LED Warehouse Lighting
What goes into it and why you need it
Warehouse lighting can sometimes feel like an intimidating task and there are many things to consider. The most important aspect to keep in mind is that warehouse lighting is all about efficiency, functionality, and following the necessary safety guidelines.
That’s why we’re diving into the world of warehouse lighting and giving you the ins and outs on how to become an expert for your client’s projects.
Part One: The Right Lighting
Warehouses are not like typical commercial buildings, they tend to be massive spaces with many dark areas. Along with workers performing physically demanding tasks nearly 24/7, this means lighting is key for keeping a warehouse space operating at peak efficiency.
As a contractor, there are many aspects to consider when looking over warehouse lighting. Fixtures will have to be placed correctly due to the racking units and shelves; put fixtures too close together and you risk hot spots, too far apart and you get dark areas. Creating high contrast between dark and light areas of the warehouse can make it difficult for workers to see as their eyes struggle to adapt to the changes in intensity as they move throughout the building.
Consider the exact height for shelves and products, because the higher they go, the more light your client will need and the more important the photometrics become. Match high shelving with narrow beam angles and you will end up with dark shelves and impossible to read labeling. Even the color temperature of your lights plays a major role; lighting that mimics natural daylight, between 4000K and 5000K, is ideal for a warehouse space.
This is where LED lighting comes in, the bright lights are a benefit to spaces like warehouses: able to catch those dark areas due to tall shelves and deep aisles while emitting the perfect color temperature for productivity. In addition, thanks to their extended lifetime and ability to produce no heat, LEDs are the ideal choice.
Upgrading your high bay fixtures to LED in existing buildings can also make a big impact on warehouse lighting, the ARBAY2-95-2-95 from Rock Lighting, being such one example. This LED high bay fixture was created as a replacement for fluorescent and metal halide high bays, and can produce 13000 lumens with a 5000K color temperature. In addition, the ARBAY2-95 can also operate within temperatures of -20C to 50C and is suitable to mount in damp locations, two factors that play well in a warehouse space that can suffer from challenging conditions over time.
But finding the right lighting is only the first part of the battle, especially when considering the needs of your client. With a variety of expenses, lighting tends to be the biggest cost, it’s time to look at the lighting that’ll cost less in the long run.
Part Two: Maintenance and Operating Costs
You already know that managing a warehouse is not a cheap investment, and your client will know this as well. From rent, to employee pay, and insurance, there are already several expensive factors at play. But with every problem, there is a solution, and LEDs are going above and beyond.
Compare LED to traditional lighting like fluorescents or incandescents; typical fluorescents can last roughly 8,000 hours before being replaced, and that is leagues above incandescent which has a lifetime of around 1,200 hours. Rock Lighting’s CB2-LED-38000L, another LED high bay in the series by Elite Lighting, has a lifetime of L70 (the point in time when an LED is producing 70 percent of its initial light output)at 70,000 Hours. Clearly, a significant difference between the three.
LED lights have a much longer lifespan, meaning that replacements will happen few and far in between, which significantly reduce maintenance and energy costs. Best of all, thanks to the durability of LEDs, they can maintain their original brightness for their entire lifespan, and you can now focus on the other equipment you may need to upgrade your client’s warehouse.
But it doesn’t stop there! LEDs also bring the added benefit of being environmentally and economically friendly, compared to their contemporaries.This is due to the fact that LEDs start fast, keep their brightness long, and use less electricity to run. While a 400W MH lamp produces a scattered 35,000 lumens and can burn out fast while using an immense amount of electricity, LEDs, with their longer lifespan, can deliver stronger light output while putting 80% of their electrical energy into light. This also means less maintenance to fix and replace, making LED’s far cheaper to maintain than their counterparts.
Let’s take a hypothetical warehouse of 25,000 square feet located in California that operates 24/7/365. If we wanted to achieve 30 lumens per square foot on the floor, we would need fixtures capable of giving us at least 750,000 lumens, assuming they were fairly directional fixtures. A traditional 4 lamp, T5HO fixture consumes 240W and gives off roughly 20,000 lumens, meaning we would need about 38 of them, likely more depending on how our aisles were designed. That means we would be consuming at least 9kW per hour, or 216kWh per day to light our warehouse. With California energy costs around 21 cents per kWh, that is about $45 per day.
Let’s compare that with what it would look like using the RAB Lighting ARBAY2-120. The ARBAY2-120 gives off 16,000 lumens but only draws half the power of the T5HO fixture, 120W. We need a few more of them to meet our 750,000 lumen requirement. 47 to be exact, plus any others we might need, again depending on our aisle layout. But with those 47 fixtures, we would only be using about 5.6kW per hour, or 135kWh per day. At that same 21 cents, that is costing us only about $28 per day. A savings of $17 per day or a little over $ 6,000 per year.
However, while cost and energy efficiency are incredible benefits for your clients and their space, the main reason why LEDs themselves are what you should utilize, is because they ensure the safety of your client’s employees.
Part Three: The Safety
With a dependable warehouse lighting system in place you can remove any dark areas where employees may struggle to see their surroundings, reduce possible machinery accidents by keeping the space fully lit, and even keep employees awake and alert with the right lighting temperature. In short, warehouse lighting is an integral part of the employees’ safety. When working on a new project with a client, there's no doubt that they will bring safety up.
LEDs, specifically, bring additional benefits to a warehouse lighting system. Many high bay LED lights from Rock Lighting, for example, have a rate life of 100,000 hours which makes it reliable to mount on ceilings suspended or pendant mounted in locations like warehouses. In addition, LED bulb emissions produce less heat, making the temperature inside your client’s warehouse far more bearable during hot summer days; while this might feel like an insignificant detail, remember that even temperature can affect the productivity of the employees and keep the electricity bill down.
The lighting system you set up plays a remarkable role in your client’s warehouse space. It's worth considering all the options available and choosing the light that will keep a warehouse space brightly lit, keep employees happy and safe, and, most importantly, place you as the expert for your client.
Are you ready to upgrade your client’s warehouse lighting? Get started with Rock Lighting and our line of LED lights at https://rocklighting.com/pages/quotes.
