The benefits of LED lighting have made many people switch to LED lights in businesses and homes. They are money saving and have plenty of other benefits too. LED area lights virtually eliminate ongoing maintenance with some fixtures, staying bright for up to 100,000 hours. If running 12 hours a day, that’s over 22 years of light for college campuses, shopping malls, residential parks, hospital grounds, commercial parking lots, car dealerships, and other applications. While HID systems fade quickly and turn yellow over time, LED area lights maintain their color temperature for years, giving you longer lasting and higher quality light. If you want to upgrade to LED but don’t have the budget for all new fixtures, retrofit kits include all of the assembly hardware required to convert existing shoe box fixtures. However, when considering LED fixtures for your parking lot lights (LED area lights), there are certain things you must consider in order to choose the right LED area light for your setting.
Your goals – What exactly are you trying to achieve? For instance, is it reasonable to use a 20w LED spotlight just to light up a small wall painting on your hallway when you can actually use a 4w down light to achieve the needed effect? The market has so many options when it comes to LED area lights that it may be easier if you begin with knowing what your goals are and what outcome you are trying to achieve.
The watts – They determine the light output what you get at the end of the day. The LED chip brand affects brightness directly, whereas LED color affects the light output. The type of materials and their quality can also affect the brightness because different LED bulbs give different light outputs at the same wattage based on manufacturing differences. Different watts are suitable for different settings; for instance 3w LED bulbs can be used in lamp shades, under benches, candle bulbs and spotlights whereas 5w bulbs can be used in bedside lamp and wall fittings.
The lumens – The measure of the total amount of light that the light source emits such as an LED area light comes with varying brightness. Two LED area lights with the same wattage could have different lumens. To know which bulbs are brighter, then you should use lumens instead of watts as your gauge. Choose the correct lumens to achieve the correct light intensity for the given outcome you are wanting from your light.
Beam angles – LED bulbs and LED strip lighting use a 120 ° beam angle, but when getting down lights and LED spotlights, then you must consider the beam angles that are most suitable. For instance 60 ° beam angle can be suitable for ceilings with a height around 10 feet, whereas ceilings that are higher than 15ft are best served by a 24 ° to 30 ° beam angle. Accent lighting on the other hand should be guided by the size of the object.
Color rendering – This is the ability of the light source to give true color reflection on illuminated object. The higher the color rendering index then the closer to daylight the illumination will be and daylight perfectly libraries the object or area. Consider how often the lights need to be used when thinking about the color rendering index to make the right selection.
When looking at LED area lights and LED parking lot lights, there are several additional things to consider other then size and design. The more specific you are with your selection, the higher your chances of ending up with the best LED lighting solutions for your lighting needs. Feel free to reach out to one of our specialist if you have any questions, Contact Variance Lighting
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