Lighting

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What do you need? Do you want to know what foot candle is for different room or how to calculate light level for lighting layout?
 
If you're looking for some rules of thumb, I think 1 - 2 footcandles in the parking lot, minimum, and no more than .5 footcandles across the adjacent property lines is about what most use. For parking lot lighting where the idea is to also attract people (think Wal-Marts and grocery stores, etc.), lighting levels in the 4-5 footcandle range are often used. Many areas have their own rules on this sort of thing.

You'll have to get ahold of the photometric graph or computer file for the proposed fixture, and figure out how tall of poles and bases you intend to use before you can go much further.
 
2 footcandles average, with a maximum to minimum footcandle uniformity ratio of 20:1 - or, .2FC minimum and 4FC maximum.

The best way to achieve these values is by using fixtures with vertically mounted lamps. This eliminates the hot spots directly under the fixtures and projects the maximum fixture candlepower at high vertical angles. A more even, uniform lighting distribution vastly increases the perception that the lot is well lighted, even if it were to have overall lower average footcandles.

Use pulse-start metal halide lamps for much better color-rendering than HPS, and subsequently improved visual acuity. Also, vertically oriented metal halide lamps typically perform better than horizontally mounted ones.
 
Contact a local lighting rep. he will know the local codes (light polution ordinace).
he will also provide you with a photmetric drawing showing average and matained values. and will spec a fixture type and recomended height (if you are in a flight path, there will be a max height)

Joe.
 
You can get a free Visual software (professinal version) through lithonia dealer. That software can help you to do site lighting design. The required average foot candle is really depends on the type of the building. Check with local plan reviewer for the pole height limitation. Some counties only allow 20' pole with maximum 400w light fixtures.
 
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