A must-have for commercial buildings, businesses and those in charge of public spaces, outdoor commercial lighting is often implemented to provide sufficient light to keep exterior areas illuminated. Designed to be robust, durable and long lasting, its main purpose is to drastically influence a building’s safety, security and visual appeal. However, while you will be aware of challenges such as light pollution, light spill and glare, key specifications of each fitting should also be an essential part of each installation.
Whether you’re working on task lighting for safety or ambient lighting to produce a comfortable level of brightness, to ensure each fitting fulfils its main function, Red Arrow advises taking the following into consideration:
Ingress Protection (IP)
In an environment where dust or water could damage electrical components, a sealed enclosure is used to prevent exposure to elements – the IP rating then indicates the type and degree of ingress protection. While IP44 and IP54 fittings are commonly purchased in the belief they’re fine for outside, in areas where the fittings are exposed to the elements, upgrading to IP65 will often be the better choice, which remains a key focus of Red Arrow’s exterior ranges.
Impact Protection Rating (IK)
Indicating the degree of protection provided by the electrical enclosures against external mechanical impacts, IK rated products are important for lighting used in busy public spaces. The same is also true for industrial areas, where they need to be robust enough to take knocks and withstand heavy use, such as the non-corrosive linear fittings, Weatherguard and Weatherguard Plus.
UV stability
Designed to protect a fitting from long-term degradation of UV light, UV stability is essential in preventing the slow photo-degradation of plastics, which can cause discolouring to a brown/yellow tone. It also reduces the loss of elasticity, an issue that causes the plastic to become brittle and more prone to breaking on impact. Without UV stability, a light fitting can also turn ‘chalky’, impacting on its efficiency and light transmission.
Energy efficiency
By updating exterior lighting, a commercial business can reduce its energy usage and its environmental impact, particularly if current light fittings are inefficient due to old technology or the degradation of diffusers. New generation LED fittings can be more efficient than earlier generations of LED fittings, such as the POLO X, which is +40% more efficient than its predecessor.
Sustainability
LEDs have long lifetimes, but their life is dependent on correct operations, not overloading them electrically or thermally, using quality materials and efficient manufacturing processes. To further increase LED sustainability – eliminating the need to replace the whole fitting at the end of its life – you can also install replaceable gear trays, or GTRs from Red Arrow. Designed to easily retrofit into the fitting and lengthen their lives, these gear trays reduce material waste and landfill, while also saving cost and inconvenience of rewiring and replacing the whole product.
From floodlights to wall lights, canopy lighting and pole mounted fittings, exterior lighting is essential for most commercial buildings, and at Red Arrow, we have a product to suit many installations.
For more information, visit the Red Arrow website.
