LED High Bay Lights

High bay light fixtures are used to illuminate large indoor spaces with high ceilings. They’re designed to produce a bright, high quality light from high ceilings ranging from 20 feet to 60 feet. High bay lights are typically hung from the ceiling with hooks or chains but can also be mounted with pendants or directly to the ceiling.

Why do businesses prefer high bay lights?

They deliver a powerful, high quality light source that rivals or exceeds traditional light sources such as Metal Halide or Fluorescent Lighting.
They are proven to lower maintenance costs and reduce lighting bills by 50% to 80% over traditional light sources (You can expect LED high bays to run for more than 10 years without requiring any maintenance).
They work well with lighting controls, such as motion sensors, to further reduce your lighting costs.

Still not convinced which high bay lights are right for you? Scroll down below for tips from our experts.

GET YOUR FREE LIGHTING PLAN

An expert-guide to buying and installing high bay lights

1. Prepare a Layout of the area (this is probably the most important step)

The first thing before buying LED high bays is to create a lighting plan. This is because different spaces need different types of lights. For instance, a storage room may only need a light with 30 foot candles. A large warehouse might need 50 foot candles. Assembly areas need more, 70+ foot candles.

Different spaces require different types of lights. A lighting plan dictates all your lighting decisions to ensure you only purchase the lights you need, such as the type of high bay and how many you will need.

Get your free lighting plan

Founded in 2008, LED Lighting Supply has been providing high bay lighting solutions to facilities across the country for more than a decade.

Whether you need a free lighting plan or have questions about LEDs, our expert lighting team will help you make the right choice – whether that’s for a school gym or a 1,000,000 square foot facility.

Contact us for a free lighting plan or to discuss your LED lighting goals.

Request a free lighting plan today

2. How much lumens do you need?

This is arguably the hardest part of the your buying decision. If we look at LED High Bays in terms of replacing Metal Halide High Bays, then here are some simple guide lines to consider.

We must caution you, these are just guidelines and by no means dictate that a high bay will perform well in your space. Only a lighting plan produced before you purchase will provide you with assurance that the light chosen will give you the right results.

Mounting Heights:

At 10-15 feet height, replacing 250 Watt Metal Halide, new fixture should produce 10,000-15,000 lumens

At 15-30 feet height, replacing 400 Watt Metal Halide, new fixture should produce 16,000-25,000 lumens

At 30+ feet height, replacing 1000 Watt Metal Halide, new fixture should produce 36,000-55,000 lumens or more

3. What are the different types of high bay lights?

The two major types of high bays are linear high bays (panel style lights that replace fluorescent fixtures) and UFOs (round, robust, compact lights).

UFO LED High Bays are round, robust, impact resistant fixtures that are typically water proof. These lights are the perfect replacement for Metal Halide fixtures. Models available range from 100 Watts to 600 Watts + to easily replace anything from 400 Watts to 1500 Watts Metal Halide.

Linear LED High Bays are panel style fixtures that are rectangular in shape and provide a wide lighting distribution. These lights are the perfect replacement for T5 and T8 fluorescent fixtures. Linear LED High Bay lights are available from 100 Watts to 500 Watts to easily replace existing fluorescent fixture with energy saving high quality lighting.

4. What about low bay lights?

You might have heard about low bay lighting, but they’re not the same. The two main differences between high bays and low bays are installation height and power of the fixture.

High bays are typically installed in ceilings 20 feet high and higher, while low bay lights are installed in ceilings below 20 feet. As for power, low bay lights are lower power versions of high bay lights. That’s because the lower the ceiling, the less power you need to provide light to the area.

5. Do you need high voltage?

The typical voltage range in most commercial and industrial indoor spaces ranges between 100 and 480 volts. LED High Bays can accommodate these areas and offer several drivers. These drivers switch to the incoming voltage automatically, so there is no need to adjust the high bays during installation. The common LED Driver voltage ranges are:

100V-277V

277V-480V

347V-480V (Canada)

6. How many high bay lights should I buy?

The answer is – it depends.

First, you need a lighting plan.

A lighting plan determines the type of fixture, the number of fixtures, and the spacing between fixtures to achieve the light levels and balanced light distribution you need in your indoor space. It will show you the locations of the lights and select the best beam angle to use.

(If you don’t have a lighting plan, make sure you request a free plan here to reduce any form of risk)

7. Choose the right color temperature

This can be a difficult decision. Color temperature is measured by the Kelvins scale where a high number represents yellow-warm light and a low number represents blue-cool light.

4000K is a good option for creating a warm ambiance. A great choice for commercial spaces.

5000K is the best replacement for metal halide. A great choice for industrial spaces.

8. Installing high bays

High bay lights are designed to cover large areas, so we never recommend high bays for smaller, enclosed spaces. Instead, we recommend you use high bay lights for large indoor commercial and industrial spaces with high ceiling.

Warehouses
Factories
Gymnasiums
Recreation Centers
Industrial Facilities
Manufacturing Facilities
Large Retail Box Stores

9. How to mount LED high bay lights

We are happy to help you install the high bay lights for you, but if you prefer to install them yourself, here’s here are the three most common mounting types to use:

Eye Hook Ring. These mount onto a j-hook installed in the ceiling or on a pendant.
Pendant Mount. Using threaded conduit, this allows high bays to be installed into a conduit junction box.
Chain/Wire Mount: A cable is attached to the ceiling and attached to the high bay. This is a very typical mount for linear high bay fixtures.

Now, there are two types of installation – retrofitting older fixtures such as Metal Halide or Fluorescent fixture – or – new installation in a brand-new space.

High bays are typically mounted at high heights, so having a safe platform to work from is paramount.

If your lights are equipped with motion sensors, its always best to test them on the ground to make sure you understand the wiring, toggles and remote controls.

If you are in an industrial space with large machines and high voltage power supplies that can cause power surges, consider adding a large surge protector to the panels supplying power to the lights.

10. Do you need light controls?

Light controls facilitate the automation of light capacity and power on/off handling. While choosing from the various dimming controls available for LED high bays, motion sensors are the best option for indoor bay lights.

A 1-10V dimmable driver must be installed in your LED high bay if you are looking to dim the fixture when using a motion sensor. These drivers allow motion sensors to automate low light levels. Without them, you can only control on/off.