Adjustable Color LED Lights

[Little Bill]

A lot of LED lighting has adjustable color (2700K, 3000K, 4000K, etc.) temperature selection. They have a slide switch that you move to the desired color. What exactly is the switch doing, and how does that change the color temperature?

 

[LarryFine]

Usually, there are two sets of chips; one set the coolest, the other the warmest. Intermediate colors are made by mixing proportionate levels of the two. Theoretically, the longest chip life is attained at the middle setting.

 

[Kansas Mountain]

What LarryFine said is correct, and in my experience the most common method.

An alternate method is to have redundant sets of different color chips. This is more costly, but allows more consistent lumen output across the different color temperatures. With the more cost effective method, when you have the fixtures set to 100% output, you will have significantly different delivered lumen levels across your varying color temps.