LED uplighter with reading lamp: what matters in the living room

What an uplighter is meant for in a room

If you sit on the sofa in the evening, you usually do not want harsh ceiling light but a basic brightness that does not dazzle. An uplighter creates this brightness indirectly: the light hits the ceiling and spreads from there into the room. This produces fewer hard shadows, and the light source itself lies outside your direct field of view, provided the shade sits high enough.

This advantage comes with a condition. The ceiling must be light and not too high, otherwise a large part of the light is lost on the way. In rooms with a dark wooden ceiling, very high ceilings in period buildings or sloping ceilings, the principle works only to a limited extent. So check the room first and the product only afterwards.

The reading lamp supplements the background light. It usually sits on a movable arm or gooseneck and lights a book, handicraft or tablet. The advantage is that the indirect main light can stay dimmed while only the reading area gets brighter. That saves switching between several lamps and keeps the mood in the room calm.

A note up front: we did not have any of the models mentioned in our hands and have not measured anything. All statements follow the manufacturer documents and listing details documented on the respective product pages. Where a detail comes only from the retailer's listing, this is stated. You will find an overview of further designs in the category Floor lamps.

Typical places of use are the living room next to the sofa, the reading corner at the armchair and the study as a supplement to desk lighting. In all three cases the same question applies: what job should the light do, and how much brightness does the spot need for it? Only once that is clear is it worth looking at individual models.

How much light an uplighter should deliver

The most important figure on the data sheet is not the wattage but the luminous flux in lumens. Watts describe the power consumption, lumens describe how much light is actually produced. How to convert one into the other is shown in the lumens to watts chart. For a rule-of-thumb calculation by room size, the article Lumens per room helps.

Indirect lamps have one particular feature: the light is reflected off the ceiling, and some of it is lost in the process. An uplighter therefore needs a larger reserve than a lamp that shines directly onto the table. We do not give a binding percentage for this loss, because it depends on ceiling colour, distance and shade shape. As a guide: the larger the room, the more you should choose a model with a high manufacturer figure or treat the uplighter only as additional light.

Caution is worthwhile when checking the figures. For the Modlicht 35 W uplighter with 5 W reading lamp, the listing gives 4,200 lumens according to the manufacturer, but 4,120 lumens are reported in the official product database. The deviation is small, but it shows that listing values can be rounded or flattered. For the BBHome uplighter 27 W with 6 W reading lamp, the listing itself gives no lumen value at all; the documented database figure is 3,500 lumens and 33 watts.

For the Govee uplighter wave lighting RGBICWW, the situation is different: according to the instruction manual, 1,000 lumens apply only to the lower light zone, and all three zones are never lit at the same time. A total luminous flux is not documented. So plan this lamp as an additional light zone and not as the sole room light.

Another point is the distribution of power. On models with a reading lamp, part of the total power flows into the reading arm, and only the rest is available to the indirect main light. That explains why the figure of 42 watts for the GIACOMO YG001 LED uplighter with separate reading lamp does not apply to the main lamp: according to the listing, it delivers up to 36 watts, and the rest goes to the second lamp.

Colour temperature and dimming in the evening

Colour temperature is stated in kelvin. Low values look warm and cosy, higher ones neutral to cool. The article Colour temperature and kelvin offers an introduction with examples. For an uplighter in the living room, it is practical if the colour temperature is adjustable, because you can then run it more neutral during the day and warmer in the evening.

The models differ here in the details. According to the listing, the Modlicht 35 W uplighter with 5 W reading lamp offers four settings at 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 and 6,000 kelvin as well as continuous dimming from 5 to 100 per cent. According to the listing, the BBHome uplighter 27 W with 6 W reading lamp offers four settings from 3,000 to 6,500 kelvin and likewise 5 to 100 per cent brightness. For the ANTENLICHT LED uplighter with reading lamp, the listing gives four colour temperatures (3,000 to 6,000 kelvin) for the upward light.

More important than the upper kelvin value is the question of how warm the light can get in the evening. If you mainly use the living room after work, you rarely need the coolest setting. A high upper limit is more interesting for work corners or hobby areas. A note on health: a cool colour temperature in the evening is not light therapy, and light therapy does not replace medical treatment.

For dimming, it also matters whether the main light and the reading lamp can be adjusted separately. For the Lindby LED floor lamp with adjustable reading arm, the listing gives two rotary dimmers with which the uplighter and the reading light are dimmed and switched on and off individually. That is a different operating logic from a remote control and touch panel, and depends on whether you prefer to turn or press at the armchair.

Controls, dimensions and position

There are three types of controls, which can also be combined: buttons or a touch panel on the pole, a remote control and an app. According to the listing, the Modlicht 35 W uplighter with 5 W reading lamp and the BBHome uplighter 27 W with 6 W reading lamp offer touch and remote control, plus a remote control with a magnet that can be attached to the lamp body or other metal surfaces. For the GIACOMO YG001 LED uplighter with separate reading lamp, the listing gives three buttons on the pole and a remote control with a night light mode.

Check the position before you order. Measure the room height, the distance to the sofa, the route to the socket and the area the base needs. For the Lindby LED floor lamp with adjustable reading arm, the listing gives a height of 183 centimetres and a diameter of 32.5 centimetres. For other models, such dimensions are missing from the product page, so you should look them up in the current listing.

Glare is also part of the planning. An uplighter is not automatically glare-free: if you sit low and look directly at the shade or the reading arm, the light source can still be a nuisance. Before settling on the final spot, set the lamp up once while seated and once while standing, and watch for reflections in the TV.

With a built-in LED, you cannot replace the light bulb later. That means colour temperature and brightness are fixed by the design. If you want to replace an existing halogen model, the article Converting an uplighter to LED covers the alternatives for retrofitting.

Six uplighters compared

The following table places side by side only values that appear on the respective product pages. Fields marked not documented mean that the page says nothing on it. No ranking results from this, because the models solve different tasks.

On the price bands: according to our classification, the models lie between entry level and mid-range, and the current price is shown on the respective product page. We deliberately give no amounts here.

Which design suits whom

For a large living room with a light ceiling, if you want plenty of reserve, a model with a high main light figure fits best, such as the GIACOMO YG001 LED uplighter with separate reading lamp, where according to the listing the main lamp delivers up to 36 watts. Note that there is no manufacturer document for this exact model. An alternative worth considering is the Modlicht 35 W uplighter with 5 W reading lamp, which according to the listing gives 35 watts in total (30 watts uplighter, 5 watts reading lamp).

For smaller rooms, reading corners and bedrooms, less power is often enough. The ANTENLICHT LED uplighter with reading lamp gives 20 watts for the main light and 7 watts for the movable reading lamp. That fits if the uplighter is meant to brighten a corner and not carry the whole room. Similarly equipped, but with more main light, is the BBHome uplighter 27 W with 6 W reading lamp at 27 watts.

If you prefer a classic look with mechanical controls, the Lindby LED floor lamp with adjustable reading arm offers one rotary dimmer per light source. That is of interest to people who want to manage without a remote control. For the lighting data of this model, the details on the product page are sparser, so check them before buying.

For mood lighting and smart home scenes, the Govee uplighter wave lighting RGBICWW is an alternative to the classic uplighters. According to the listing, it can be controlled with Alexa, Google Assistant and the Govee app and integrated via Matter. It does not replace room lighting, however, because not all zones are ever lit at the same time.

For planning several lamps in a room, the lighting calculator helps. There you can go through room size and use and coordinate uplighters, table lamps and ceiling light.

Strengths and limits of the design

• Strength: soft, indirect background light with no visible light source in your field of view.
• Strength: reading lamp and main light in one lamp, usually separately dimmable.
• Strength: adjustable colour temperature on several of the models mentioned.
• Limit: the light depends on a light ceiling that is not too high.
• Limit: manufacturer values sometimes differ from officially reported values.
• Limit: with a built-in LED, the light bulb cannot be replaced.
• Limit: we have no long-term experience reports or hands-on testing.

The electrical note is also important: all the lamps mentioned here run from a mains plug. For changes to the house wiring, such as hard-wired installations, consult a qualified electrician if in doubt. You will find more models in this area in the overview Floor lamps.