Low / High Bay Light Fixture

There are 4 major factors you need to consider:

• Ceiling Height - Depending on how high you plan to mount it, use the chart below to pick the correct lumens count to illuminate your space.

  Ceiling Height	Recommended Lumens Output
  Under 12 ft	7800 - 9000 lumens
  12-ft to 18-ft	13000 - 16000 lumens
  18-ft to 24-ft	19500 - 24000 lumens
  24-ft to 30-ft	26000 - 32000 lumens
  30-ft to 35-ft	36000+ lumens

• Lighting Application - Based on your business needs, you will pick the lamp shape. High Bays come down to 2 form factors: Round and Linear. Round fixtures are ideal for open space such as groceries, retail stores, and workshops, while its counterpart is more suited to be placed along aisles.
• Color Temperature (CCT) – Based on your application, you will select the color spectrum you want to have. LED are often tuned between 2700K to 6500K. The lower the temperature, the warmer the color (yellow). A traditional High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamp is around 2700K which produce more of a yellow tone and not ideal for commercial space. 5000K (cool white) seems to be the sweet spot for warehouse and retail application. Any higher and you will start experiencing a blue hue throughout your room.
• Lighting Controls – To further reduce your energy consumption, look for commercial lighting fixtures that are dimmable. When paired with a dimmable occupancy sensor, you can set them down to 10% when idle. Once a motion is detected, they will go back to 100% to provide proper lighting. An alternate solution is to install a 0-10V dimmer. This will give you the option to dim it down in the event it is too bright.

You might hear the term Color Rendering Index or CRI as well. In simple terms, it's the measurement of how true colors appear under the lights compare to how they will appear under sun. The higher the CRI the truer the representation. This matter if true color representation is important to you. Most commercial warehouse lighting is set to 80 CRI which is good enough for most application.

Picking the right energy efficient LED high bay lights for your space can help increase productivity and reduce eyestrain for your staff.

They are the same type but configured with different beam angles. Low bays are usually tuned at a 120-degree beam angle and are used in open spaces with a ceiling height up to 15 ft. They are ideal for showrooms, retail, and grocery stores, while high bay fixtures are configured with a beam angle of 90-degrees or less and are installed over 15 ft. They typically produce over 20000 lumens and are perfect to replace traditional 400W metal halide or HPS lamps.

Aside from the fixture's shape, the main difference between a round and a linear fixture is the light distribution. The round version will yield more of a circular beam spread while the LED linear high bay lights produce a more rectangular shape. Linear fixtures are best suited for a more uniform lighting effect, like in corridors and warehouse shelving. Round fixtures are better suited for open spaces such as gymnasiums, hangars, and factories.

Metal Halide has been the most common choice for HID lamps. During its heyday, it was the crown jewel for energy efficient and long life bulbs. To this day, most factories and assembly plants are still using them, yet they are now to be considered as one of the most inefficient indoor industrial lighting options.

The two most used metal halide bulb wattages are 400W and 1000W. A 100-Watt LED Retrofit Kit can easily replace the 400-Watt, and a 240W LED high bay can take out the 1000-Watt version with ease.

There are 3 options to retrofit to LED:

1. With your current fixtures in place
   • By-pass the ballast or transformer
   • Remove the aging MH bulb
   • Retrofit it with a new LED Shoebox Retrofit Kit
2. With your current fixtures in place
   • By-pass the ballast or transformer
   • Remove the aging MH bulb
   • Screw in a new LED Corn Bulb to the existing socket
3. Completely replace the aging fixture with a new LED fixture

Know that not all LED fixtures are created equal. Two 240W high bays may not have the same lumens output.

The higher the lumens = The brighter it is = The more efficient it is.

This can be done by using better LED chips with higher efficacy.

Once you know how many lumens each fixture generates, we can determine the number of fixtures needed for the room. Depending on the application of your space, we can use 3-5 lumens (lm) per cubic feet (cuft.) as our parameter.

For the purpose of warehouse application, you would use close to 3 lm/cuft as your variable while a showroom will be more on the 5 lm/cuft for a brighter solution.

For the purpose of this exercise, let’s assume the following parameters.

• Commercial Application: Indoor Lighting for Warehouse/Storage space
• Room Dimension: 50-ft (W) X 50-ft with a 20-ft ceiling height
• Lighting Output Desire (LOD): 3 lumens per cuft
• Based on our earlier suggestion, we are going with the 150W high bay at 22000 lumens & 5000K as our choice for the 20 feet high ceilings.

1. Calculate the room volume = Width X Length X Height
   
   50 X 50 X 20 = 50,000 cuft
   
   
2. Calculate the total lumens desire which is Volume times Lighting Output Desire
   
   50000 cuft X 3 lm/cuft = 150,000 lm
   
   
3. Finally, calculate the number of fixtures needed = total lumens / fixture lumens output
   
   150000 lm / 22000 lm/fixutre = 6.66 fixtures

Are you still overwhelmed?

Don't worry, we are here to help. Call us! Our engineers are standing by ready to help you design the perfect lighting solution for you.