Lux Meter App Review, & The Danger Of Using An App For Lighting Audits

June 1st, 2013 by Scott Cooney

On an energy efficiency kick and want to do a lighting audit? Think you’re set because you just found an awesome new app on your smartphone to help you do it? Maybe not….

I’m in the midst of gathering together some top products for helping to improve the energy efficiency of your home. I found the Android app “Lux Meter” and thought it would make the whole lighting audit process even simpler and easier. But, you know, you have to check these things.

I went ahead and compared the app to a professional light meter. The downloaded app is absolutely terrible, and anyone using it to adjust the lighting in their work/life environment will end up using about 6x too much light.

Image Credit: Scott Cooney / Important Media (click to enlarge it)

The pic above isn’t excellent, but you can see that the app is showing almost no light (0 foot candles), compared to 97 lux (or about 8-9 foot candles) on the professional meter.

In other words, stick with the professional light meter!

I haven’t run across other such apps, but if you know of any that you think are more accurate, I’d be happy to check it (or them) out. Drop us a note!

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Tags: android apps, energy efficiency apps, light meter, light meter Android app, light meter app, Lux Meter, professional light meter

About the Author

Scott Cooney Scott Cooney (twitter: scottcooney) is an adjunct professor of Sustainability in the MBA program at the University of Hawai'i, green business startup coach, author of Build a Green Small Business: Profitable Ways to Become an Ecopreneur (McGraw-Hill), and developer of the sustainability board game GBO Hawai'i. Scott has started, grown and sold two mission-driven businesses, failed miserably at a third, and is currently in his fourth. Scott's current company has three divisions: a sustainability blog network that includes the world's biggest clean energy website and reached over 5 million readers in December 2013 alone; Pono Home, a turnkey and franchiseable green home consulting service that won entrance into the clean tech incubator known as Energy Excelerator; and Cost of Solar, a solar lead generation service to connect interested homeowners and solar contractors. In his spare time, Scott surfs, plays ultimate frisbee and enjoys a good, long bike ride. Find Scott on Google Plus

Eric

It was probably using the rear camera, which, since it’s against the table, is of course not seeing any light.
- Ronald Brak
  
  Good point. If it only uses the front camera that makes it kind of useless for setting a work space’s light levels. Maybe if it spoke it could call out the light level when it’s upside down.
- electro_pa
  
  Of course the phone uses rear camera, the most technically advanced on it. Auto-exposure allows some light-level measurement. It is limited when used as Lux Meter, as it cannnot be calibrated. So it only reports ball-park figures for Lux.
  Still the app is useful for comparative readings around a premises.
JamesWimberley

Critical reporting! Good. Keep it up. All that glistens is not green.