Depending on the size of the warehouse we are discussing; the energy costs related to the lighting withing and even outside the warehouse can vary. But no matter what size, shape, or capacity a warehouse operation runs out of they all have one thing in common and that’s lighting expenses.

This is a common struggle for facility managers: trying to save money with the money that they have. And upgrading or investing in a new lighting system although can save money and produce a positive ROI overtime; can cause troubles considering it costs money upfront.

This post is here to identify the main points and benefits of a good lighting technology (LED), how it can improve a warehouse or factory facility, and how you can actually cut the upfront investment costs down significantly to make the investment even more-so worthwhile.

Improve safety through a better lighting system. In almost every aspect of the word quality; LED is the winner, especially in industrial applications. Firstly, if you’ve ever (or are currently) experiencing an issue with flickering or buzzing lights inside or out of your facility: you most like have metal halide or HPS fixtures in place. With LED they will never flicker or buzz not even near the ending of their lifespan.

Secondly, if you are experiencing an issue with dim lights just a few years after you’ve installed your MH or HPS light sources; you are experiencing a negative side effect of having these technologies. They are susceptible to higher lumen depreciation at a much faster rate than LED products do. Don’t get it wrong though, LED products still do safely and securely.

Decrease lighting bill costs. Did you know that you are burning up energy that you don’t really have to be burning up? It’s true, technologies such as metal halide are literally eating up 50% more energy than you would be with LED products installed. If you could reduce your lighting bill costs by 50% or more, what benefits could you see? For starters it would improve your bottom line. Otherwise, if you are proud to be a green company this could be just another way to further that mission and prove you are doing everything is takes to cut down on waste as much as possible. The list could go on but the main benefit that makes almost every person want to make the switch to LED is the 50% or more reduction in lighting costs month to month.

More Ways to Decrease Your Lighting Costs

Here we list a few ways that you can actually decrease your investment cost on a new LED lighting system in your DesignLights Consortium is, in basic terms, your rebate will more likely be better than just DLC standard.

Longer bulb life = Less Maintenance. LED technology is know to last 2-3 or even 4 times longer than other light sources out there. By upgrading to an LED system in your warehouse you are reducing the amount of times you need to pay someone to replace your burnt out lights. This can get especially pricey since most warehouses have high bay lighting which is typically high in the air. If you have 30, 40, or 50+ lights this can get very expensive for a warehouse facility. By opting in for a longer life light source (such as LED) you are going to reduce your maintenance costs dramatically (by 2-3 times).

Some Common Questions

Here are some very common questions that we are asked regarding lighting for a warehouse:

What exactly are the lighting fixtures used in warehouses and factories?

While an office in a warehouse will use the same lighting as any other office would (panels and tubes), the main floor and area of the warehouse is what we are talking about.

Typically people install high ceiling spaces.

What is a retrofit? And should I retrofit?

It can be annoying, frustrating and disappointing to decorate for a holiday season, party or event and after everything is set up you discover your outside electrical outlets do not work. The kids are ready to see all the lights or the party planner is near to crying. This was an important time for them and you want to know why the outlets are dead.

What you can do on your own

Is this an unusual occurrence?

Some advertisements for goods on television tell you it has a lifetime guarantee. Very few things are built for lifetime use. Even an electrical outlet can suffer from wear and tear and even environmental circumstances.

While you may have outlets that have protective covers that are supposed to shield them from rain, snow and humidity, dampness can get in and damage your outlet. It could also be that some of the wiring has burned and will not function properly. There is also the possibility that the outlet was not installed by a professional and that it is not up to code.

Before you call your electrician, unplug the cords from the outlets. Do not allow anyone near them or try to do a DIY project. It goes without saying that when you are dealing with electrical problems there could be a danger to you and your family. You want your house to be festive but not burned down.

What will the electrician do?

You repair person will listen to the information you have gathered. He will ensure that the power is shut off to the affected areas prior to opening the outlet to begin work. He will check the actual outlet and the wiring. He will determine whether the problem is limited to the exterior only or if it can or will cause an interruption on the interior of the house.

You’ve heard of bugs in computers? Some types of insects can set up housekeeping behind your electrical outlet and wreak havoc. The repairman will open the outlet after the power it cut and may even have to go into the wall to make a final determination.

He may be able to repair the wiring to the outlet. He will recommend a course of action. It may be that the outlet is damaged beyond repair. Your service person will tell you about the outlets that are available that are identical and also show you others that may be more enhanced or updated. It will be your choice.

As there are performance standard. All lights that are DLC Qualified have been tested and meet or exceed these requirements. Most recently, DLC has created a higher performance standard, DLC Premium. With DLC Premium, the LED lights are among the most efficient available. For example, our LED Retrofit Kits are DLC Premium Listed, while many of our competitors’ products are only DLC Standard Qualified.

To you, the consumer, this means a DLC Premium retrofit solution will be 20-30% brighter and / or use 20-30% + less energy. Comparing our units at 165 lumens/watt versus a competitive product at 97 lumens per watt, their product requires 135 watts to produce the same amount of light our product needs barely over 75 watts to create. To you, this saves you thousands of dollars month after month. So while both carry the DLC qualification symbol, ours will save you much more every minute the light is turned on.

One of the benefits of retrofitting is you get to recapture the investment in your existing fixtures. Think of a car dealership. Many are beautiful architecturally designed fixtures and the dealership had spent a lot of money to have them installed. The owners would like to convert to LED, but installing a new fixture is not an ideal solution. First, the finished result would not look as aesthetically pleasing as the current appearance. Second, the investment in the existing fixtures would be ‘throw away’. With a LED retrofitting kit, think of the driver as the ballast replacement and the head as a replacement for the metal halide bulb.

Secondly, most of the times a retrofit kit solution is less expensive than a new fixture solution. So not only are you able to recapture your fixture investment, but converting to LED should be cheaper than replacing the fixture with a new LED fixture.

Being DLC Premium Qualified, each kit must be backed with a 5 year warranty. Since our heads are so designed so thermally efficient, the heads have been upgraded to a 10 year warranty. The drivers come with a standard 5 year warranty, but an optional 10 year warranty on the entire unit is available. This means that you should not have to worry about replacing metal halide bulbs and ballasts for 10+ years. For some of our customers, not replacing bulbs and ballasts is almost as if not more important than energy savings provided by converting over to LED.

Our most powerful kit produces close to 51000 lumens while only consuming 350 watts. We believe we have some of the most, if not the most, efficient retrofit kits on the market today. While others are capable of creating 51000 lumens, they need significantly more watts to be able to do so. This is important, because one of the reasons you are probably considering on converting to LED is to save money. But it would be wrong for you to think that all LED solutions are the same in terms of efficiency. Some of our competitor’s kits are rated at 97 and 110 lumens per watt. Our fifth generation of LED retrofit kits are rated up to 165 lumens per watt. This means our competitors are 50% less efficient than our latest models. Over the life of the LEDs, this means you electrical bills are going to be significantly higher than it needs to be. Yes, it will be lower than the current metal halide or high pressure sodium bulbs you may currently be using, but they will cost you significantly more to operate over our latest ultra-efficient retrofit solutions.

The most important thing to do is to match the correct retrofit kit with your existing lighting. We created 11 retrofit kits as part of our family of LED solutions, from 30 watts all the way to 350 watts. Each unit is designed to fit into your existing fixture without the need for taking down the fixture and sending it to use so we can create a custom plate. Some suppliers provide that as their solution. With our 11 retrofit kits, there is no need to take down a fixture and send it to our offices so that we can design you a retrofit plate. Retrofitting Content by MyLEDLightingGuide