Outdoor LED Lighting Guide: Security Edition

Choosing the best outdoor security lighting is no small task. After all, high quality lighting can make a huge impact on the way people perceive a location.

And guess what?

If a person doesn’t feel safe in a parking lot or on a walkway, chances are they’ll go out of their way to avoid it. Which means less business for your customer.

If security guards at industrial buildings or warehouses, for example, can’t see proper identification under sub-par lighting, that’s a problem.

You definitely don’t want a poor lighting choice to reflect on you.You want to choose the absolute best products that won’t have customers calling you months, or even weeks, later, saying the wall pack you installed failed, or that the new flood lights just aren’t bright enough.

How, you ask?
With this guide.

First, install outdoor LED lighting instead of traditional technologies like High Pressure Sodium or Metal Halide.

Here’s why:

• Whereas, traditional lighting need to be replaced every 2-3 years, LED lighting lasts for 20. Yes, 20. And that’s maintenance-free, by the way. Which means you’re not taking time out of your day to relamp a fixture, rent a scissor lift in some cases, and potentially shut off operations to replace it.

• LED lights reduce energy costs by up to 90%. Think about it: with those kinds of energy savings, LED lighting can pay for itself in as a little as a year. And after that, your customers can move that cash to more important things.

• LED lights produce a brilliant white light that’s less yellow than their traditional counterparts. Set in brighter light, buildings and objects appear how they would in daylight, making the area feel safer and more secure.

Outdoor Light Fixtures To Secure A Warehouse

Facilities managers care about three things: maintenance costs, productivity, and downtime. Warehouses operate on a 24/7 basis, which means there’s no time to stop to replace faulty lighting.

Here's the kicker:

Not only that, he or she won’t have to use precious space to stock lighting replacement inventory.

Have a warehouse lighting job coming up? Here’s how to turn your warehouse into a crime-proof machine…building:

LED WALL PACKS

• Want to make a warehouse perimeter feel safe and sound? Not only do LED wall packs use 50% less energy than incandescent lighting, but they shine light only where you need it, which eliminates wasteful spending.


• Shine these on loading bays and docks to increase visibility and keep operations running smoothly.

LED AREA LIGHTS

• LED area lights shine brightly and evenly across warehouse parking lots, which makes anyone working under them feel safer.


• They eliminate dark spots, which can hinder productivity and potentially become a safety concern when loading and unloading.


• Stronger light also helps security staff oversee incoming traffic, plus gives them plenty of visibility to read license plates or other forms of identification.

LED DUSK TO DAWN LIGHTS

• With their wide beam angles, LED Dusk to Dawn lights are perfect for lighting up the exterior of a warehouse .


• They’re motion-activated, only turning on when needed, which means super savings for your customer.


• Using dusk to dawn lights are also a great way to ensure workplace safety, especially around crosswalks or building access points. Since they light only when needed, an activated dusk to dawn light in the middle of the night is the perfect way to alert security to any unwanted or suspicious activity.

Top Commercial Outdoor Security Lighting

Employees are bound to work late. But just because the sky turns dark doesn’t mean the perimeter has to. Keep a commercial building feeling safe and secure by installing outdoor light fixtures, like the ones below:

LED BOLLARDS

• Give those hard-working late-night employees one less thing to stress about. Use LED bollards to light up corporate walkways at night and enhance a feeling of security.

Need more of a visual? Check out LED bollards in action in this video, featuring Product Manager Jason Strommen:

LED AREA LIGHTS

• Area lights are perfect for illuminating office building entry points, pathways, stairways, or parking lots.


• With their crisp and even light, they help remove shadows in recessed areas, which decreases the risk of tripping or other accidents.


• Since windows are a primary entry point for burglars, use area lighting to keep them bright and crime-free.

Go-to Outdoor LED Lighting For Parking Garages

If your client is using traditional high-intensity discharge lamps (HID) and high pressure sodium (HPS) luminaires to light their parking garage, it might be is a problem. One that takes the form of a dark cavern, with uneven lighting and shadows in corners and between cars. Which means more stress for anyone walking to and from their car.

Not to mention, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1 in 10 property crimes occur in parking lots or garages.

Make sure you pick the following LED outside lights to remove dark spots and brighten a parking garage up like the sun. Or something close to it.

LED PARKING GARAGE LIGHTS

• These deliver bright and even light throughout parking garages.


• Not only do parking garage fixtures create a higher sense of security, but they also help prevent accidental collisions due to poor lighting.


• Certain parking garage lights come equipped with an energy-saving occupancy sensor. Using a photocell, it senses motion, only turning on when needed and saving your client money.


• Quality tested LED parking garage lights last over 100,000 hours, which means after you install it, you can forget it. For 100,000 hours, at least.


• Find one that’s backed by at least a 5-year warranty.

Need to see to believe? Us too. Check out Product Manager Jason Strommen’s take on LED parking garage and canopy lights:

LED CANOPY LIGHTS

• What’s the difference between canopy lights and garage lights? Canopy lights typically need more lumens, depending on how high up they are. In a parking garage, the 5000-7000 lumens range is perfect.


• Canopy lights also have a higher beam spread that covers more ground, which means their lower glare levels don’t blind drivers.


• Think about it: a well-lit parking garage could be someone’s first impression of a business.


• A dark and gloomy atmosphere sends out danger signs, which can cause a potential customer to head elsewhere.


• Traditional HID lights run yellow, which casts odd shadows and gives off a murky effect, making it difficult to see signs and other forms of guidance.

Best Exterior Lighting To Secure Educational Institutions

C’mon. Moms already have enough to worry about, like sending their kids off the college. Campus lighting not working properly – or not working, period – should be last on the list. Not to mention, colleges aren’t always located within the safest areas, so opportunities for theft, vandalism, or worse, can be a real concern. If you don’t install great outdoor lighting, that is.

Here’s a few to get you started:

LED BOLLARDS

• You know how college kids are: late-night study sessions, intramural sports, a quick bite of pizza from the restaurant across the street. As they’re on their way back to their dorms, they’re an easy target for people with bad intentions. This is a great reason to install LED bollards along campus walkways.


• They’re bright enough to scare anyway any criminals or thieves; not to mention, they’re also vandal-proof, so you’ll get double the security.

Architectural Full-Cutoff Wall Pack | E-WFG Series

With an estimated 100,000 hours of zero-maintenance operation, the E-WFG Series Wall Packs combine a popular modern style with max energy savings. They’re available in 4 lumen outputs (from 1,350 to 8,900) and 3 different color temperatures (3000K, 4000K, and 5000K), which makes them suitable for many applications. Tack on a UL certification, plus a 5-year warranty, and pedestrians will never have to fear for their safety again. Not under these, at least.

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Article Written by Eddie A.

Eddie is a Product Marketing Manager. His goal is to get reliable and safe products into the hands of customers—all at an affordable price. His client-focused initiatives bring high-quality products to market that exceed consumer expectations while fulfilling the purpose they were designed to achieve.