Learning My Lighting Color Temperature Preference

With at last  a complete family of LSGC Glimpse lights, I am able to choose my preferred light color temperature. It's been a small issue for those experimenting with fairly-inexpensive CFL bulbs. Where a Glimpse luminaire costs from $38 to $50. the debate is more serious. 

Where the illumination is pure, from my ceiling, the choice is not complicated by a color-filtering nature of some lamp/ bulb holder. One 6" Glimpse at ceiling center gives very useful office illumination, beaming down onto my desktop, and bouncing off walls. I like brightest illumination, and do not consider a 4" Glimpse for this application. In a 9' by 10' room with 96" ceiling, one good light is quite enough.

I have dutifully tried 6" Glimpse lights of the three color temperatures, in the overhead light of my home office. I hoped my decent Canon digital camera, and professional computer software would allow comparisons to share, where I have photographed the light, then cropped zoom-in on light lens alone. My software fails in this. The three samples are found equal. Room illumination by the three lights is NOT equal. I get used to each, but prefer the illumination of highest color temperature. The 4000°K highest temperature also is most satisfying in rendering my understood color of walls. Surprisingly, walls at 2700°K illumination are yucky. One blog commenter wanting 2700°K lights gave me a bias toward "warm" coloring. I now do not think 4000°K coloring is cold. I fear the choice will be different for individual preference, perhaps flipping as one chooses new wall color.




JPEG photos of the three color temperatures are distinct at least in an aura about the lens. I am used to lights of 3000°K in all other rooms, and upon leaving and return to my office, find the 4000°K light is harsh. I have swapped back to 3000°K light, ending the experiment. 3000° is comfortable. I don't notice walls as yellowed or glaring. I will not ponder the decision again.

For others too, I think 3000°K is a choice you will not regret. I think most of us will want consistent lighting, the same color temperature in all rooms. Just choose the size needed. 4" for spots. 6" for work areas. 6" with a dimmer in hallways, where you sometimes need brightness, and sometimes want a night light. Maybe 6" with dimmer over a kitchen sink needed as a night light.

I wonder who is responsible to aid this consumer choice. Does every product have to be offered with color choices? Can a generic store display inform the choice, such as these at my Home Depot:

I take these displays to be of 2700°K, called Soft White, 3000°K, called Bright White, and 4000°K, called Day Light. Can't we choose consistent names? Or, might we avoid debate where with a plate light, a spectrum of diode phosphate coating color might be applied? In a 4" Glimpse, there are 18 diodes. Why not apply a sampling of the three colors. or a fuller spectrum, arranged appropriately?

Why must a fixture have only one diode color? This is Warm White 3000°K, and it is interesting that diode phosphor coating color is related intuitively to illumination color.

Review, Commercial Electric 74203 and 74207 Color Changing Edge Lights Almost Surface-Mount

There is big change in LED downlight offerings at Home Depot. A new two-member family of very promising ultra-thin LED edge lights offers easy mounting anywhere. First review the big brother of the family:
Commercial Electric 74207 (the identifier in the bar code) 

5/6 in./J-Box 12-Watt Dimmable White Integrated LED Round Flat Panel Ceiling Flushmount Light with Color Changing CCT  

Let us not encourage a naming as "Color Changing." I dispute any virtue in user control of the illuminating color temperature, achieved by phosphor coating of diodes.

Find an identifying number in the bar code at bottom of box. Find a box that is compact and fully recyclable. Commercial Electric (17801), product ID 74207. Unboxing, find preset of mounting as retrofit of an A-type bulb in a can light. Simply detach the plug at the quick-connect  and free the harp springs by compressing to remove nylon ties. You know the rest of the simple mounting that will probably air seal a decrepit can.

I am interested in the mounting upon a junction box, and pry off the mounting bracket to detach the harp springs. Look closer at the color temperature selector switch that you will not want to leave in the SWITCH position. In the default SWITCH position, the color is initially perhaps 2800°K, not the box-claimed 3000°K.

On my comparison stand with Nicor DLS10, 3000°K, 750 lumens at left, and CE 74027 at right. See about-equal brightness confirming the box claim of 800 lumens output.

Cycle the wall switch, to BW, Bright White, claimed to be 4000°K.

Cycle the wall switch again to bring up setting DL, Daylight, claimed to be 5000°K. 

Daylight? We all know sunlight does not shift perceived color of a beige wall, to blue.









In fact blue illumination is in absence of daylight. This photo is found among "color temperature" discussion at Wikipedia. A cream-colored house is blue and purple at sunrise, illuminated only by the back glow of blue sky; not at all by direct sunlight.

Here is a spectrum of sunlight correlated color temperature from Wikipedia . The Wikipedia discussion states: Daylight has a spectrum similar to that of a black body with a correlated color temperature of 6500 K (D65 viewing standard) or 5500 K (daylight-balanced photographic film standard).

Blue colors are thousands of degrees Kelvin, above that of luminaires called 5000K. Something is wrong in our marketing of LED color achievement with painted-on phosphors. I'm afraid it is deliberate deception to sell luminaires of blue diodes. Blue is the easy color to achieve, and lumens count is not diminished by blockage in phosphor. Call blue (sky color), daylight. Get away with it for awhile. If it is deception, honesty may arise only in a fuzzy transition to white light from RGB diodes and in the inevitable arrival of low-cost OLED lighting. I'm ready for that.

See the test stand setup with 74027 at SW, Soft White setting.

74027 box mounting is simple and secure.

Get curious now, how "color changing" works. The white rim of the luminaire is resilient plastic, easily deformed to successively release keys that retain the metal pan.

One of the keys has easily-separated gluing to the pan and between the rim and the obscuring lens. Leave the rim/ lens bond alone.

Drop out the lens and backing paper to reveal three conductors between the diode strip and the converter block.

At full power in SW setting, find light of diodes with an orange phosphor coating.

In the BW setting, all diodes are powered, and light that will be projected through the obscuring lens, seems a natural color.

In the DL setting, only the diodes with a white phosphor coating, are powered.


















I hoped to find the luminaire desirable, in the BW setting. I do not. There is unacceptable bluing of illuminated objects. I imagine virtue in display of multiple color temperatures to better represent natural sunlight. Perhaps many soft colors will be the emerging best design. The two colors equally blended here are of too extreme a range.


See remarkably small lens luminance. There are many wonderful things about this 

Here is Commercial Electric 74207 among Nicor DLS10 lights upon a kitchen ceiling. The 74207 color temperature setting is BW, Bright White. All diodes fired. I imagined this then to be the best setting. Clearly though, it is too blue, to my eyes and to sensitivity of my iPhone 6 Plus camera. The diodes with less yellow phosphor are only a corruption of the luminaire usefulness. I will find the 74207 useful in the SW setting, but with upset over "color changing" misconception.

I persist in supportive curiosity about the new Home Depot offerings of surface-mount ultra-thin LED edge lights.. I want to buy and try the 500 lumens little brother of 74207 . Not in my store. Nor sold online.

There is this, too, not really on offer. 
Commercial Electric 4/5/6 in./J-Box 12-Watt Dimmable White Integrated LED Energy Star Recessed Trim Disk Light with Color Changing CCT 

I have dutifully purchased the little brother of the new Home Depot edge light family, called 74203 in the bar code.

Out of the box, 74203 is ready only for setting in a cylindrical 4" can light. I won't bother to remove the spring clips, sticking this onto my illumination comparison stand.

Original 4" Glimpse 3000°K 500 lumens at left. 74203 at right, at full power, first setting SW, delivered in SWITCH position. 4" Glimpse, 3000°K, correctly illuminates wall color. The 74203 SW illumination is a bit on the yellow side of correct. This clearly though, is my preferred setting.

Original 4" Glimpse at left. 74203 at right, at full power, second setting BW, delivered in SWITCH position. 4" Glimpse, 3000°K, correctly illuminates wall color, but my eyes and my Canon Digital Rebel now find corruptive yuck in Glimpse color.

Original 4" Glimpse at left, 74203 at right, at full power, third setting DL, delivered in SWITCH position. 4" Glimpse, 3000°K, correctly illuminates wall color, but my eyes and my Canon Digital Rebel find yuck in Glimpse color. The 74203 color illumination is GLOOMY.

Look from further back at comparison in the DL setting. Everything is wrong.

The 74203 does not fully dim. Here at about 20%, see very gloomy night lighting.

Now give another three-star review at homedepot.com, disliking push of "color changing" as virtue.

Done, and with regret. This small and efficient light will be superior to many other luminaires that might replace dead bulbs in 4" can lights, especially as architectural lighting or security lighting upon home soffits. For this and with many installation virtues, this deserves at least four stars,

I said in a three stars review: At 500 lumens this is correct brightness from a "four inch" light. Wrongful comparison to a useless fifty watt light bulb, still sold and claimed 825 limens, will mislead. A 500 lumens LED downlight gives illumination matched to a 100 watt point-source incandescent bulb.

All three settings selectable by cycling the wall switch, are gloomy. Does any home owner want the 5000°K blue light I have hated in some ugly CFL bulbs? Blue gloom comes from absence of sunlight, not from afternoon brighter sunlight.

At 3/5/2020, add to this post, to report continued purchases and satisfaction with 74203 and 74207 lights. Here are six 74203 500 lumens lights in BW setting now accepted as 3000°K good color temperature. This is the completion of the remodel of my own kitchen. The photo is presented in my blog post My Kitchen LED Starry Sky With Constellations, of 11/23/2018. I call this lighting constellation, "Dining," which I imagine to be at the island, upon bar stools. The now-fully-modern 1955 ranch home is now a very desirable, energy-efficient rental.

 Although these Commercial Electric lights are no longer offered in Home Depot stores, they remain in stock for online purchase.Click HERE for the 4" light now Model 74202. There see twenty reviews 4.4 stars on average, with my unfortunate 3 star review seventh for helpfulness.  Click HERE for the 5" - 6" light now Model 74206. There, see 95 reviews averaging 4.6 stars, with mine ninth-rated for usefulness despite indelible three-stars..

Characterize Slochi LED Disk Downlights Sold At Amazon

I have purchased, tried, rejected and returned these surface-mount LED disk lights found at Amazon. 7.5" Slochi and 6.5" Slochi . My observations are a needed but barely visible counterweight to quite-positive Amazon Customer Reviews .  My review offered three stars for quality of construction and packaging. Reading negative reviews, see that criticisms tend to be incorrect and not informative. Another kind of reviewer is needed.

The lights are unbearably glaring and offer USA consumers nothing better toward ease of installation. For all LED lighting offered, we need counseling and labeling upon glare. We must wish for adjustable color only in a narrow spectrum near the 3000°K of still-loved old incandescent light bulbs. Pre-LED, we were not offered depressing blue lights. Where lighting is thus badly marketed, we shall wish that benign powers of government would offer manufacturer guidance and consumer protection.

They seemed to meet my requirements of five thin lights that would illuminate the rough attic of a year-1954 hip-roof ranch home. I returned the lights with vengeance in a 3-stars review, for the following reasons:

1. A 7" light should have output of not more than 900 lumens. The light output was not stated anywhere at the Amazon listing, on the box or in the box. The lens size and lumens output must correspond, with a luminance limit of 0.05 lumens per square millimeter. I found glare unbearable to look at. I suggested that output is 1200 lumens, then with luminance of 0.065 lumens per square millimeter. The measured lens diameter for this luminance statement is 153 mm, 6.02inch. How then can the light be called 7.5"? 
2. The deceptive listing photo indicates a pretty thickness of about 5/8". In fact thickness is 0.94".
3. The color temperature choices are adverse. We wish for adjustability-to-suit-individual vision within a band of 3000°K +/-, perhaps 200°K. No one loves 4000°K. 6500°K is awfully ugly.

That is it for complaints. I can praise the light for being cleanly dimmable, contrary to the listing stated as non-dimmable. Dimmability costs pennies and absence would be a bad decision.

At 5/17/2026 I have ordered this similar light offered by Amazon:

This light is still reported wrongly as non-dimmable. The rim diameter is reported as 6.5 inch, with output of 1200 lumens. Where output is determined by the length of the strip of LEDs within the rim, a bit more area than the lens, the 7.5" vs. 6.5" size listing implies increase of output from 1200 lumens to 7.5/6.5*1200 = 1385 lumens, luminance 0.075 lumens per square millimeter! 

See awful disinformation in the above About this item, that 1200 lumens is equivalent to a 100 watt incandescent bulb. A 100 watt incandescent bulb delivers about 450 lumens in end-on directional illumination. I contradict with the confidence of experimental observation:

The task illumination of a 100 watt incandescent bulb was only about 450 lumens. I suggested that the 70% waste of lumens with a point source light filament and frosting of the bulb glass might be expressed with equal Brightness Numbers, B4, where the hottest-allowed incandescent bulb was about 150 watts, B6. This standard has not caught on, and we are misled by Amazon: 1200lm led ceiling light is equivalent to 100W traditional incandescent light.

A 1200 lumens directional LED luminaire offers the task illumination of a cluster of about three 100 watt incandescent bulbs. 

The disinformation again expressed perhaps to deliberately devalue LED lights, was carried forward in the 2008 L-Prize competition. The residential lighting prize winner was this expensive,  foolish, heavy, wasteful contraption. 

On my comparison test stand, 4" Glimpse at LHS, the Utilitech "winner" at RHS beaming end-on from a porcelain lampholder. End-on is of course the orientation of the LED board. The winning bulb has glass optics to deflect perhaps half of the directional light perpendicular to the A19 light socket, with presumption sideways illumination is wanted from a bulb pointing upward in a now-absurd table lamp. Please judge that my comparison test stand offers unambiguous assessments.

Here is test stand comparison of the 7.5" Slochi at 3000°K color temperature setting, with a 4" Glimpse, at fixed 3000°K color temperature. See the over-powered Glimpse at RHS.

This is the pretty 4" Glimpse, as illuminating as a 100 watt incandescent, with its box-mount keyways that draw litter of dead bugs to cloud the lens.

This is the thick appearance of the 7.5" Slochi as it would be flush-mounted on a drywall ceiling, joined to a recessed lighting junction box, RACO 175.

Here is the about 3000°K comparison of illumination upon a light-gray wall. Observe brightness and projected colors, separated by a divider plate.The Slochi is more than twice as "bright," and has lower color temperature. Both lights have intended 3000°K color temperature.

1200 lumens 7.5" Slochi at LHS, 450 lumens 4" Glimpse at RHS.

1200 lumens 7.5" Slochi set 4000°K at LHS, 450 lumens 4" Glimpse 3000°K at RHS.

1200 lumens 7.5" Slochi set 6500°K at LHS, 450 lumens 4" Glimpse 3000°K at RHS.

The 7.5" Slochi luminaire is keyed to three tabs about its wiring-obstructive mounting plate. Luminaire separation is quite intuitive. The plastic Slochi could not carry an electric charge; there is no ground wire.

The 6.5" Slochi has needless defiant mounting logic and very-confined wires passage. Instead of rotation to couple or uncouple at the ceiling, a bit of sideways displacement does the job  -  less intuitively, with much more difficulty and with less security.

The luminaire is set a not-pretty 1/8" distance from the ceiling.

The 6.5" and 7.5" Slochi have the same projection of color, compared to 4" Glimpse.

7.5" Slochi at LHS

6.5" Slochi at LHS

This is the 6.5" Slochi in process of installing temporarily on my kitchen ceiling.  See that the mounting plate is only a plastic bar. With a tiny 1" hole for wires, connections must be achieved before raising the mounting plate to a ceiling. The luminaire engages the mounting plate quite blindly and with frustration, with a precarious sideways capture. The luminaire is 0.71" thick and stands atop the mounting plate with a 1/8" gap to the ceiling. I do not like this engagement, and think it has no future, as a failed experiment. See that I install lighting air-tight, grouted-in RACO 175 junction boxes. In drywall, I see no advantage in lesser ceiling cuts - and absolutely none in the larger ceiling cuts of can lights or clip-in "canless" luminaires.

With the 1/8" gap, the 6 1/2" Slochi just looks quite thick.

I have set color temperature to 6500°K, here observed in nighttime darkness in comparison with many other lights 3000°K. 

The very bright blue light is very ugly as seen upon the luminaire lens. I can't say whether the gloomy blue is projected upon the floor, overwhelmed by the many other lights 3000°K.

The open space of a 4" octagon ceiling box is ample for pulling of wires within a joist bay. An airtight installation is easily opened for access with a stab saw. A light location needing to be abandoned is easily patched-out with a divot left in the attic above, for best match of ceiling texture. Know that lighting opportunities and needs change or may be found in-error.

Key to the easy box removal is the installation with a wood junction box kit , rather than reliance on finding useful hole proximity to framing. All ceiling  lights and fans are best installed after drywall, with wiring pre-positioned if possible.

There is nothing about the 6.5" Slochi that is an improvement upon the found 5" OD Commercial Electric 74203 , here being reset. Know that this light is no longer sold at Home Depot, or anywhere. 

After electrical connection with the very ubiquitous orange quick-connect, just push upon the lens to spring-load the luminaire upon the ceiling. The most intuitive action is to push or to pull upon the lens for installation and removal.