Logo
Contractor Pricing Contractor Pricing
Lights In Stock 100,000+ lights in stock
Sales Reps Dedicated Sales Reps
LED Lighting Supply / Blog / Commercial Outdoor Lighting Design Guide

Commercial Outdoor Lighting Design Guide


Today we’re talking about commercial lighting, and just to make sure you’re in the right place, we’ll give you a quick definition.

Commercial lighting is a general term that refers to forms of lighting methods for many different types of commercial applications like: offices, retail stores, hospitals, schools, hotels, warehouses, storage facilities, and others.

Lighting found in public places like government buildings is also considered to be commercial lighting.  Certain aspects of industrial and manufacturing lighting are considered commercial lighting.

What Does LED Outdoor Commercial Lighting Do for You?

The most important goal and purpose of an effective commercial lighting system is to make the surrounding environment a place where people can work efficiently and patronize comfortably.

With a well-thought-out lighting plan and the right commercial lighting setup, your business will see many returns, both tangible and intangible.

Sbho 300 Led Parking

What You Should Expect from Commercial Lighting

  • Lighting that improves the efficiency and productivity of employees
  • Lighting that makes patrons and employees feel comfortable
  • Lighting that adequately illuminates your facility without wasting energy

Commercial Lighting Plans and Designs

Well-designed lighting enhances employee productivity, and satisfaction and creates a better, engaging atmosphere for employees, clients, and customers.

But this can only be done with a well-designed lighting plan. If poorly implemented, you’ll have bright and dark spots that are over-lit and other spaces that are under-lit.

Lighting designs in commercial buildings, indoors and outdoors, should adequately light an area with no dark spots, efficiently and effectively.

But, many, many different factors can affect this. From mounting height to foot candles, lighting designers are overwhelmed with environmental factors to consider.

And if you’re a novice, just trying to decide what lights are best for your facility, it can be even more overwhelming.

A lighting plan takes the risk out of converting commercial spaces to LED. We offer a free lighting plan so you can rest assured that your commercial LED lights are the right ones for the job.

And, in addition to helping you choose the right fixtures, a lighting plan will also help plan for lumens levels, light distribution, and creating the best lighting for a commercial space.

Fundamentals of Commercial Lighting

Getting the right lighting layout is essential for maximizing LED lighting’s potential. In commercial applications, lighting, and over lighting have equally detrimental effects on both employee productivity and patron participation.

So, even with a free lighting plan available to guide you, it’s always a good idea to have general knowledge about your LED lights.

Here are some terms and industry methods to familiarize yourself with so that you can make a knowledgeable decision.

Foot Candle (FC)

The brightness of lights is measured in Foot Candles.

1 Foot Candle or FC denotes the total amount of light shining over 1 square foot area from a height of 1 foot using 1 lumen of light.

The LPD (Lighting Power Density)

Lighting Power Density represents the amount of lighting used per unit of building area.

It is measured in watts per square foot, and it acts as a general guide for energy consumption.

Led Wall Packs On Storage Units

 Light Temperature for Commercial Applications

LED lights are available in many different color temperatures. And, although color temperature may be the last thing on your mind when purchasing lights for your commercial facility, it’s actually quite important.

Color temperature is measured in kelvins (K), with lower numbers being warmer, yellow-tone lights, and higher numbers designating cool-toned, white lights.

  • 2700K-3000K is a warm white light that provides a warm atmosphere and is most often seen in hotels and restaurants.
  • 3500K falls in the middle as a neutral white light. It helps employees stay alert without being assertive, so you’ll most often see this temperature in places like offices.
  • 4000K is a cool, white light. It is best used in garages, and grocery stores because it helps you focus on a subject and provides accurate color rendering.
  • 5000K is a bright white light that you’ll find in places like factories, warehouses, floods, and sports field lighting, like baseball and tennis courts. You can also read some more in-depth information about color temperature here

Commercial Light Pole Spacing

One of the most important aspects of any lighting layout is spacing. A good practice for commercial lighting is spacing between street light poles should be 2.5 to 3 times the distance of the pole’s height.

Accurate spacing helps prevent overlap and unlit spots, so it’s important to plan accurately. Different controls, like timers, photocells, and motion sensors, can also affect the spacing of light poles, so be sure to include them in your predictions.

The best way to ensure that you have appropriately spaced lights, throughout your facility, not just outdoors, is to use a lighting plan.

We offer free lighting plans that take everything into account to ensure that your facility is lighted properly and efficiently.

But That’s Not All – Commercial Outdoor Lighting Mount Options

Slip Fitter Mount

These are the most popular mounts used for the lights installed in outdoor areas including floodway lights, street lights, open area lights, parking lot lights, etc.

These mounts allow easy adjustments related to the beam angles and greater versatility of the lights.

The slip fitter mounts fit on the poles like a cover and are then affixed with the help of bolts. This is done to make the mounts rotatable.

The best thing about slip fit mounts is their wiring doesn’t need to be run from the outside but easily through the mount only. Thus, the wiring remains safe from all kinds of external damage, making them ideal for outdoor use too.

Pole Mount or Direct Arm Mount

Another very popular mounting option is the direct arm. These mounts are meant to be affixed directly over metallic surfaces like steel light poles.

Usually, there are two bolts used for securing direct arm mounts that hold the pole and mount together and are fixed each at the top and base.

Just like the slip fitter mounts, direct arm mounts also come with an internal wiring option that makes them additionally protected and weatherproof.

U Bracket or Flood Mount

These mounts give the advantage of having the bracket pivot around the light. The bracket of these mounts is U-shaped which helps them to attach to the poles on opposite sides and move expansively.

These mounts also have several mounting holes that make them more flexible.

You can use these mounts to fix lights on roofs, walls, and ceilings. However, when it comes to wiring, the flood mounts work differently from their counterparts by allowing the electrical wiring to be done only on the outer surface.

While it may limit the mount’s suitability for certain fixtures, you may still find then useful for areas where wiring must remain outside.

Trunnion or Yoke Mount

These are comparatively smaller mounts and are meant to be affixed over only one side of the light system. These mounts include pivot points too which makes them flexible.

Yoke mounts are not the right option for horizontal lighting, more so in the case of heavy lights. These mounts too only allow the wiring to be done from outside.

Conduit Threaded or Knuckle Mount

Another of the many common mounting types is the conduit threaded or knuckle mount. These mounts can be affixed directly into the conduit pole with the wiring to remain on the outside only.

Knuckle mounts are popular because they can be screwed easily into any junction box.

However, one downside of these mounts is that they can only be used for small lights and not bigger lights as they can’t take the weight.

Style Option for Mounting Wall Lights

The one thing that you will find in common in most of the various wall light mounting options is their design to make them mountable on junction boxes directly.

These mounts are made for external installations to allow the wall lights to be affixed to them directly. Similarly, the junction boxes are mounted over walls as well as concrete surfaces directly to flush the light with the wall easily.

The quotient of versatility is higher with wall lights as they can be affixed on any surface easily.

The outdoor wall lights are usually protected from external damage by coating them with sealants like silicone caulks, etc.

Other than the fact these mounts can be easily used, their final application depends on other factors including lumen levels and mounting height.

Other Factors to Look For When Picking a Mounting Method

You have to look for so many other things and not the type merely when choosing a mounting method.

More so, a lighting plan can be the one-stop solution here for everything. We provide free-of-cost lighting plans to help you have effective lighting layout planning and here are some guidelines to consider.

The first thing to have in hand is a light distribution plan.

This is very important as you will know the right places where the light must shine and then choose the mount as every mount has different builds and flexibilities for light beam targeting.

You need to know if you want direct or dispersed lighting and then choose between the mounts with narrow or wide beam angles respectively.

Along with some additional technical aspects, aesthetics is another important thing that you may want to look out for in your mounts.

The flush-mounted fixtures carry a very modern look while the hanging mounts give a more industrial look.

Finishing is another thing that affects the mount’s appearance and you can choose from metal plating, power-coating, paint coat, etc.

At the same time, the mounts are made of various materials but one common metal used is aluminum. This material is highly preferable because it is durable and lightweight at the same time but can’t carry style much.

Thus, if you want to have mounts that look stylish too, then you can upgrade a bit with steel or brass mounts.