What is high bay lighting, and what applications benefit from it?

Whenever a large indoor space needs to be illuminated, high bay lighting is usually appropriate. Consider spaces like manufacturing facilities, gymnasiums, warehouses, large department stores, factories, and more; these facilities are typically vast and cover a lot of vertical as well as horizontal space. This requires powerful lighting to provide the appropriate foot-candle levels to adequately illuminate. High bay lighting fixtures typically hang from the ceiling via hooks, chains or pendants, or they may be fixed to the ceiling directly.

Various industries and facilities require high bay lighting. Some of the most common are:

• Warehouses
• Industrial facilities
• Manufacturing facilities
• School and university gymnasiums  
• Municipal facilities like community centers or recreation centers  
• Commercial applications like department store

Why LED high bay lights instead of Metal Halide, Fluorescent, or other conventional high bay lights?

Historically, various types of lighting technology wereused in warehouse and industrial settings when high bay lights were required. Some of the most common include metal halide (MH), high pressure sodium (HPS), and fluorescent. While each of these bulbs have their merits, industrial LED lighting outperforms its conventional counterparts in important ways. Let’s take a look at some of the various considerations when deciding whether an LED retrofit is appropriate for your warehouse or industrial space.

• Industrial LED lighting vs Metal Halide high bay lights: MH lamps are common in sporting and warehouse/industrial uses (as well as any setting where large, high spaces need to be illuminated). Benefits of MH lights include decent color rendering and comparatively adequate foot-candle levels (as opposed to other types of conventional bulbs). Some of their major drawbacks are that they take a long time to warm up (sometimes 15-30 minutes), they are expensive to maintain, their failure characteristics include flickering on and off, and much of the energy they produce is wasted as heat. 

• LED high bay lighting vs High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights: HPS lights are often used in warehouse, industrial, business, and recreational facilities where high bay lighting is appropriate. Their benefits include cheap selling price, the high energy efficiency (low operating costs), and the relatively long lifespan. HPS lighting technology retains these advantages over most conventional bulbs, but they lose on all three counts to LED high bay lighting. The downsides of HPS bulbs include the worst color rendering on the market and a warm up period. 

• Industrial LED lighting vs Fluorescent lighting: Though somewhat less common, fluorescent lighting is sometimes utilized in warehouse or industrial applications (primarily T12, T8, and T5 lights). The benefits of fluorescent lights include cheaper initial costs and relatively high efficiency (especially when compared to other conventional bulbs). Downsides include the presence of toxic mercury (which requires certain waste disposal procedures), decreased lifetime if switched on and off, and requiring ballast to stabilize the light. Note: Please See ARORA LED HIGH BAY ADVANCE SERIES  in Our Products Range