Types of Industrial Warehouse Lighting
Metal Halide: These lights are still common, but are inefficient. They also buzz loudly and take a long time to get their full brightness. They’re becoming more rare as time goes on too, as they have a short lifespan. They also contain mercury, which is unhealthy for the environment. This is why when people look for a more efficient place, they’ll also search for better lighting.
High Output Fluorescent: These are typically known as T-8 or T-5. This type of light is 2x more efficient than metal halides, using half the energy they do. In addition, they don’t buzz and get to their full brightness very quickly. For some places, the foot-candle requirements may be greater than 50. This is true for many tenants, including those that are an assembly packing operation or that deal with precision parts. To achieve this easily and reasonably (cost wise), go with T5 fluorescents.
If you wanted to know why the popular T12, T8, and T5 lights are named as they are, you’ll be glad to know that the numbers are based on the diameter of the lamp. T12 is 12/8 of an inch (or 1 1/2 inches), T8’s are 8/8 of an inch (or 1 inch), and T5’s are 5/8 of an inch.
LED Lamps: These are not only the most efficient, but also the most expensive. They don’t produce much heat, which means that most of the energy is turned into light. These do cost 1.6x more than a high output fluorescent, but it’s been shown that depending on your hours of operation, you can recoup your investment in 3-5 years. They also don’t have mercury in them so you won’t have to deal with toxic lamp disposal.
How To Choose Warehouse Lighting
It’s wiser to invest in good lighting. You need to invest in this and not just look for the cheaper option.
Take the job into consideration: You’ll need to think about what the workers will be doing in that space and what lighting level would be best for them in that situation. More intense work requires brighter lighting. This is especially true if humans will be working in there. If there’s a robot doing it, you may not need lights on all the time in there. However, it’s still wise to have them there to be used when people go to repair the robots instead of making them carry around a temporary light.
Consider the warehouse’s landscape: These types of buildings tend to be very tall. The higher the shelves, the more light you’ll need. If your aisles are like canyons, you’ll want lighting that fits that layout. It may be more expensive but it does pay off in efficiency.
Control the energy usage: You will find that it is wise to understand how the entire building actually works. This means that you may not need to have all the lights on at the same time. For example, if there’s no one in an aisle, that light can drop to a lower level and use less/save energy.
Take advantage of free light: Another thing you may consider is cutting holes in the roof for skylights. These are cheaper than running lights all the time, though they do have an upfront cost for installation. You’re going to want to check your insurance to see if they cover damage caused by weather. The problem with these, however, is the fact that the sunlight can get through and damage the packaging of the items. In addition, the heat from the building can escape out through them. This can be solved by fitting them with solar glazing. Look for a glazing system that both has low heat emission and reduces direct sunlight.
Purchase quality light fittings: You don’t want buy the cheapest light fittings you can find. Instead, you should go with good quality ones that provide enough light but not too much (that way it doesn’t produce glare). Basically, you want the right ones for the type of lighting you have.
Know your light sources: The light sources are metal halides, fluorescent lighting, and LEDs. These were described above.
Explore new technology: We’ve heard before about daylight linking, which makes it so that maximum benefit is made of the available light. Things are moving way past that now though. Facilities management is coming up with a way we can use electronic reporting to keep control on these lighting systems. These will be linked to the BMS (Building Management Systems) and BIM (Building Information Modeling) software. In addition, more luminaries have self-checking circuitry that, when there’s a fault in the fixture, reports it to a central monitoring system. Now theres also Li-Fi (Light Fidelity) which allows the digital information to be transferred to hand-held devices. This is done via an LED lighting installation. With this, logistics management could be taken to exciting new levels.
The 4 Best Warehouse Fixtures of 2017
LED High Bay Rerofits Kits: Because it’s a pain to completely replace fixtures, LED high bay retrofits have been created to simply be put in place of metal halide warehouse bulbs. This is a very popular and cheaper option that has a wide variety of fixtures available.
Linear LED Warehouse Aisle Fixture: These are a good option for warehouses or factories that have multiple aisles of shelving and storage. It’s also a good idea to use these in narrow walkways in industrial buildings.
Full Fixture LED High Bay Replacement: You may want to replace the entire fixture. Fortunately for you, there are lots of options you can pick from. You can simply replace your existing fixtures or choose a brand-new lighting design.
Explosion Proof LED Lighting: If you need explosion proof lighting, there are high and low powered options for warehouses/factories. This way you’ll have an explosion proof light with new beneficial LED technology. You’ll be able to save money going this route.