Alright, knowing LEDs are less bright than traditional bulbs, I went ahead and ordered 10LED SMD bulbs for my cab lights. Well my research tells me 10 SMD LEDs = 140-150 lumens, while the standard bulb was... 24.

So that means now my LEDs would be 6 times as bright as the original bulbs, and I think thats just going to be obnoxious.

The place that I'm getting confused however is that the smallest you can find is a 3 LED cluster. 3 LEDs are 15 lumens each, or 45 total lumens. This in theory should be TWICE as bright as a standard 194 bulb.

If this is the case, then how come its considered the norm to anticipate that LEDS are less bright than traditional bulbs if even the smallest ones are twice as bright as traditional bulbs?

Are lumens somehow different between LEDs and Traditional bulbs? or are lumens... lumens?

Thanks for your help!

 

LEDs dont measure brightness by Lumens but rather MCD. The higher the number the more bright. Something else to be careful of is viewing angles.

If they are to bright you can always add resistors to lower the incoming voltage and dim them down