Automotive Car Lot Lighting Case Study

Lancaster Motors
Car Lot Lighting Project
Lancaster, Wisconsin
January 2009

PROJECT DETAILS
RLLD Commercial Lighting was contacted by a car dealership in Lancaster Wisconsin. They had been seeking online bids for their car dealership lot lighting system with very little success.

CHALLENGES
The challenge for this car dealership lay in the fact that they already had existing concrete light pole bases on the lot that had been spaced too far apart. This made it hard to find fixtures which would adequately light the car lot, and none of the vendors they had contacted before us had any been able to locate an appropriate lighting fixture, reflector, and lens assembly that would the necessary light levels for nighttime business and security.

Another challenge lay in limited lighting pole installation requirements due to wind zone requirements. Additionally, the anchor bolts that were already set in concrete would allow for now more than 25’ poles in a 90MPH wind zone. To balance pole height limitation with a limited range of fixture options, we needed to run through several scenarios in our photometric software to generate a sound proposal for this car dealership.

PHOTOMETRIC DATA REPORT
The owner of the dealership helped a great deal in this process. He sent us diagrams and pictures of his car lot, and he gave us a copy of the previous proposal that had not materialized. We did a quick photometric lighting design analysis and concluded that this client needed more than one option to consider based on to the challenges inherent in lighting this facility. Ultimately, we were able to him two proposals and the benefit of one over the other.

The first was an upgrade of the original car lot lighting system which had used horizontal burning, metal halide shoe-box fixtures. The owner had requested seeing what an upgrade of this nature would look like and cost, so this was the first option we provided.

We also proposed a commercial lighting system that we felt was even better. It used high-performance vertical burn SVL series lighting fixtures. The larger housing, better performing reflectors, and a sag glass lenses, enable these fixtures to consistently and cost-effectively output more light.

We created three dimensional models of both systems so the owner could compare the two.

FINAL SYSTEM PROPOSED BY RLLD
Both models showed the same number of parking lot lighting fixtures in use, but the results were overwhelmingly in favor of the SVL series equipment. With the SVL, luminance was more evenly distributed throughout the merchandise area, but the shoe-box type fixtures produced too many hot spots directly underneath the poles. There was also too little light between the existing pole locations.

The SVL fixtures were clearly the best architectural lighting choice for the car lot considering the location of the existing pole bases. We also installed perimeter fixtures to enhance the visibility of the dealership in the front along the highway, and we installed two additional poles on the inside of the lot that supported four 1000W fixtures, each equipped with specific reflector for interior area lighting.

HOW DO I CONTACT RLLD?
RLLD Commercial Lighting carries a wide variety of industrial & commercial lighting fixtures. If you can not find what you are looking for contact us toll free at 1-866-654-3961 and we will find it for you. You can also check out our glossary of lighting terms and commercial lighting blog for answers and tips to many lighting issues.

Our commercial lighting design office is located in Houston, Texas with warehouses located throughout the United States that enable us to service all 50 states including Sault Ste Marie, MI (CIU), Cleveland, OH, (CLE), College Station, TX (CLL), Port Angeles, WA (CLM), Charlotte, NC (CLT), Columbus, OH (CMH), Champaign, IL (CMI), Hancock, MI (CMX), Cody, WY (COD) and Colorado Springs, CO (COS).

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Commercial Parking Lot Lighting

Commercial Parking Lot lights have become increasingly more regulated over the years and require expert knowledge beyond electrical expertise to properly configure and install. For many years, the bulk of regulatory codes mandated foot candle minimums for commercial parking lots lights to produce in order to make certain that parked cars were not obscured in shadows and to provide motorists with enough light to see. Over time, however, more laws were passed to minimize glare that can distract drivers and cause accidents. Then, the most recent round of legislation has now swept the nation from coast to coast, not only mandating that all commercial outdoor parking lot lights not only to produce a certain number of footcandles and a minimum amount of glare, but also more tightly regulating the direction of light itself so as to it to parking areas only without spilling into neighboring streets, homes, and businesses.

To light a commercial parking lot effectively, even with standard luminaires and light poles, often requires the contractor to precisely match features and optics to mandated parameters of a given environment. Additional factors like wind load capacities of poles and the various methods of plotting optimal footcandle levels either require a great deal of time doing math or the assistance of a vendor with access to special charts and software. By coming to us, the designer, builder, or DIY electrical contractor has the ability to save multiple steps and to obtain whatever is necessary to get the job done safely, legally, and effectively.

Expeditious Lead Time on Basic Lighting Fixtures
RLLD Commercial lighting offers over s dozens of competitively priced, standard model commercial parking lot lights. Basic designs for commercial parking lot light fixtures range from cutoff, flood, parabolic design, and aerodynamic models. Standard parking lot lights offer a very no-nonsense, straightforward approach to lighting retail parking lots, industrial sites, small office parks, commercial driveways, and strip center parking areas. RLLD Commercial Lighting adds value to competitive price by providing the fastest lead time in the industry on shipping and delivery of standard commercial parking lot lighting equipment. This further saves time and labor costs by allowing for a quick, seamless installation of all commercial parking lot lighting equipment.

Although standard commercial parking lot lighting case studies represent the mid-range of the price spectrum, they are made with a number of optical advantages that generate precise directional lighting control. This is becoming increasingly important throughout the country as more and more municipalities pass tougher dark sky laws to prevent light pollution in parking lots and commercial centers from spilling into roadways and neighboring homes. By working with a vendor such as RLLD Commercial Lighting architects, designers, builders, and electricians obtain the additional benefit of complimentary, expert knowledge on whether or not a particular luminaire will prove compliant to the standards of the proposed location in any given community.

Specification Grade Commercial Parking Lot Lights
Because so many large corporations, hotels, country clubs, resorts, and exclusive neighborhoods prefer to take a more sophisticated approach to site lighting design, RLLD Commercial also provides is many clients with an enormous range of specification grade parking luminaires engineered specifically for the professional bidding high-end jobs. Architects, city planners, general contractors, and commercial developers are just a few of the industries representative of our expanding client base that needs the highest rating in commercial grade parking lot lighting equipment and the most reliable performance simultaneously concomitant to aesthetics and function. Our selection features over 100 designs that range in lamp wattages from 70-400W, and eight distinctive styles that allow for a diversity of lighting commercial parking lot designs and applications. With both horizontal and vertical lamps to choose from, and a total of seven light distributions in both sharp cutoff and wide angle design, these fixtures can be used for much more than commercial parking lot lighting. Because they represent the finest grade materials and most sophisticated engineering, they can also be used to light roadways, corporate plazas, parks, and large commercial centers.

RLLD Commercial Lighting company carries a wide variety of industrial & commercial parking lot lighting fixtures. If you can not find what you are looking for call us toll free at 1-866-654-3961 and we will find it for you. Our home office is located in Houston, Texas with warehouses located throughout the United States that enable us to service all 50 states including Sault Ste Marie, MI (CIU), Cleveland, OH, (CLE), College Station, TX (CLL), Port Angeles, WA (CLM), Charlotte, NC (CLT), Columbus, OH (CMH), Champaign, IL (CMI), Hancock, MI (CMX), Cody, WY (COD) and Colorado Springs, CO (COS).