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Cracking the Code: A Guide to a Hassle-free Experience of Submitting Lighting Plans
AeroDome Improves Safety, Simplifies Installation

AeroDome Improves Safety, Simplifies Installation

Ruud Lighting delivers an ideal lighting solution

Town and Country Electric in Appleton, Wisconsin turned to Ruud Lighting to improve the safety of the parking lot lighting at a large shopping mall.

The Fox River Mall's existing parking lot fixtures didn't produce the desired illumination levels for users of the mall at night. General Growth Properties, the mall's property management company, wanted to improve illumination to a 2 FC minimum to improve visibility and safety for the mall's customers and employees.

"The existing fixtures at Fox River Mall were outdated," explains Tim Van Cuick, Service Manager, Town and Country Electric. "General Growth Properties chose to replace them with new fixtures and poles from Ruud Lighting."

AeroDome Met Challenging Spec
Van Cuick contacted Ruud Lighting to satisfy his customer's illumination requirements with the optimal performing fixture. The customer's specifications were challenging: Improving public safety through better light distribution was the most important requirement; existing pole locations had to be used; a local ordinance required full
cutoff fixtures.

Ruud Lighting met the challenging spec with the Aerodome area light. "Ruud Lighting's Customer Service and Application Engineering teams worked diligently to give me exactly what I wanted," Van Cuick says. "The AeroDome had the output I was looking for and met the customer's specifications. It was the most cost effective option I considered, too."

In late 2006, Town and Country retrofitted half of the mall's 20-year-old fixtures and poles. Van Cuick's crew installed Ruud Lighting's AeroDome with Type IV optic and 1000-watt MH lamp. The 186 new fixtures on 48 poles produce a 6 FC overall maintained average.

AeroDome Design Simplifies Installation
Town and Country's crew quickly became adept at installing the Aerodome fixture. Four 25-inch housings were mounted to each 50-foot pole: no small task. However, the Aerodome's removable 32-pound ballast module made the fixture considerably lighter and easy to mount.

"I really like the AeroDome's design with the remote ballast," explains Van Cuick.
"Being able to remove the ballast before attaching the fixture to the pole is the best feature, without a doubt."

The remote ballast has the added advantage of simplifying future maintenance. "From a maintenance standpoint, it's fast and easy with the remote ballast," explains Van Cuick. "It really makes the fixture look slick, too."

The smart wiring design also streamlined installation. "The quick-connects make attaching the wires quick and easy," Van Cuick continues.

Positive Feedback
General Growth Properties is pleased with the installation. "I received very positive feedback from the owners--they approved the second phase for us to retrofit the rest of the parking lot," concludes Van Cuick. "That's the best kind of feedback to get!" An additional 201 fixtures and 48 poles will be installed this spring.

If your customer's challenging specification has you scratching your head, contact us. Our Application Engineers and Customer Service experts will help you find the best lighting solution for your project.

If you have an interesting or unusual project where you've installed Ruud Lighting products to solve a problem, let us know at e-luminations@ruudlighting.com. We may feature it in an upcoming issue of E-luminations.