When you install your first ceiling fan, you will be slightly proud of yourself and the accomplishment that you have made. However, when the night comes, and you pull on the chain to turn the ceiling fan light on, what should you do if it’s so dim you aren’t sure if it is even turned on.
The most simple way to increase the brightness of you ceiling fan is to replace the bulbs with LEDs, or, if you already have LEDs, buy some with a higher wattage.
If you are using energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs in your ceiling fan, you must be sure you are giving the bulb enough time to “warm” up to it’s maximum brightness.
To ensure that your ceiling fan light is always the brightest bulb of the bunch, there are a few things that you will need to do and adjust.
What To Do When Your Ceiling Fan Light Is Dim?
The ceiling fan light will usually be a power-saving bulb when you first install them, with many people specifically replacing the bulbs with something stronger before installing the ceiling fans.
We always recommend that you do this when you have larger rooms or rooms that have darker colors.
Ceiling fan lights are usually in the center of a room, which means that the light cannot reach the walls, creating less refraction of the light.
Further, power-saving bulbs cast much dimmer light, being absorbed by other colors that may be in your room, which makes everything dim.
Usually, when a ceiling fan light is too dim to live with, it will be in larger rooms that have a lot of furniture in them, causing light to be absorbed.
We always recommend that you balance the ceiling fan light with other lights in the room to ensure that there is always enough light.
Why Are Your Ceiling Fan Lights Dim When Turned On?
When it comes to an understanding of why the ceiling fan light is dim, we need to look at three specific things that will affect light overall.
Modern lights are nothing like the older incandescent bulbs that people may use, requiring different setups and times to become useful.
Each of these can make a world of difference when you learn how to live with them properly, with many people preferring to go the easiest route when they have a choice.
We always recommend that people consider each point before drastically changing how their ceiling fan lights work.
Fluorescent Lights in Ceiling Fans Need To Heat Up
Fluorescent is a type of light that uses gases and a mixture of chemicals to provide light, with low power needed to create light that can be effective. However, because they use a chemical reaction, the lights are not at their full brightness once turned on, instead of taking a while to heat up.
This is why you may turn on the ceiling fan light, and it is barely visible when after an hour of waiting, the light may suddenly be too bright for you to handle.
If LEDs are too expensive for you and the ceiling fan light is not in an area where you need to read or concentrate, then fluorescent lights will be perfect.
LED Lights in the Ceiling Fan May Be Too Small
LED lights are instantly at their brightest possible levels; however, they have their limits for brightness.
The lights come in all shapes and sizes, and if you are using the wrong types of LED light, you will either have spots of brightness or no brightness throughout the room.
You need to choose LED light bulbs capable of spreading the light from the LEDs throughout the room.
These are usually the LED lights that look like classic bulbs, as they have diffusers in them that ensure the brightness from the LEDs is properly being spread out.
The Room May Be Too Big for the Ceiling Fan Lights
If you have replaced the bulbs in your ceiling fan and you have removed every limiter you can find, but the light is still too dim, then your room may be too big.
This happens in newer homes, as the spaces are built to be as open as possible. However, ceiling fans lights are not meant to provide excessive light, which means larger rooms suffer greatly.
When you find yourself in this situation, the simple addition of lamps throughout the space can greatly increase the light levels throughout the room.
What To Do When Your Ceiling Fan Light Is Not Bright Enough
Now that we know the basics of why your ceiling fan light may be dim and a few of the things that you can do to fix them, we need to look at the solutions.
There are many things that you can do, and every website on the internet may suggest something entirely different. However, we have learned that a few sure-fire things will help you invigorate the entire room and ensure that you have something to read with.
There are five common solutions, three of which we have already mentioned, that will help your room become something out of a movie.
- Heat Up: The simplest and easiest solution is to wait for the lights to heat up; this only applies to older lights. As the lights get warmer, they become much brighter until they eventually reach their full brightness.
- Replace: If your ceiling fan lights have always been perfect but are suddenly losing their brightness, you may need to replace them. You can usually use almost any off-the-shelf light bulbs that are either Edison screw or Bayonet Cap.
- Get LED Lights: We always recommend doing this if you have problems with lights in your house. LED lights are much more energy-efficient and brighter than almost any light; you can also get them in different color spectrums for the best possible results. Read our articles on the best LED bulbs for a ceiling fan.
- Rooms Size: If you have one ceiling fan light in a room that can easily fit more than 20 people, no replacing bulbs will work. You must put more lights, usually lamps, throughout the room to create more light overall.
- Add More Lights: A more permanent solution to your lighting problem will add more ceiling lights to your room. These can either be sets of hanging lights or downlights that will drastically increase the overall light spread throughout the room.
What Is The Wattage Limit On A Ceiling Fan Light Bulb?
The standard wattage limit for ceiling fan lights is 190W, as this is a standard that the department of energy has created for all light socket lights.
This limit has spread worldwide as it is easier for manufacturers to use the same components on all their products.
If you want to use lights that require more wattage, you will have to remove the wattage limiter; however, be careful. Not only can you cause a short circuit by exposing wire, but you can also cause a fire by using lights with too much power.
Ceiling fans have specific housing, usually plastic and glass, that may not handle the heat produced by lights that have higher wattage.
If you want to increase the lights output, it will be safer to buy light housings made specifically for higher wattage bulbs.
Conclusion
The lights in your ceiling fan will usually be dim because of the type of light that it requires to heat up and become brighter over time.
If your ceiling fan light is always dim, you should replace it with LED lights or add more lights to the room you are in.
Please remember, you are working with electricity, and it never forgives the ignorant!