brain fart here.....

bulb has a 55watt (legal) draw, but says it has a 130 watt output.....
how does that work?

so... stock wiring can handle the draw...(55w) But gives off 130 watts?

if so... seems a smart choice. vs a 55watt draw, 70 watt output...

someone fill me in.

i feel stupid

That number is probably way exaggerated. But here is what is going on: Brightness is not measured in watts. So they are advertising equivalent brightness as compared to a standard incandescent bulb.

An incandescent bulb is not very efficient at turning electrical power into light. Most of the power is actually turned into heat instead of light, and therefore wasted.

So the bulb is advertising itself as being more efficient at turning electrical power into light. Just like a halogen bulb is more efficient than a standard bulb (gives off more light for a given amount of power). So whatever bulb you are looking at is simply saying that it draws 55 watts, but gives off an amount of light that it would take a standard bulb 130 watts of power to produce.

A good example of this is flourescent lights for your home. You can buy flourescent bulbs that are ~25W, but advertise themselves as equivalent to 100W incandescent bulbs (giving off the same amount of light). This is because flourescents don't waste as much energy in heat. So flourescents are ~4x as efficient at turning electrical energy into light as incandescent bulbs.

Demick

awesome. thanks demick.

thats what i was confused about... so they compare it to a standad bulb wattage.

thanks
AA