Commercial LED Light Fixtures: A Supplier's Guide

Commercial LED light fixtures fall into a handful of categories, each built for a job: troffers and panels for drop ceilings, high-bays for warehouses, wall packs and area lights for building exteriors and parking lots, floodlights for facades and yards, downlights for finished ceilings, and strip and vapor-tight fixtures for utility spaces. Rock Lighting & Electric supplies all of these across brands like Cooper Lighting, RAB, and Westgate, at contractor pricing with nationwide shipping. This guide is the map: what each fixture type is for, how to spec it, and how to source a full package from one distributor.

The main types of commercial LED fixtures

• Troffers and flat panels. The workhorses of interior commercial lighting. Recessed or surface-mounted in grid ceilings for offices, schools, healthcare, and retail. Panels are the slim edge-lit or backlit version. This is where most interior square footage gets lit.
• High-bay and low-bay. For spaces with tall ceilings: warehouses, manufacturing, gyms, big-box retail. Choice comes down to UFO (round) vs linear and the mounting height. See our LED high bay buying guide.
• Wall packs. Building-mounted exterior fixtures for security and general perimeter lighting on commercial and industrial buildings. See the RAB wall pack buying guide.
• Area and pole lights. Pole-mounted fixtures for parking lots and campuses. Selection turns on mounting height, distribution pattern, and pole layout. See the RAB area and pole light guide.
• Floodlights. Aimed fixtures for facades, signage, yards, and sports areas. See the RAB floodlight buying guide.
• Recessed downlights. Round or square aperture fixtures for finished commercial ceilings such as lobbies, corridors, and hospitality.
• Strip, vapor-tight, and industrial. Linear strips for back-of-house, and sealed vapor-tight fixtures for parking garages, car washes, food processing, and wet or dusty environments.
• Exit and emergency. Egress lighting and exit signs, which carry their own code requirements.

For the brand side of the interior categories, our Cooper Lighting commercial fixtures guide breaks down where families like Metalux and Corelite fit.

How to spec a commercial LED fixture

The selection logic is the same across types, and getting it right is what separates a clean install from a callback:

• Lumens, not watts. LED fixtures are chosen on delivered lumens for the space, not on wattage. Two fixtures at the same wattage can put out very different light. Check delivered lumens and efficacy (lumens per watt) on the cut sheet. Our guide on how to read a lighting spec sheet walks through the numbers.
• Color temperature and CRI. Match the CCT to the space (offices and retail usually 3500K to 4000K, warehouses cooler) and the CRI to the task. See choosing color temperature for commercial spaces. Many commercial fixtures now ship CCT-selectable, so one part number covers several color temperatures.
• Controls and dimming. Decide the control path before you buy: 0-10V is the common commercial standard, with DALI for addressable control. See what 0-10V dimming is. Occupancy sensing and daylighting may be required by code, covered in our Title 24 daylighting explainer.
• Voltage and mounting. Confirm 120-277V vs 347-480V for larger services, and grid vs surface vs suspended vs pole mounting.
• DLC qualification. Many utility rebate programs require fixtures to be listed on the DesignLights Consortium (DLC) Qualified Products List. If a rebate is part of the project budget, confirm the specific model is DLC-listed before you order, because a non-listed equivalent can forfeit the rebate.

Why source from a distributor

A commercial project rarely uses one fixture type or one brand. Buying the full package from a multi-brand distributor has practical advantages over piecing it together across manufacturer sites:

• One order, multiple brands. Interior troffers, exterior wall packs, and the controls to run them can ship from one place. Rock stocks interior and exterior commercial lighting plus lighting controls across Cooper, RAB, and Westgate.
• Contractor pricing and spec support. A distributor can match products to your fixture schedule, suggest equivalents that hold spec and code at a better price, and value-engineer a large package.
• Fewer compatibility surprises. Sourcing fixtures and their controls from one supplier who knows both reduces the driver-and-dimmer mismatches that cause flicker and callbacks.

Buy commercial LED fixtures from Rock

Rock Lighting & Electric is a commercial lighting distributor and authorized dealer for the major brands. Send us your fixture schedule or plans and we will match the package across types and brands. Create a contractor account, request a quote, or send us your takeoff and we will price the whole job, including value-engineered equivalents where they help.

Shop all commercial LED light fixtures →

FAQ

Fixture types and selection criteria here are general commercial-lighting guidance; specific lumen, wattage, and mounting figures live on each product's cut sheet and the linked type-specific guides. DLC qualification and utility-rebate eligibility vary by program (DesignLights Consortium, designlights.org).