Led parking lot lights

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Davebones

Senior Member
Our company is thinking about going to led parking lot lights .Just wondered if anyone has any experience with these . They'll be on 35' poles .Parking lot for a manufacturing plant ?
 

shockin

Senior Member
No expierance installing them, but the info sure looks neat. The cut-off capability they are claiming is amazing. The can make the photometeric pattern any shape you want.

There was one mfg the claimed a 20 year lamp life. They accomplished this through using two different sets of leds and drivers and alteranting which one gets used every other day.
 

Mr. Bill

Senior Member
Location
Michigan
Demand LM-79 testing data from the LED manufacturer. If they can't provide it then tell them you're not interested. The LED industry is a bit lawless right now with salesmen saying anything to get a sale. It's really a headache researching how all of the manufacturers cook the books regarding the lumen values. LM-79 is the best standard I've seen so far to control the wild claims of LED salesmen, but LM-79 is voluntary. I try to encourage its use by saying I won't buy or specify any LED light fixture for area lighting unless it was tested to this standard. I also doubt many of these new companies will exist in 5 years. When the established lighting companies put their names behind an LED product I would start paying attention. They're more likely to solve any problems the customer may have with these products.

I also think a 35' pole is too high for low-wattage lighting.
 

jacciLED

New member
LED Commercial Lighting Canada Inc

LED Commercial Lighting Canada Inc

Moderator’s Note: Edited to remove the link to the company web site, and to remove all other content. This person's post was related to the original question, but it appears to serve only as an advertisement for a specific product line. We do not allow advertising on this forum.

I will leave the post in place, but with all information removed. If anyone wishes to contact the OP, then you may exchange contact information via a Private Message.
 
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tom baker

First Chief Moderator
Staff member
Mr Bills comments are spot on.

The LED products are not all the same, lots of poor products.

For a parking lot, the lighting should be desinged to the IES recommended standard for parking lot lighting. And 35 ft sounds very high for the low lumen levels that we typically see from LEDs

Heres a link to a good article in EC magazine on screw in replacements for the incandescent lamp
http://www.ecmag.com/index.cfm?fa=article&articleID=10126

Your best source is to look at the DOE website, search for "Caliper"
which is the actual testing of many LED products

There are many street lighting projects completed with LED, Anchorage, the I-35 replacement bridge in Minneapolis was done in LED.
Tom
Member IES and Roadway Lighting Committee
 

dalesql

Member
LED lighting. Good for some cases, but not all.

LED lighting. Good for some cases, but not all.

We are seeing a lot of LED lighting products in the entertainment lighitng industry. Reallly high brightness LEDs at the current state of the art are typically being overdriven. So that 100000 hour lifespan is gonna drop a decimal place or two when they get installed on planet reality. This is compensated by having large arrays of LEDs on a circuit board backed up by a really large heat sink and in some cases, active cooling measures such as fans or heat pumps to keep that component killing heat away.

One early adopter of LEDs are in traffic signals. Next time you are driving, observe the led lamps in the traffic signals and on motor vehicle tail lamps. You will notice segments of leds that are dead. Because when one LED dies, it blocks the current for the other LEDs in it's local circuit, usually this is five to seven individual LEDs. These traffic signal lamps are also usually overdriven to produce the light output desired. Note also that these traffic signal lamps are not always on, so they get a cooling off period which increases their life.

YOu are also not going to get the advertised lumens per watt out of these fixtures for very long, if at all. LEDs will dim over their lifespan, as much as 50% less at end of specified life. Reputable LED manufacturers will specify a light output it will output after it's burn-in period and when it is not being overdriven. You also get more efficiency loss in the power supply in the fixture. Salesweasels will measure the output of a brand new fixture at six inches or so, and quote this figure in their proposals being a little vague about it.

Another problem that is not really an issue for a parking lot, but is a big issue in other areas is color temperature and color rendering index (CRI). If someone wants LED lighting indoors, this is a gotcha that leads of difficult to diagnose and unfixable problems. Think the difference between cool white, warm white and plant growing flourescent tubes.

If you need the very long lamp life, and can live with the lower levels of light, or compensate by increasing the fixture count, then go for it, and get units that you can put into a long life or economy mode. Otherwise I'd stick with one of the standard fixture types. Look at life cycle costs, not just install costs.

LEDs are great for things like exit signs, fire escape stairwell tread lighting, and of course colorful decorative things. For general illumination, not really ready for prime time, but getting close. In a couple of years, who knows. State of the art in LEDs is a pretty fast moving target right now.
 
LED Site Lights

LED Site Lights

We recently put in some LED pole lights for a local School. The site was in a mixed use/residential area & pollution was a big concern as well as aesthetics of the light output. We use 20ft poles, and I must say, I was please all the way around. Light was great, cut-off was definite, installation was not problematic at all. No complaints from client or neighbors, in fact the school district is planning on future installs @ other campuses. FYI we used a product from Beta.
 
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