Buyers Guide to Low Bays

What are Low Bays?

Low Bay fixtures are designed as a source of light for indoor spaces. These lights are commonly found installed on ceilings that range in height from 10 to 20 feet high. They are very similar to another common type of indoor fixture, high bays. The main differences between these two styles of lights are power and lumen output. High Bays are more powerful versions of Low Bays that are mounted at heights 20 feet or higher.

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1. Calculating the Number of Lights You Need

This is probably the hardest decision to make. Yet there’s a simple solution. Knowing the best light and the quantity is the key to a successful lighting installation.

The “easy button” is to create a lighting plan. A lighting plan is a tool that will take your lighting requirements and convert them into a real lighting solution. It will select the right fixture and calculate how many you need. The plan will not only show you how bright the space is, but how bright it is in the corners and in between lights.

Creating a lighting plan is perhaps the most important thing you can do. It will dictate the rest of your lighting decisions and ensure that you get the lights you need and nothing else.

This takes the risk out of your LED purchase.

We have done thousands of FREE lighting plans. We have a large selection of lights to choose from to meet almost any requirement or budget.  We have a warehouse full of LED lights ready to ship.  So, the progression from your lighting plan to purchase can be quick and easy.

2. How Much Light Do You Need?

This is arguably the hardest part of the decision. Starting with an understanding of the light levels you need will greatly improve your chance of success.

Never start this process by thinking you should choose a fixture based on watts. 

Creating a lighting plan for your space will almost always result in finding the ideal low bay fixture. Your days of guessing are done.  The right low bay will provide optimal and balanced lighting throughout the space.

Here are some guidelines to start with. Based on your mounting height, use this simple guide to understand how many lumens each fixture should produce:

• 10-15 feet mounting height:  7,500-12,000 lumens
• 15-20 feet mounting height: 12,000-20,000 lumens

What about spacing? As a rule of thumb, if your mounting height is 10 ft high, then the fixtures should be 10 feet apart. 1 foot of spacing for every 1 foot of height above the floor.

How Many Foot Candles Do You Need?

For the most part, this range is between 30 and 70 fc. If your space is used for storage, or as an occasional workshop, then 30 fc is fine. If you work in the space all the time, then you will probably be happier with 50 fc. If you’re using the space to paint or do fine detail work, then 70 fc is a good target.

3. What are the Different Types of Low Bays?

There are many low bay options but they are categorized into three main types. You may find that these fixtures appear very similar to high bays. However, the major differentiating aspect lies in the ability of low bay support flush mounting.

UFO Low Bays

These lights have the closest resemblance to the High Bay lights, but differ in terms of lumen levels.

UFO low bays are strong, solid, and circular lights that keep target areas bright in any circumstance.

These lights are meant for suspension from the ceilings, thus, fit them in areas that have up to 15-20 feet high ceilings.

Linear Low Bays

These light fixtures appear slimmer and resemble fixtures that have fluorescent tubes.

The light they produce is sufficiently bright and perfect for the large but lower-height areas that need constant illumination.

These fixtures are the most popular low bay light variety. They allow for easy conversion of fluorescent lights into LEDs.

Surface Mount Low Bays

The appearance of these lights can be easily confused with the UFO style lights. The major thing that differentiates the two lights is their method of installation.

Surface mount low bays aren’t very slim in particular but they appear comparatively sleeker due to their flush mount.

These lights are good for low ceiling heights.

4. Understanding the Efficiency of LED Lights

LED fixtures generate light in the efficacy range of 100-200 lumens/watt. LEDs with higher efficiency generate higher lumens by consuming fewer watts than less efficient fixtures.

A highly efficient 100-Watt low bay may produce more lumens than an in-efficient 150-Watt fixture. This is one of the main reasons why buying based on watts alone is a bad idea. You must also pay attention to how many lumens the light produces.

Generally speaking, less efficient lights are ‘cheaper’ to buy, but more efficient lights have a much higher payback.

5. Do You Need Wet-location fixtures?

The ability of light fixtures to resist water and dust is denoted in terms of IP ratings. The two digits of an IP score represent dust and water protection abilities respectively. You have good water-resistant lights if they have a water protection score of at least 5.

The IP ratings you should look for are between IP65 and IP69K. The higher the rating, the better the fixture will do when exposed to water.

6. Do You Know Your Voltage?

Most Commercial and Industrial LED Fixtures are available with an automatic voltage switching driver that can adjust to any voltage between 100-277V. Optionally, some fixtures are available with high-voltage drivers of 277-480V or 347-480V.

The higher the voltage service, the more lights you can add to a circuit.

7. Choose the Right Color Temperature

The temperature of any light source is measured by color temperature or correlated color temperature (CCT). The unit of measurement for this scale is Kelvin. Lower color temperatures denote warmer lights of the yellow, orange, and red spectrum. Higher color temperatures denote cooler lights of the white and blue spectrum.

By far, the two most popular color temperatures we offer in our line of low bays are:

• 4000K
• 5000K

Some of our low bay canopy style fixtures have onboard toggle switches that allow you to select the color temperature you like.

8. Understanding the Color Rendering Index

The quality of a light source is denoted by Color Rendering Index or CRI. This is a way to know the color rendering abilities of light sources as compared to natural light (the sun). It also tells you how accurately these fixtures render the color of objects.

The best way to understand this is to think of yellow street lights. Those are High Pressure Sodium lights with a poor CRI of about 22. Everything illuminated by that light source appears yellow and brown.

You should look for a light source of at least 70 CRI. If you’re doing fine detail work such as painting or finishing, consider a CRI of 80 or 90.

9. Motion Sensors

Different light control systems like motion sensors are used to automate light control to save energy and cut costs by dimming or turning off lights when they’re not needed.

Motion sensors dim or turn off fixtures when the area is void of people or motion. And they immediately brighten the area when motion is detected. To work effectively, the fixture needs to have a 0-10V or 1-10V LED Driver, so the motion sensor can dim the fixture.