4 Factors to Consider When Buying Commercial LED Garage Lights

As a contractor or electrician handling the lighting of a commercial garage, your primary concern is adequate visibility at all times.

You need to reduce any liability caused by accidents due to poor lighting. You've probably measured the space and laid out a plan with positioning for each light fixture. Now all you need to do is buy the LED lights.

Table of Contents

1. The Number of LED Light Fixtures
2. A Reputable LED Light Fixture Seller
3. Choose the Right Lights
4. Lighting Layout for the Parking Garage
5. Choose the Right Experts to Work With

Right off the bat, here are some features you should analyze on the fixtures you settle for:

• A three to five years manufacturer’s warranty
• Photometric measurement of the light—the efficiency of the bulb
• Luminous flux and color maintenance of the lights—the amount of light produced by the bulb
• Long-term lumen maintenance of the lights—the lifetime of the light

LED bulbs are excellent on these fronts. They use only half the amount of electricity that fluorescent lights use—only 10 percent of the power consumed by incandescent lamps.

LED lights are also ten times brighter than other bulbs, more cost-effective, and last much longer than incandescent and fluorescent lights.

Here are some other factors to consider to ensure you end up with the best lighting to suit your project.

1 - The Number of LED Light Fixtures

You can pick out the right LED garage lights but still end up with dreary lighting or dark spots if you aren’t using the correct number of bulbs.

Generally, the lumen or intensity of any light source diminishes with distance. For example, a 5000-lumen garage light will cover an area of about 250 square feet.

The height of the building will also play a significant role in terms of how bright the light will be on the floor. The light intensity will decrease with vertical distance. So the higher the ceiling, the more light fixtures you'll need.

In order to achieve sufficient lighting in an ample space like a commercial garage, you’ll need to determine the lumens flux, long-term lumen maintenance (lamp maintenance factor), and the photometric measurement (lamp utilization factor) of each bulb.

Remember, all of this information is provided by the manufacturer and can be found on the light fixture itself.

Here is a table showing you how to easily determine the number of light fixtures you’ll need in a commercial garage. Replace the values in the table with the ones specified on your light fixture.

Number of garage lights = E * A

Lm * UF * MF

2 - A Reputable LED Light Fixture Seller

Introducing Easy Extended Payment Terms for Material Purchases

Working on a big project like a commercial garage will require a lot of diligence from you as a contractor. It would be best to work with quality suppliers that will guarantee top-quality garage lights.

Look for suppliers that specialize in commercial, industrial and warehouse facilities. This will mean they have a track record of supplying lighting to projects of similar magnitude.

Another area of concern will be working with experts from associated fields. Do they consult with engineers, contractors, and analysts? Will the relationship end after product shipment, or are they available to handle any questions or concerns you may have later?

RelightDepot is one such supplier. On top of providing you with top-quality LED garage lights in a variety of designs, we offer additional services that are bound to make your life as a contractor easier, including:

• We provide consultative services to contractors and facility managers to help them find the light fixtures, handle rebates, and project design.
• RelightDepot can offer you VE Quotes (value engineered quotes), which means we provide alternatives to fixtures specified by designers that will offer the same functionality at a lower price.
• We have highly personal and accessible customer care services to handle any questions.

“I cannot say enough positive things about RelightDepot. They resolved the issue I had and sent out a new product ASAP.”
- Mike Coster, Maryland, USA, Verified Buyer

3 - Choose the Right Lights

Ideal Color Temperature for Office and Industrial Spaces

The right lights for a commercial garage will have the correct color temperature, working lifetime, and energy efficiency. Let’s take a look at each of these terms in more detail.

• Correlated Color Temperature (CCT): Most commercial garages come painted in gray or off-white tones. Lights with higher CCT values are more suitable because the gray walls reduce glare while enhancing the brightness of the lights. A 5000K CCT value is the most suitable light temperature for this type of garage.
  
  Our DuraGuard 48 Watt LED Garage Lighter is one of the many light fixtures that is ideally suited here.

• Working Lifetime: Working lifetime refers to the length of time a bulb will serve you. Ordinary bulbs have a tungsten filament (a type of metal) which is heated up by an electrical current to produce light. The tungsten filament, on most occasions, quickly burns out, shortening the lifespan of these bulbs.
  
  Our LED lights have semiconductor chips that directly convert the input electricity to energy. This makes them much less likely to burn out.
  
  Ordinary light fixtures have a lifespan of about 1000 hours, but our LED light fixture can have a life of up to 50,000 hours.

• Energy Efficiency: As a contractor, your objective is to provide the best, most cost-effective solution to your client's problem. Garage lighting can be expensive, particularly if a basement garage receives zero natural lighting.
  
  This means the light will be on at all times, driving up the electricity bill. According to the US department of energy, LED lights can save up to 90 percent of energy and can last 25 percent longer than ordinary bulbs.

Also, you’ll need to look at the type of commercial garage you're working on. If the area is in a basement with open windows that allow dust or water into the space, opt for a light fixture like the T1 Lighting LED Vapor Tights which is sealed and fitted with a gasket to resist harsh conditions.

In low ceiling garage spaces, choose LED garage lights that cast light outward and downwards to prevent glare on the drivers. Our LED Parking Garage Canopy Lights are an excellent choice here.

They can be used with dimmers, sensors, and daylight saving controls to achieve code compliance and energy-savings.

4 - Lighting Layout for the Parking Garage

The proper lighting layout should achieve:

• Uniform lighting coverage—is the entire area of the garage illuminated with the same level of brightness throughout?
• Maximum driver visibility—can the driver see the entire driveway?
• Shadow elimination—are there dark spots that give criminals a perfect hiding spot?

Tip: You can avoid shadows by mixing high and low lighting levels. This will evenly distribute the light and eliminate any shadows.

There are two layouts you can use in a garage depending on your budget, lighting requirements, and the shape of the garage.

Single Luminaire Layout

The single luminaire layout is a lighting design that features a single row of lights placed in the middle of the traffic lane, allowing the light to spread to the entire width of the parking structure.

This layout is excellent for narrow garages with a single row of cars on each side.

This layout is also cheaper since few light fixtures are required, so less electricity will be consumed compared to a double luminaire layout.

However, this lighting system may not work well in a broader garage with, let's say, double rows of parking on each side.

Single luminaires will also create more glare because the light fixtures will be directly above the driveway, which mitigates driver visibility.

This system will also cast shadows on the edges of the garage due to its limited lumen prevalence.

Double Luminaire Layout

Double luminaire layout is ideal for large garages. You can install two or more pairs of double luminaires depending on the size of the garage.

This design features light fixtures placed closer to the parking spots, so there is no light fixture directly above the driveway.

This produces uniform lighting coverage with no glare. However, the system is more costly to install because you’ll need more light fixtures.

In addition to the open parking area of the garage, you’ll also need to factor in the lighting requirements of the areas leading to the garage—stairwells, elevator doors, and walkways. Use high lighting levels on these areas to avoid casting shadows.

Choose the Right Experts to Work With

Here at RelightDepot, we have a proven record of working with contractors and facility managers. It is a one-stop-shop for everything commercial lighting.

We provide:

• Expert advice for commercial parking garage lighting projects
• Value engineered quotes to help you cut back on costs
• High quality LED garage lights with up to 5-year warranty
• Services to help you finish lighting projects or take on new ones

Contact our friendly staff with any questions; our experts are always eager to help.