Deciding how many lumens you need for your parking lot design can be a tough decision. Choose too low, and your parking lot may be a dark, scary place. Select too high, and it may come off as a runway for your local airport.
First of all, let’s define lumens. Lumens, quite simply, equals brightness.
With traditional bulbs, they often rated them by watts. Watts measure energy use, not light output. And with LED, wattage no longer matters as it once did. Instead, you’ll see newer technology listing out brightness, or how many lumens it produces.
LED is more efficient than metal halide lights. Therefore, if you were to replace a 1,000 watt metal halide light with a 1,000 LED, the light could be drastically different. Instead, you’ll want to focus on the number of lumens produced by the traditional bulb, and match that with LED technology if you’re okay with the light output.
Of course, parking lot lights work a bit differently than light bulbs you’d place in your home.
Traditional lighting is omnidirectional, meaning the light falls in all directions. LED lights are directional; you control the light where you want it to go. That means it’s easier to get specific lighting needs addressed with LED that you could never solve with traditional lights.
LED is also a brighter light source, which means you need fewer lumens for the same effect. If you’re trying to achieve the same results, you might need fewer lumens for optimal brightness. If you’re trying to brighten dark corners you could never reach before, this may be the perfect solution.
Every light fixture operates differently. And different LED products produce light in different ways. Your goal is probably a mixture of energy savings and light improvement, so it’s important to select the most efficient light for the job.
If a salesperson tells you to purchase LED with XX watts to replace the same XX watts of older technology, you’re receiving bad information.
When it comes to replacing metal halides, you have two options: retrofit or full fixture replacement.
Retrofitting refers to replacing the metal halide bulbs with LED technology. Full fixture replacement replaces both the light bulb and the housing, giving you an entirely new look.
Let the current condition of your parking lot lights direct you to the best choice for you. If you have newer fixtures, retrofitting may be your best choice. If they are old and worn out, full replacement is the way to go.
Thinking of upgrading your lighting technology? Want to give your parking lots new light? Give us a call today.