Have You Upgraded to Outdoor LED Lighting?

The outdoor lighting market is continuing the migration from traditional lighting sources such as high pressure sodium, metal halide and quartz to LEDs, and for some very good reasons. Phase out of incandescent lamps is not even news anymore. Plus, they were rarely used in outdoor applications. The migration to LEDs offers some very compelling advantages:

LED lamps use about 80% less energy than traditional lighting
They last 100,000 hours or more versus 20,000 hours (metal halides)
LEDs generate 90% less hea t than traditional lighting
Overall, this adds up to much lower overall installed cost, and explains why more than 80% of the lighting sold for outdoor and other applications is LED.

Customers tell us about other benefits of LEDs

The added benefits of not having to use lifts and other equipment to change hard-to-reach lights make a strong case for LED lighting. LEDs offer up to 27 year lifespans*, which means many maintenance personnel around today won't be around to change those lamps. (*10hrs/day x 365 x 27 = 98,550hrs)

Another advantage of LEDs is more accurate rendering of colors. This is especially useful where color identification is critical, or where the architectural impact is a consideration, such as corporate offices, building marquees and other impact areas. LED lamps typically operate in the 5000K to 6500K range, which approaches sunlight for color. Metal halide, quartz and other lighting is typically much 'cooler' and thus less accurate in terms of color rendering.

LED lighting also provides instant-on, a real advantage for security or entrance lighting applications. Plus LEDs can be dimmed when used in a lighting control system. Some LED fixtures come with a built-in photocontrol function for daylight on/off functionality.

Flexible mounting configurations

Manufacturers offer a variety of ways to mount LED luminaires. Cooper Lighting by Eaton offers a uniquely designed luminaire that can be trunnion-mounted or knuckle-mounted for greater flexibility. Trunnion mounts are ideal where the junction box is located behind a wall. A short wire whip is fed through the wall to the junction box. For applications where the junction box is surface or flush mounted, a knuckle mount kit enables direct attachment to the junction box. Both mounting styles enable the luminaire to be angled and locked for the desired lighting pattern, and both styles can be horizontally or vertically mounted depending on the application.

Other lighting manufacturers offer traditional flush wall mounting, trunnion and slipfitter mounting styles. Slpiftter mounts are designed to fit over 2-3/8" O.D. pipe or tennons.

Public utilities are encouraging the switch to LEDs.

Both Dominion Power and Duke Energy Progress are offering cash rebates to customers who switch to qualified LED lighting. Rebate programs are available online, or download the relevant information at the following links.

We know that not every customer is ready to make the switch to LEDs for every application. Operating budgets, ease of access and other factors weigh in favor of keeping some lighting 'as is', for now at least. That's why we continue to offer a wide selection of metal halide and quartz lighting types in addition to our range of outdoor LED lighting.