture that does not cover the bulb allows you to use our IP65 rated ST644 LED Filament Bulb with Dusk to Dawn. The sensor near the base of the light bulb cannot be covered up or your light will not automatically turn on when no light is detected and off again when light appears. Instead, it will detect no light – because it is covered up by the light fixture – and turn on all the time, whether it is day or night.
All three of the current Sunco filament bulbs are waterproof. They are Wet rated and IP65 rated for outdoor use. Add character to your patio, garden, porch, exterior restaurant space, or for an outdoor wedding and party receptions with these waterproof modern LEDs that offer the retro look of yesteryear.
Vintage Look & Modern Tech
When you create atmosphere with LED filament bulbs, you are adding a vintage look with modern tech. LED versions of antique light bulbs still feature the filament inside glass. However, there are no harmful gases inside the bulb, like the traditional version. The filament section of the bulb is made of LEDs. It doesn’t light up in the same manner as traditional incandescent bulbs. To replicate that look yet with modern tech, LED filament bulbs utilize a phosphor covering to improve the color rendering properties and the luminous efficacy.
Actual antique lighting included a lower luminosity or brightness. Traditional A19 incandescent bulbs from the early 1900s were a very warm color temperature (2700K and below). So you can capture that look, filament LED bulbs are offered in warmer tones.
The ST64 filament bulbs provide you with a CRI of 90+ (on a scale of 0-100, which is the closest appearance to sunlight). CRI refers to the Color Rendering Index. CRI 90+ means your light will have accurate color rendering along with a clear definition of textures. High CRI provides for an immersive experience; it refers to the accuracy of the light source. Traditional incandescent bulbs and fluorescent bulbs, by comparison, provide a lower CRI and aren’t as well suited to restaurants, kitchens, office spaces, and to display artwork.
CRI and color temperature choices aren’t the only improvements you get with a modern LED bulb. From a tech perspective, LED bulbs use a substrate with LED chips applied to that substrate, then a phosphor coating on the filament. This combination does not heat up like traditional bulbs. It does not include hazardous gases, and requires much less power to create the same quality of light.
Longer Bulb Life & Reduced Energy Consumption
On average, traditional incandescent bulbs can have a 1,000 hour lifetime for a single bulb. LED filament bulbs by comparison offer a 15,000 hour bulb life! You will lower your maintenance frequency and cost due to the longer life of LED bulbs.
Our ST64 LED Filament Bulbs consume only 8.5 Watts of power and our B11 Candelabra LED Filament Bulb needs only 5W. They are comparable to traditional incandescent bulbs of 60W and 40W equivalency. That is a lot of power savings in a single bulb! When you are lighting up an entire room with a cluster of bulbs, string lights, or a chandelier that savings can quickly add up.
Let’s look at the ST64 LED Filament Bulb. If you examine the Lighting Facts label (learn more about that in our footer Quick Links), you will see that at $0.11 per kWh, an 8.5W bulb uses $14.00 of electricity over its 15,000 hour life (when used only 3 hours per day). That provides you with about $85.00 savings when compared to the approximately $99.00 required to run an equivalent 60W halogen lamp.
Choose LED filament bulbs to create an effect in your room décor and as accent lighting. The warmer light tones of LED filaments are best suited to ambiance rather than task lighting. Sunco’s trio of filament LED bulbs will soon be joined by more styles. Stay informed by signing up for our newsletter in the footer.
