High Bay LED Lights

What are High Bay LED Lights?

High Bay LED Lights are a type of ceiling-mounted LED lighting fixture. These lights are commonly used in large indoor facilities, like warehouses, distribution centers, factories, gymnasiums, and manufacturing facilities.

They are called “high bays” because these fixtures are typically mounted at heights of 20 feet or more above the floor.

These lamps pack enough power to illuminate large areas while helping you stay in control of your electrical costs. The two most common types of LED High Bay Lights are:

UFO (Round) Fixture – a great replacement for a Metal Halide High Bay
Linear (Rectangle) Fixture – a replacement for fluorescent high bays

How to Choose the Best High Bay LED Lighting for your Application?

Here’s a general rule for replacing High Bay Light Metal Halide / HID fixtures:

400 Watts – choose LED High Bay Lights producing 15,000 to 30,000 lumens.
1000 Watts – choose LED High Bay Lights producing 40,000 to 60,000 lumens.

You can determine the specific output by understanding the following factors:

1. What is the current wattage?
2. How many High Bay LED Lights are there?
3. How high are the high bay lights mounted?
4. What is the space used for? (To help determine the amount of light required)

Choose a style:

1. UFO LED Lights – round LED High Bay Lights are perfect to replace Metal Halide / HID high bay light fixtures
2. LED Linear Panels – panel style LED High Bay Lights are a great replacement for fluorescent / T5 fixtures.

You should also consider:

Voltage: 100-277V or 277-480V.
Mounting: Eye Hook, Pendant Mount, Ceiling Mount, or Wire/Cable Suspension
Motion Sensor: Dim the lights when the room is empty.
Color Temperature: 4000K or 5000K
Beam Angle: 120 degrees standard, 90 or 60 degrees for higher ceilings

A few more things to consider before your LED High Bay Lighting purchase:

Look for good product reviews and make sure the company is reputable.
Find a vendor that understands your requirements. They can provide professional recommendations based on your needs.
You like how the high bay lights look.
The LED high bay light has a 5+ year warranty. And who do you call if you need warranty support? We handle all warranty claims for our products.

For new installations or if you need guidance, then we recommend making a lighting plan. A lighting plan will help choose the right option.

How efficient are LED High Bay Lights?

There are two answers to this question.

1. When compared to other light sources, like Metal Halide, Fluorescent, and High-Pressure Sodium Lighting, they are very efficient.
2. Among LED Lights themselves, it depends on the “Lumens Per Watt”. Efficiency in LED Lighting is based on how many lumens can be created using 1 watt of energy. Our most efficient High Bays are rated at 200 lumens/watt.

How much maintenance do LED High Bays require?

Theoretically none. They are not like HID light sources that need bulb and ballast replacements. However, if the LED Lights are installed in environments that are dusty and dirty, cleaning them off with compressed air will help the heat sinks work effectively.

Even with consistent use, our top-quality linear high bay lights and UFOs don’t require regular maintenance or replacement. This makes them the ideal choice because when you install high-bay LED lighting, you’ll have cost-effective solutions that will last for years to come.

What’s the best color temperature for LED high bay lights?

Based on selling high bays for the past 10+ years, the most popular color temperatures are 5000K and 4000K. Fortunately, we have high bays where you can change the color temperature in the field. These high bays allow you to decide which is the best color temperature for your location.

Do High Bay LED Lights require special maintenance?

Not at all – but there are a few exceptions. If your area is dusty and the dust can reach the lights, you should clean the exterior of the lights (frequency depends on the amount of dust). Coating the exterior will only make the heat sink less efficient and could lessen the lifespan of the fixture.

Can High Bay LED lights be used in all climates?

Yes. But let’s be practical. LED Lights are used indoors. So climate should not matter. LED Lights do work well in cold weather, and to an extent, in warm/hot weather (for extreme heat, we suggest looking at our high-temperature high bays).

Our UFO Lights are “waterproof” (IP rated). So, rain and water (or even snow) should not matter. IP-rated High Bays can be safely used outdoors, if that’s your application.

How Many LED High Bay Lights Do I Need?

Converting your lights from metal-halide or fluorescent? There is a high probability we can do a 1-for-1 replacement to a high bay LED light. For new lighting layouts, it’s important to go through the following steps:

1. How many foot candles do you want on the ground?
2. What is the physical space of the area?
3. Are there any obstructions?

From there, we can create a lighting plan that will model this area. This plan will tell you:

how many lights you need
where they’re located
the optimal distance between fixtures

The lighting plan will show you the average, min, and max foot-candle readings in the space. It will show you how balanced the light is (look for a low average/min ratio).

Here are some general guidelines that will help you do some quick calculations.  Please note, the higher the ceiling, the more powerful light you will need. For ceilings ranging from 15 to 40+ feet, use the following guide to choose the proper lumen output:

15-20 feet: 100-150 watts LED: 15,000 – 22,500 lumens
20-30 feet: 120-200 watts LED: 18,000 – 30,000 lumens
31-40 feet: 240-300 watts LED:  40,800 – 45,000 lumens
40+ feet: 400-600 watts LED: 72,000 – 96,000 lumens

Recommended fixture spacing for LED high bays is as follows. Please note, these are general guidelines. They do not take into account how bright you want the space to be. If you need brighter, you can add brighter lights or make the spacing between fixtures closer.

10 feet ceiling height: 10-12 feet apart
20 feet ceiling height: 20-22 feet apart
30 feet ceiling height: 30-33 feet apart
40 feet ceiling height: 40-44 feet apart

Typically speaking, when your ceilings are below 15 feet, consider using low bay lights. Low Bays are less powerful versions of high bay lights. For higher ceiling applications above 20 feet, High Bays are the best choice. Low Bay and High Bay Fixtures are essentially the same types of LED Bay Lights fixtures.

What is the lifespan of LED High Bay Lights?

There are two components of High Bays that have different lifespans. The first is the LEDs. Today, higher-quality High Bay LEDs can last 100,000+ hours. Typically, you do not replace LEDs if they fail.

The second is the LED Driver. Higher-quality LED Fixtures use better-quality LED Drivers. The drivers used in our fixtures are rated for 50,000 to 70,000 hours. At end of its life, you can replace an LED Driver and extend the life of the high bay fixture.

These numbers vary by quality. You can generally gauge the quality of components used by the cost of the product. Many ‘cheap(er)’ LED High Bays use lesser-quality chip sets and drivers.

What’s the recommended mounting height for High Bay LED Lights?

Any ceiling with a height of 20 feet or higher is perfect for these fixtures. One thing to consider – for high ceilings (> 30 feet), you might need a more powerful high bay or consider using a tighter beam angle (60 or 90 degrees) for optimum light distribution. Ensuring proper and balanced light distribution is key to a successful lighting installation.

You want to be careful with high-ceiling applications. If you use too wide of a beam angle, a lot of the light will be converted to lighting up the walls and not the floor and work area below, and this is not what you want the light distribution to be.

What Mounting options are available for LED High Bay Lights?

For UFO LED Lights, we offer hook mounts and pendant mounts utilizing a conduit pipe connected to a junction box.

For linear high bays, wire/cable mounts that attach to the corners of the unit are common mounts, as well as pendant mounts from the center of the fixture.

How Do You Mount an LED High Bay?

These lights come with the following common mounting options:

Eye Hook
Pendant Mount (3/4 inch)
Cable Mount (used on panel style fixture)
Surface mount – mounted to the wall or ceiling