Lighting Calculation(Residential Areas)

Guidelines in Planning the Outlets(Ceiling Mounted Outlets)

Figure out how much light you need in each room and how many
fixtures you'll need.
If the idea of doing a lighting calculation is a bit off-putting, there’s simple
rules. It isn't difficult. I promise. On this page you can find out what lighting
levels you'll need in different rooms in your home and for different activities.
Then we'll go through an example and you'll see that it's not so hard.

Lighting units
We can't get much further talking about lighting before we take a look at how
we measure light. Here's a few words you'll need to know to make the rest of
this page make sense.

Lumen
A lumen (symbol lm) is a measure of the total amount of light, visible light
emitted by a source (any bulb or lamp, even a simple lit candle) in any
particular direction. That's keeping it simple. For a more precise definition
Wikipedia can tell you more about what a lumen is.

Lux - the metric system

Lux is a measure of illuminance which basically means it's a measure of how
much light there is over a given surface area. One Lux (lx) is equal to one
lumen per square meter.

1 lx = 1 lm/m2

Footcandle - the imperial system

Footcandle is also a measure of illuminance for those of you who prefer to
work in feet. One Footcandle (fc) is equal to one lumen per square foot.

1 fc = 1 lm/ft2
Converting between Lux and Footcandles
If you need to convert between Lux and footcandles (values given to precision
of 2 decimal places):

 1 Lux (lx) = x Footcandles (fc)

 1 Footcandle (fc) = 10.76 Lux (lx)

Lighting Calculation - Step 1

Find out how many lux or footcandles you need
The lighting table below tells you how many lux or footcandles you need in
each room or for various tasks. I've also thrown in some examples of
moonlight and daylight for interest.

The values given in the table aim to assure safety, comfort and charm. There
are times when more light may be available such as when there is bright
sunlight spilling through a window or when more light is desirable such as for
a small task.
Activity Lux Footcandles
Direct Sunlight 32000–100000 2300 - 9300 (approx)
Daylight (not sun) 10000–25000 930 - 2300 (approx)
Full moon (clear) 1 0.1
Kitchen ambient 108 10
Kitchen task 538 50
Dining 54 5
Living Space 54 5
Living Space (task) 323 30
Desk lighting 431 40
Bedroom ambient 54 5
Bedroom reading 431 40
Bedroom dressing table 431 40
Bathroom ambient 54 5
Bathroom task 323 30
Laundry 323 30
Circulation 54 5
Sewing 538 50
Garage/Workshop 108 10
Small detailed task 1076 100

We're going to work out the amount of light required for a kitchen, as an
example. Note that in the kitchen, the ambient or the general illumination (lux)
and the local/task(specific area) must be considered. Example of a specific
area is the tiled table surface where food is prepared, where small appliances
like rice cooker, oven etc. are located.

Using the table above we can see that we need :

 108 lux (or 10 footcandles) for ambient lighting

 538 lux (or 50 footcandles) for task lighting for food preparation

Lighting Calculation - Step 2

Work out how many lumens you need
Ambient lighting in the kitchen
In this step we need to work out the area of the kitchen.

Let's say we have a 4m x 3m kitchen we multiply these two numbers together

to get an area of 12 square meters.

To get the number of lumens we multiply the lux requirement from step 1 by
the area.

This gives us 12 x 108 = 1296 lumens.

If you're working in feet, calculate the area in square feet and use the
footcandle value from the light table.

Task lighting in the kitchen

Here we're going to work out the surface that needs to be lit for food
preparation.
Let's say we want to light the countertop which measures 4m x 0.6m. That
makes the area 2.4 square meters.

To get the number of lumens the calculation is 2.4 x 538 = 1291 lumens

If you're working in feet, calculate the area in square feet and use the
footcandle value from the light table.

Lighting Calculation - Step 3

Work out how many bulbs you need
The number of lumens that a light bulb emits is usually labelled on the
packaging. Remember that the lighting fixture you have in mind will determine
what type of bulbs you are going to use.

Lumens labelled on light bulb packaging

Number of bulbs for ambient lighting

Let's say we were going to use a fluorescent light source for the ambient
lighting. Fluorescent tubes that emit 800 lumens each are available. One
tube wouldn't be sufficient, but two tubes would give 1600 lumens which
would be plenty for our 1296 lumen requirement. Therefore, for general
illumination of the kitchen, two fluorescent tubes are more than enough. You
may use circular fluorescent lamps with enclosures for aesthetic purpose.

Number of bulbs for task lighting

Let's say we want to use LEDs for the under the cabinet lighting and we've
found a bulb we light which gives out 350 lumens.

So we need 1291/350 = 3.6 which means we need 4 of the bulbs to light the
countertop. If the decimal is 0.5 or higher, it should be rounded to 1 lighting.
To summarize : the kitchen area will require two circular fluorescent tubes for
ambient lighting and four or maybe just three LED’s for the work area.

Lighting Calculation - Summary

Here's a summary and a calculator to help you.

1. Use the light table to find out how many lux or footcandles you need.
2. Calculate the amount of lumens you need. Multiply the area in square
meters by the lux, or the area in square feet by the footcandles.
3. Work out how many bulbs you need. Divide the number of lumens by
the number of lumens delivered by each bulb.

The figure below is a floor plan showing the ceiling mounted lighting outlets.

PLANNING THE OUTLETS (DUPLEX Convenience Outlets) for the Residence

 The Philippine electrical Code or PEC specifies that a number of duplex
convenience outlets be installed for every area in the residence. As a general rule
: the Code specifies that one outlet be installed for every 6 meters or 20 ft of
floor perimeter. The oullets must be place around the perimeter equally but not
in areas that are obstructed. Obstructions are door swing, divider, bed
headboards, etc.
To demonstrate : Suppose your bedroom measures 4mx 3m. how many duplex
convenience outlets will this area require?
Step 1 : compute the floor perimeter.
P = 2( L + W) = 2( 4 + 3) = 14m
Step 2. Determine the number of outlets :
No. of outlets = 14m /6m/CO = 2.33 say 2 CO’s

Here is the illustration…

In the computation, if the decimal is below 0.5, disregard…

If the decimal is 0.5 or higher, round or count it as one
Convenience outlet
The figure above shows a typical lay out of duplex convenience outlets. The
owner may wish to add additional if they wish to. Remember: Planning is based
on an “individual family” basis. That is, one family would want more outlets while
others are contented with “maybe” one outlet per area.