Led

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They are from ledtronics and they are like a mh size fixture but half the weight and depth. They will shine down on the sign and I believe they have a 45 degree angle. I will try to post a picture later.
 
LED is useful in most applications and allows the designer to be limited only by their imagination. I don't believe it's accurate to compare 1:1 replacements to other types of lighting.

There's a new McDonalds that opened in North Carolina this summer that all but 3 lights in the building and site are LED. She (the lighting designer) had to ignore the typical design by photometric calculations that everyone's gotten used to. She was able to get such low energy levels because she didn't light everything like typical stores.

She got a variance from the city so the parking lot didn't have to meet max:min ratios. She didn't see a point in lighting the drive thru lane when every car has headlights. She didn't flood the exterior of the building with lights. General light levels at night are very low compared to any other fast food restaurant. The floor of the dinning area is not illuminated, only the tables and ceiling. Lots of glass for daylight to enter. Each time of day has different lights and colors to "set the mood".

She claims electrical budget was no more than a typical project at 15%. She also had to spend 3 weeks of her personal, unpaid time pulling wire and working controls because of the mistakes she was finding from the electricians. I've always found this confusing myself, why are controls so difficult for electricans to get right. This project had 20 electricans on site in the last month before opening and she kicked off all but 2 to help her after she found her fixes being undone by others.

Difficult to find photos on the web but this site has 7 pics for your review.
http://creeledrevolution.com/revolutionaries/mcdonalds
Anyone in the area I'd love to see some evening photos. We may see clones of this store spreading in the coming years.
 
Mr. Bill said:
I've always found this confusing myself, why are controls so difficult for electricans to get right.
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That's because there are still many electricians who are deservedly referred to as "mechanics". I apprenticed under a couple of them. I knew more about theory and control wiring than they did.

Fortunately, we got along well enough, and they recognized and appreciated my abilities instead of fighting them, and I made them look good to the boss (who I made sure knew it was me. ;))
 
I will take some pictures of the project. I am installing them on monday. The lights are from ledtronics and the part # is GDL002-200-XPW-001M.
 
For general lighting, LEDs have not made the price point to be cost effective, the US DOE predicts it will be 15 years.
I would caution you to compare the lumens of your LED product to what its replacing. For the moment, CFLS are the most cost efffective.
But LEDs are great for specific applications, one that has been very popular is traffic signals, going from 165 watts to 20 watts, with 8 heads is a considerable savings. Plus they don't have to be relamped every year.
 
The fixtures that are being replaced are up on a sign that is located down in a gully. We have to get a bucket truck down there to do repairs. The LED's will be replacing 2 small hallogen fixtures. So I think the LED's are a good choice for the swap.
 
xjfam said:
Anyone installing LED yet? I just purchased 2 fixtures for a sign at a garage and excited to see how they will look.
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Crouse Hinds is ready to market an LED for pertrochem(NEC500) locations that is the equivalent of a 175W MH in light output. Pretty impressive.

Cheap Chinese 'fluorescent' tube replacements fail in less than 1000 burning hours. 100% out of four units.
 
LED area lights for parking lots and parking garages that I have seen actually installed are so unbelievably harsh to the eyes! That's one major thing to watch out for (any exposed portion that people can see). We are in the final stages of completed CD drawings which will utilize numerous LED "can" downlights for an auditorium area. They are about $140-$200 more expensive than a normal downlight, but the owner gets what the owner wants!
 
At a recent IES meeting a presenter on the subject of LEDs showed a couple examples (due to time restraints) where LED downlights had a payback of 2 yrs and 20 something years, compared to CFLs! Aside from the advantages where maintenance is costly, I don't think LED's have reached their prime... yet.
 
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