LED Guide to Replacing Metal Halide

Why should you upgrade your Metal Halide fixtures? There are many reasons why LED is better.

Not only were LEDs designed to be more durable and energy-efficient, but they can also reduce your maintenance costs. Most people are familiar with the need to replace their existing fixtures with new ones. But there’s also an LED retrofit option that allows you to convert your existing fixtures. This option allows you to switch to LED and keep your old fixtures at the same time.

You can read about all the benefits of LED lighting here.

The Biggest Benefits LEDs Have Over Metal Halide Bulbs

1. Energy Savings

The general theme of LEDs is that they do more with less.

They consume fewer watts and produce better, brighter light, and can produce comparable light output.

And, in addition to this, LEDs are much more durable, energy-efficient, and have a longer lifespan than other bulbs like metal halides.

LED technology saves you a significant amount of money on both energy savings and maintenance costs.

2. Reduced Maintenance Costs

LED lights last a very long time with no bulbs or ballasts to replace.

It’s not unreasonable for an LED fixture to last 10+ years. In that same time frame, you could be replacing bulbs and ballasts on a metal halide fixture multiple times.

Further, a metal halide bulb at 1/2 life has lost 1/2 of its initial lumens.

3. Light Quality (CRI)

CRI, or Color Rendering Index, is a measurement of the quality of light.

LEDs have a higher CRI than most other light sources. And they offer a higher CRI range, from 70-95+. So, if you need high-quality lighting, LEDs are the way to go.

And, in factories, where they perform precise tasks, having high CRI is imperative.

4. Safety

Lighting safety means much more than ensuring that all areas are well-lit to avoid accidents.

When we discuss LEDs and safety, we’re referring to the fixture’s ability to keep an environment safe.

LED lights do not contain harmful chemicals or vapors such as mercury. They are much more resistant to breaking than other bulbs.

5. Instant On

LED Lights come to full light output instantly.

Metal Halides have a very long strike time. That means when you turn them on, it takes about 20 minutes for them to come to full brightness.

If they are turned off accidentally, you have to wait for them to cool before you can start the long warm-up period again.

6. LEDs Work Well with Controls

LEDs work well with controls like motion sensors and photocells. Because they can be dimmed and turned on and off instantly, this makes them ideal for motion sensors.

At dusk, they can turn the light on instantly when it gets dark with no long prolonged warm-up period.

What are Retrofit Kits for a Metal Halide Lamp?

Now that we’ve covered the “why” we can move on to the “how”. Metal Halide fixtures are a common type of light found in commercial and industrial locations.

They’re used for parking lot lights, flood lights, wall packs, high masts, and street lights.

Today they’re thought of as inefficient and ineffective.

Because of this, many people are upgrading to LED lighting. And that’s where retrofit kits come in.

A retrofit kit is a set of LED components. They allow you to replace the metal halide components with LED components and still use the existing fixture.

They help cut the initial costs of converting to LED lighting and offer a more accessible way for facilities to modernize.

Can’t You Retrofit a Fixture with an LED Fixture?

Yes, this is the more typical way of replacing metal halide fixtures. LED fixtures is a replacement of the entire metal halide fixture (including bulb and ballast). The method described above is the process of replacing just the bulb and ballast inside the existing fixture with LED components.

Why are Metal Halide Lights Sometimes Referred to as HID Lights?

HID, or High-Intensity Discharge, is a family of lights. They include metal halide, high-pressure sodium, and mercury vapor bulbs.

These types of lights are a bulb and ballast combination. They produce bright lighting. Which is why they are popular for commercial lighting and industrial lighting applications.

So, although all metal halide lights are HIDs, not all HIDs are metal halides.

5 Tips for Replacing Metal Halide Fixtures with LED

1. LED Fixtures Can Replace Metal Halide, 1 for 1

LEDs have evolved immensely over the past 10 years, with high-power units producing large quantities of directed lumens. We have never had a project where we had to use 2 LED fixtures to replace 1 Metal Halide fixture. It is at worst a one-for-one replacement, and many times, we can reduce the number of fixtures.

2. Never Replace 400 Watts Metal Halide with 400 Watts LED

The best advice we can give is never to purchase an LED fixture or retrofit kit based on watts. Determine the lumens you need, and purchase fixtures by lumens produced, not watts consumed.

“Never buy a retrofit bulb, lamp, or solution based on watts. Determine the lumens you need and get the most efficient retrofit that uses the least amount of energy.”

It is very common to replace 400 Watts Metal Halide with 100-150 Watts LED and to replace 1000 Watts Metal Halide with 300-400 Watts LED.

3. Most LEDs Fixtures Work with Voltages Between 100 and 277 Volts

High Voltage 277-480 Volts are optionally available on most fixtures and retrofit kits.

Do you have high-voltage requirements? For the most part, many LED options are available with high-voltage LED Drivers. The standard voltage option is 100V to 277V. Higher voltage drivers can handle 277V to 480V or 347V to 480V.

LED lights should be able to handle single or 3-phase power. Talk to our sales engineers and we can get your lighting situation taken care of.

4. LED’s Work with Motion Sensors and Photocells

Dimmers

• Although they work with dimmers, an LED kit will need a special 0-10V dimmable LED driver.
• They have two extra wires found on the driver, one grey and one purple.
• They can be attached to 0-10V dimmer switches. Or controls that allow dimming, like motion sensors.

Motion Sensors & Photocells

• Unlike metal halide lights, which take a while to warm up to reach their full brightness, LED lights turn on and off without this restriction.
• Because of this, they are an excellent lighting choice to use in conjunction with lighting controls.
• This offers another way for you to save money while upgrading your lighting through mitigated energy costs.

5. What is LED Efficiency (Lumens per Watt)?

Understanding lumens per watt will help you save a lot of money by reducing your utility bill.

Why Does it Matter?

Let’s make a comparison between two LED Options.

The first fixture uses 150 Watts to produce 15000 lumens. That works out to 100 lumens/watt.

The other fixture uses 100 Watts to also produce 15000 lumens. That works out to 150 lumens/watt.

They both produce 15000 lumens, but one does it while consuming 50 fewer watts. That translates into real-world savings.