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Selecting the Right Parking & Area Lighting Fixture to Build Your Business

Selecting the Right Parking & Area Lighting Fixture to Build Your Business

You have a lot riding on large parking and area lighting projects—complying with illumination requirements; installing dozens of fixtures and poles on time; and meeting your customer’s expectations. Choosing the right fixture helps you finish jobs on time and within budget. That can lead to referrals to more jobs. It builds your business.

Selecting the right fixtures is the key to meeting tough parking and area lighting project demands. Use the tips below to choose the fixture that meets your project needs.

Fixture selection: what to look for in optic and lamp choices:

Full Cutoff optics
--More municipalities require them
--Eliminate direct glare, light pollution

IESNA Type III, IV or V optics
--Type III-roadway-wide side-to-side, low to moderate forward throw
--Type IV- less width laterally and more forward throw than Type III
--Type V- Parking-symmetrical circular or square illumination pattern

Rotatable optics
--Rotates optic within fixture to direct light where it’s needed
--Provides proper light distribution with consistent aesthetics

Vertical lamp
--helps meet uniformity ratios
--more even lighting
--higher lumen output
--longer lamp life

Fixture selection controls costs
Meeting your customer’s budget or creating a winning bid is as crucial as meeting required light levels. Project cost is often more important than individual fixture cost. Selecting a more expensive but more efficient fixture can reduce the total fixture and pole count, as well as energy consumption. Fewer poles and fixtures means reducing installation time, labor cost and maintenance costs in the future.
When a customer is on a tight budget, it may be possible to value engineer an existing layout to meet illumination and cost constraints. Cross referencing to find alternate fixtures at reduced cost is often an option.

What to send when requesting a lighting layout:

1. Outdoor Lighting Project form
2. Project parameters, local lighting ordinance information
3. A site plan (CAD file is preferred)

Use the Outdoor Lighting Project Form found in the back of the Ruud catalog or online as a live document you can fill out at ruudlighting.com/buy_direct/appreqout.asp and send directly to Application Engineering.

Filling out this form is the most important aspect of submitting a parking or area lighting layout request. This form, along with supplying local codes and ordinances, helps Application Engineering get you the right fixture by supplying 80% of the information needed to create a layout.

Also supply the following project parameters:

1. Maximum pole height
2. Maximum overall fixture height
3. Maximum or minimum light level or uniformity ratios
4. Limits for spill light off of the property

Include your project’s bid date, too. This helps ensure that your layout is ready when you need it.
Layout turnaround time
Layout request turnaround time varies by project, but it usually takes 3 business days or less for application engineering to return a layout.

Send Outdoor Lighting Project Form to:
Fax: 800-236-7500
Email: applications@ruudlighting.com
Online: ruudlighting.com/buy_direct/appreqout.asp

Win more jobs and save time by using the fixture selection tips above. Choosing the right fixture grows your business and frees more time to do the things you love. Unfortunately, our newsletter won’t give you any tips on improving your golf swing.