Interior Lighting- Fluorescent lighting became commercially available in the late 1930s, marking a large improvement over all incandescent lighting in commercial & industrial applications. Initially, tubes were T12 (12/8ths of an inch). In the 60's T8 (8/8ths of an inch in diameter) lamps began to supplant T12s. Fluorescent technology culminated in T5 lamps (5/8ths of an inch diameter) These boasted longer service life, smaller dimensions and produced a lot of light. Then LEDs took off in the early 2010's.
Exterior Lighting-
Commercial and Industrial buildings always have parking lot lighting and security lighting at all entrances. There are many options when it comes to maintaining these lights. Prior to the shift towards LED lighting these commercial lights used HID Lighting such as High-Pressure Sodium, Metal-halide & Mercury Vapor lamps. High Pressure Sodium found popularity in the 1960's and became ubiquitous in parking lots and along highways because of their long service life, up to 20,000 hours. However High-Pressure Sodium Light is yellow in color, usually 2700k. With the development of Metal Halide lamps, manufacturers were able to get the high intensity light of sodium lights, but in a whiter light (4000k), similar to today's LEDs.
Then LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) began to replace other types of light both outdoors and indoors in the 00's. They have largely replaced High-Pressure Sodium, Metal Halide, Compact Fluorescents, Fluorescent Tubes and Incandescent Lamps. They boast longer service lives, run cooler, produce light instantaneously, and they use less power. One drawback is there are typically no serviceable parts inside and LED fixture, if the diode or the circuit board it is printed on goes bad the entire unit will typically have to be replaced.
The question then becomes what is the best and most cost-effective way to keep your commercial and industrial lighting functioning? When it comes to T8 and T12 Fluorescent Tube fixtures, replacement of the ballast and fluorescent tubes with direct-wire LED tubes seems to work well.
Given the ease of using LED A-base incandescent lamps and LED tubes in fluorescent fixtures, it is tempting to install LED "corn cobs" in commercial/industrial high bay lighting, pole lights and wall packs. But this can be a mistake. Many HID fixtures use a reflector to help disperse the light, and while the HID lamps (which get very hot) don't mind the heat, LED corn cobs are not designed to have heat reflected back at itself. This will result in shorter life. The problem is not as severe in high bay lighting where no reflector is used. In this case the best way to ensure a long service life is to do a direct replacement of whatever is currently in use (HPS or Metal Halide) or install a purpose- built LED fixture in its place.
Call Mc Caffrey Electrical Contracting at (908) 818-0460 for help in deciding how best to maintain your facility's lighting system serving Hunterdon and Warren County in New Jersey
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