Parking Lot Lighting

LED Parking Lot Lighting

LED Parking Lot Lights with Photocell

The use of dusk to dawn photocells have been an increasingly popular choice for parking lot lighting, thanks to the improved energy efficiency these provide. While most existing systems utilize a set timer schedule to turn lighting on and off, this can result in inefficiencies. This is particularly true over the long term with seasonal time changes, which requires regular adjustments to ensure the lights come on and off at dawn and dusk. With a photocell, this guesswork and continued maintenance is no longer required, saving both time and electricity.

We carry a variety of parking lot lights with integrated photocells as well as individual photocells as an accessory. It’s important to check each product for photocell compatibility.

Parking Lot Pole Lights

Mounting poles used for parking lighting come in two primary varieties, round and square. While this is ultimately a design choice in most cases, there are some differences to keep in mind when choosing the right light fixture to mount on these poles.

Generally speaking, square poles offer the most options, as they can be used with slipfitter type mounts or direct mounts such as extruded arm and trunnion mounts, as well as adapters designed for use with specific lighting fixtures. Round poles on the other hand are generally only compatible with slipfitter mounts, due to variances in the curvature of the pole.

Wall Mounted LED Parking Lot Lights

Another popular parking lot lighting option is wall packs, which physically mount to the side of a building, wall or other hard vertical surface. These lights offer a great combination of packaging, mounting simplicity and durability, making them a great choice for use in an overall lighting system. These lights offer the capability to utilize photocell technology, either with a built in photocell or with an externally mounted sensor.

If you want a fixture with more flexibility, there are other types of wall mounted LED parking lot lights such as yoke mount LED flood lights. These fixtures can mount to any flat surface and be adjusted 180 degrees to the direction of your choice.

You can also use a trunnion mount for stationary flood light wall mounting.

How Many Parking Lot Lights Do I Need?

One of the most common questions asked when looking at parking lot lighting is how many fixtures are needed to provide proper illumination levels.

While this is a simple question, it usually does not have a simple answer. There are a number of factors at play, namely mounting height, pole spacing and the fixtures themselves.

Fixtures come in various wattage ranges, as well as beam angles and patterns, which has a big effect on their placement and quantity.

The best way to determine the number of fixtures required for a specific parking lot setup is through the use of a photometric plan, which uses the science of lighting to determine the optimal light placement as well as help select the best fixtures for the application.

LED Light Distribution Types

Type III Beam - The Type III LED light distribution throws light forward and to the sides, producing a filling light flow. This is popular for roadways, general parking areas, and perimeter lighting.

Type IV Beam - Type IV LED light distribution produces a semicircle of forward light, with minimal back lighting. This is typically used for fixtures that are mounted on the sides of buildings and walls illuminating the perimeter of both public and commercial parking areas.

Type V Beam - Type V LED light distribution produces a square umbrella lighting pattern for interior pole locations. It is intended for fixture mounting at or near the center of roadways, center islands of parkway, and intersections. This is a perfect pattern for areas where even light distribution is necessary, such as large commercial and industrial parking lots.

Parking Lot Lighting Layout

Proper parking lot lighting can be achieved with the proper selection of flood lights with slip fitter mounts, trunnion mounts, or other custom mounting options. If you have a very large facility, you may even require LED street lights or high powered flood lights to accommodate large parking lots.

Here’s an example of an outdoor auto shop lighting project where a photometric lighting plan was provided strategically laying out several LED flood lights for the facilities parking lot as well as LED wall packs for the building exterior.

This uniformity in the beam produced allows for better photometric planning, giving the option to more efficiently configure light fixture placement - resulting in fewer number of fixtures in order to accomplish the same effectiveness in lighting performance. While free guides exist that give solid pointers to get started on a lighting plan, it is wise to have a commercial lighting expert work with you to ensure your photometric lighting plan is set up optimally. When combined with already highly efficient LED technology, improved beam control only adds to the many reasons why switching to LED lighting for parking areas is the most logical choice.

Parking Lot Lighting Design

This is a photometric lighting design for a warehouse parking lot. In this layout, we used 17 pole mounted parking lot flood lights at an illumination level of 15 foot candles.

In this second photometric design, we used 11 parking lot lighting fixtures at an illumination level of 17.1 foot candles to illuminate the area around the parking structure.

Parking Lot Lighting Standards

Parking lots generally require lights to be on for 13+ hours per day. The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) has developed recommendations to ensure safe and effective parking lot lighting.

For typical conditions, the IES advises a minimum horizontal illuminance of 0.2 foot-candles, minimum vertical illuminance of 0.1 foot-candles and a uniformity ratio of 20:1 maximum to minimum.

For enhanced security conditions, IES recommends minimum horizontal illuminance of 0.5 foot-candles, minimum vertical illuminance of 0.25 foot-candles and a uniformity ratio of 15:1 maximum to minimum.

Parking Garage Lighting Standards

Additionally, regulatory bodies such as the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) as well as the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) developed minimum recommended standards for parking garage lighting.

Parking Pole Light Brackets & Adapters

Tenon Adapter for 4 Inch Square Poles - Allows you to mount a standard 2-⅜” slipfitter on top of 4 inch square poles.

Tenon Adapter for 4 Inch Round Poles - Allows you to mount a standard 2-⅜” adjustable slipfitter on top of 4 inch round poles.

Tenon Adapter for 5 Inch Square Poles - Allows you to mount a standard 2-⅜” adjustable slipfitter on top of 5 inch square poles.

Tenon Adapter for 5 Inch Round Poles - Allows you to mount a standard 2-⅜” adjustable slipfitter on top of 5 inch round poles.

Side Tenon for Square Poles - Allows you to mount a standard 2-⅜” adjustable slipfitter on the side of square poles.

Parking Lot Lighting Guide

Parking lot lighting is a ubiquitous application across the country, providing illumination critical for the safety and security of commercial and industrial parking areas. There are a wide variety of LED lighting solutions for commercial and industrial parking lots, as well as street and roadway lighting requirements. LED technology provides several distinct cost and performance advantages over traditional lighting which makes it a very popular choice for retrofitting existing lighting for parking lots and roadways as well as being installed in new construction applications.

The largest benefit of LED lighting for parking lot and roadway applications is its dramatically increased energy efficiency compared to traditional types of lighting - such as HID, incandescent, fluorescent and mercury vapor lights. LED lighting has a minimum system efficiency improvement of 150% over all other types of traditional lighting, including HIDs. This is due in part to the fact that unlike traditional lighting, which emits light in a 360° pattern, LED lighting emits light in a directional 180° pattern.

This eliminates the need for reflectors used on traditional lighting which are inherently inefficient at redirecting light (40% loss is common). Not only is light itself directed more efficiently with LED lighting, the entire system is more efficient in terms of lumens produced per watt. Typically an LED light system produces 50 lumens per watt, whereas an HID light system produces 30 lumens power watt or less. The combination of both the lumen per watt efficiency and directional nature of LED lighting make them an easy choice for those looking to save long-term energy costs.

In fact, these benefits are highlighted in the Lighting Research Center’s (LRC) recently published Guide for Parking Lot Lighting. This comprehensive guide details not only the energy efficiency benefits of using LEDs for parking lots but also the lighting uniformity possible with LEDs due to their precise beam control. According to LRC’s laboratory testing,

"for the same illuminance, uniformity provides greater leverage in promoting the perception of safety compared to increasing CCT from 2850 K to 5800 K” (Lighting Energy Alliance, 2020, Guide for Parking Lot Lighting)

Additional Benefits

In addition to the increased energy efficiency of LED lighting, they also offer significant savings in maintenance over traditional lighting. Traditional lighting for parking lots and roadways uses HID, fluorescent, incandescent and in some cases, mercury vapor lights. All of these lights are maintenance intensive compared to LEDs, and many have toxins inside that require specialized and expensive disposal methods.

Because these lights are typically mounted 15’ up or higher on poles, a crew with a specialized lift truck must be contracted to replace and service them. Over time, this adds up to a considerable cost in both parts and labor hours. LED lights last much longer (avg. 100,000 hours), and therefore this cost is dramatically reduced compared to the most popular type of traditional parking lot and roadway light - HID lights (avg. 7,500 - 10,000 hours).

The last thing that is often overlooked when comparing LED lighting to traditional lighting options for parking lots and roadways is the actual quality of the light produced. This is measured in CRI (Color Rendering Index) - which is the measure of a light's accuracy in replicating natural sunlight.

LEDs have a distinct advantage over traditional lights in this area, with a typical CRI of 90 or more (natural sunlight has a CRI of 100). Most traditional lighting has a maximum CRI of 80 when new, and then degrades significantly throughout its useful life. The higher CRI of LEDs makes for better visibility in parking lots and roadways, increasing safety while also improving the aesthetic appeal of the properties they are installed on.

Other Possible Types of Parking Lot Fixtures

Canopy LED Lights - These are a canopy mounted fixture used in carports, walkways and parking garages. They feature a dust and water resistant lens, designed to keep out the elements while still allowing sufficient light transmission.

LED Wall Packs - Similar to canopy lights, these are designed to be mounted on the side of a wall or other exterior structure. They provide wide and intense lighting for parking areas and sidewalks adjacent to buildings and privacy walls.

Lamp Post Lights - These lights are designed to replace traditional lamp post bulbs while using existing fixtures and sockets. They are commonly used for small parking lots and walkways to parking areas.

LED Floodlights - By far the most powerful and versatile of the different parking lot lights available, these provide a broad beam that is useful for providing security and safety illumination for parking areas.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What type of lights should be used in parking lots?
This will depend on several factors namely the size of the parking lot, and the mounting requirements. For standard fixed post mounting, LED flood lights with an extruded arm mount are a viable choice. For adjustable pole mounting, LED flood lights with a slipfitter mount is ideal. Finally, for flat surface mounting such as roof tops or ground levels, you’ll want to use a yoke mount flood light as this is one of the most adaptable outdoor lighting fixtures. Any specialty lighting requirements should be discussed with an LED lighting expert that can lay out a photometric lighting plan.

Q. Why are parking lot lights flashing?
Flashing lights generally indicate that the light is either damaged or running low on power. This is commonly seen with outdated metal halide fixtures. In cases where you notice flashing lights in parking lots, it’s advised to replace these lights and consider switching to longer lasting LEDs.

Q. How tall are parking lot lights?
On average, parking lot poles with mounted lights range from 12 to 20 feet. With that said, some pole lights reach as high as 35 to 40 feet. The height of your poles will depend largely on the size of your lot and how much area you need to cover with illumination.

Q. How far apart should poles be?
The first step is determining fixture mounting height. Once height is determined, you can effectively figure out the required spacing for your poles. Generally speaking, the higher up the fixtures are mounted, the less spacing you’ll need.