An In-depth Look at Wall Pack Lighting

What is Wall Pack Lighting?

Wall pack lighting is the most common term for outdoor lighting designed for security purposes to provide illumination for vehicles, pedestrians, and facilities. This form of exterior lighting is most typically mounted on the exterior walls of a facility. It is not unusual to see different fixtures with various mountings on a single building.

Some of the most commonly used wall pack lighting applications utilized today are Metal Halide, High Pressure Sodium, and Mercury Vapor Lamps, which are all forms of High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps. Below are a few visual examples of non-LED wall pack lighting applications.

Common Issues in Non-LED Wall Pack Lighting

Metal Halide, High-Pressure Sodium, and Mercury Vapor Lamps are all forms of HID lamps and have shared common issues.

Energy Cost

Common HID lamps used in wall pack lighting applications have a typical range of 70 watts to 400 watts. With the higher wattage producing higher light output. There are several factors that play a role in the number of wattages that are utilized. Such as quantity, spacing, and mounting height. A 175w or 250w HID fixture can cost between $90 and $135 to operate per lamp/year in electricity costs alone.

Lighting Performance

The performance characteristics of HID lamps can vary significantly, depending upon the type that is utilized in your facility. If your facility is utilizing High-Pressure Sodium, you could be seeing a longer useful life then some of the other forms of HID due to slower lumen degradation. But due to their fuel structure, they can produce an Orange light with very low Color Rendering Index.  The illumination produced by operating Metal Halide lamps will initially provide a white light. But with the accelerated lumen degradation common to Metal Halide lamps the overall lifetime of your lamps will decrease and produce a pink illumination that barely provides light.

Maintenance Costs

When it comes to wall pack lighting, maintenance costs are always a big concern. Not only do you have to worry about the lamp’s lifetime, but these fixtures can also require the use of a lift to change out the lamps and ballasts.  If your organization does not have its own lift. You are forced to hire an outside contractor to maintain the exterior lighting on your facility. These expenses add up fast. Over the course of 3 years, you could be looking at $4,500 in labor and materials to maintain a single wall pack light fixture.

The Benefits of an LED Wall Pack Retrofit

There are substantial benefits to performing an LED retrofit to your organization’s wall pack lighting. Light Emitting Diodes or LED’s generate light utilizing a semiconductor. They do not rely on the consumption of a fuel source like an HID lamp. Most LED fixtures utilize multi-point sources. Which means the fixtures have multiple diodes with individual optics. When compared to the way HID fixtures distribute light, the results in illumination is more evenly distributed across a surface. With this in mind, let’s look at the three most common benefits of an LED Retrofit.

Energy Savings

LED wall pack lighting commonly utilize wattages between 24 – 82 watts. Which often result in a 40%-60% reduction in energy consumption. This could mean savings of up to $300 per fixture, per year in electricity costs.

For more on an LED’s energy savings, check out the section on Energy Savings on our LED Education Page

Lighting Performance

As a result of an LED fixtures multi-point design, you will see a bright evenly distributed light pattern perfect for illuminating exterior areas surrounding your facility. The illumination across a given area will vary less and will eliminate the common bright spot produced by HID fixtures. In addition to your evenly displaced illumination, LED’s come in a variety of color temperatures. Providing a range of options in increasing the visual perception of brightness.

For more on an LED’s lighting performance, check out the section on Lighting Performance on our LED Education Page.

Maintenance Savings

Due to the way LED’s generate light their functional lifespan is much longer. An LED’s generated light output will degrade very slowly over time. As a result, their functional lifespan can often exceed 100,000 hours. The LED’s lifespan drastically reduces the costs associated with maintaining your wall pack lighting. They could result in over $5,000 in maintenance saving for a single fixture over the course of 3 years.

For more on an LED’s lifespan, check out our blog, Understanding LED Lifespan.

More LED Resources to Review

LED Retrofit Education

When narrowing down the best solution for your organization, you will find it to be a challenging endeavor. Because of the thousands of lighting options available in the LED Industry, not all of them offer the same results. With this in mind, we have created an in-depth look at LED retrofits that covers things like;

• What is a turn-key commercial LED retrofit?
• Examples of commercial LED retrofit goals.
• LED lighting Performance
• Commercial applications
• LED energy savings
• LED maintenance Savings
• And so much more!

Read more about LED retrofits here!

3 Key Items When Considering an LED Retrofit

LED’s are sweeping the lighting landscape. Mainly because of their ability to decrease energy costs, lower maintenance expenses, and increase the overall performance of your lighting. However, because of the amount of LED lights on the market. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with information as you consider an LED retrofit company for your organization. 

In this article, we will look at five important items to keep at the forefront of your mind as you begin the research process.

Read the full article here!

Guide to Calculating Energy Savings for any Lighting Project

Calculating energy savings in an LED retrofit can be difficult. If you are responsible for your company’s new construction projects, building maintenance, facility design, or energy costs, this guide’s for you. When you’re responsible for one or all of these things, energy consumption is something that’s going to come across your desk. Transparency is key when you’re considering retrofitting to LED lighting and are wondering which manufacturer to partner with.

In this e-book, you’ll find step-by-step guides for calculating energy savings. There are several aspects to consider, but we’ll guide you through each of them.

Download the free eBook Here!

Determining Next Steps in an LED Wall Pack Lighting Retrofit

You have weighed the pros and cons of retrofitting your wall pack lighting to LED. The LED is the clear winner. So, now the big question is, what are the next steps in the process? We have a few considerations for you to review.

Consider A Partner

Consider partnering with a commercial lighting service provider. Make sure they can supply a regional, national, and multi-unit LED lighting and electrical project management program. Review these items when vetting a national LED lighting and electrical project management provider.

• Available Resources
• Available Personnel
• Reporting Capabilities
• Data Capturing for lighting and signage components
• Lighting Recommendations
• Product Neutral

Interested in Learning More?

The first step in any LED wall pack lighting project should be to contact a lighting and electrical solutions provider. Make sure they are manufacturer and product-neutral. With neutrality comes a higher focus on your needs. As opposed to the desire or limitation of selling a specific product.

A LED Retrofit provider should ask you about your project.

• What are your desired results?
• Are you looking at budget or project completion constraints?
• Do you have an energy reduction target?
• Are there lighting performance specifics needed to be taken into consideration?

At Action Services Group, our business model is designed to offer you the maximum ROI. While taking your lighting performance, maintenance cost, and energy efficiency into consideration. No solution or product is ever a one size fits all. We understand the need to customize solutions to meet the organization.

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