Guidelines for LED Pole Lights Retrofit

by Anchor Teng LED Lighting Consultant

LED pole lights retrofit is so wildly used in North America like parking lot, public or private ball field, school complex,church, shopping mall,car dealership, roadway lighting etc. as it saves as much as 75% energy in contrast with metal halide, high pressure sodium and mercury vapor.

Many property owners are seeking for the right bulb replacement but has no simple guidelines out there or just stumbled before the high upfront cost of LED as they even have no idea that DLC standard LED pole lights retrofit including the LED retrofit kit, LED retrofit lamp and LED corn lamp can apply for the incentives or rebate from the local power companies.

For outdoor LED pole lights bulb replacement, there are so many options to choose in the market, you might be hard to tell which one can suit your need. Today i am gonna to give you some instructions as your decision-making guide to make purchase of the right LED pole lights retrofit if you want to keep the original fixture to save some money for installation.

There are several questions you need to consider before make purchase:

Q1: How many lumens or footcandle you need for the LED pole lights retrofit?

A1: a. For any end customer who don't have much sense of lumens(=efficacy*watt) of foot candle(=lumens/ft²), not wattage, here is a simple guide for the equivalency of LED and HID(metal halide, high pressure sodium and mercury vapor)

50W LED = 150W-200W HID
60W LED = 180W-250W HID
80W LED = 250W-320W HID
100W LED = 300W-400W HID
150W LED = 400W-600W HID
200W LED = 600W-800W HID
300W LED = 800W-1000W HID
400W LED =1000W-1500W HID

I emphasize lumens, not wattage as the dominant factor to consider, as the higher efficacy the led retrofit is, the lower the wattage to produce identical lumens. e.g. 120W x 100lm/w = 100W x 120lm/w, therefore you can see a higher lumen efficacy 100W bulbs consumes less power and save you more money compared with 120W bulbs here, in other words, if comsuming the same electricity, the 100W can lit longer than 120W.

What's more, here is some helpful information from Arapahoe County goverment about what makes a good outdoor lighting you might need also.

b. For wholsaler,distributor, electricians or contractors, you might use footcandle more commonly as messurement to see if a recommended LED retrofit can meet illumination requirement of your specific pole lights retrofit project, since there are different footcandle level requirement for different job site. Therefore, you need to ask for the photometric report or IES file from the supplier, if possible, a Dialux simulation illumination report is neccessary to be conducted to see the estimate footcandle level to show your customer and convince them if your proposal can really reach their lighting level standard, then you get your business.

We can offer FREE dialux report for these customers who require, therefore, if you are a lighting distributor,electrician or electrical contractor, pls feel free to contact us.

Q: After knowing how many watt you need, then which kind of LED ple lights retrofit suits best.

A: Here are some factors you need to take into account:

a. Retrofit kit/lamp size and dimensions if it is can be put into the old fixture

b. Beam angle. if it is suitable to use 120deg. or 360deg. and achieve the energy saving purpose.

c. Mounting options: do you need edison base screw in or other mounting bracket to hold onto the old fixtures.

led pole lights retrofit

Below are some LED pole lights retrofit we have for different application, here we will have a brief introduction and list their pro and con for your reference.

1. LED retrofit kit

Pro:

Wattage available from 45W-480W, 100-277VAC version and 200-480VAC version;

Mounting options: Edison mogul(E39) base mounting and bracket mounting;

Various application: shoebox, wall pack, floodlight,canopy light and street light etc. or any situation that spread light downward

Con:

120deg. beam angle, not suitable for circular lighting spread.

2.LED retrofit lamp

Pro:

Watt available from 27W-115W, 100-277VAC version

Easy mounting: E26/E39 base mounting

Con:

Limited application: for 400W HID replacement in wall pack, shoebox, canopy light,street light etc. that require downward lightbeam.

120deg. beam angle, not suitable for circular lighting spread.

3.LED corn lamp

Pro:

Wattage available from 10W-150W, 100-277VAC version

IP40 dustproof version and IP65 waterproof version

Easy mounting: E26/E39 base mounting

Suitable: Post top garden pole lighting, high bay lighting fixtures that require 360deg. circular indoor and outdoor lighting spread

Con:

Not suitable for downward lighting, as there might be lots of lumen loss of one side of corn during reflection back and forth.

Hopefully, these info. is helpful for you to to find the best led pole lights retrofit.

Therefore, if you still have any questions on how to select the right LED pole lights retrofit, you can leave us message online, we will respond you within 24hrs.