Electrical Industry Article

I was talking to my brother, Mark, on the phone last night. We’d been trying to connect all week and finally got the chance. I’m in Arkansas and he’s in Arizona, so the time difference can be a pain.

We just missed each other the day before because he was over with the neighbors across the street.

He told me they were sitting outside on the neighbors’ porch, getting to know some new folks who’d just moved in. They were talking about outdoor lighting (they sit outside a lot in Arizona… year round… I’m jealous), and his neighbor across the way was thinking about adding some new lighting to the porch.

Another neighbor—who fancied himself an electrician—was expounding on what he could do for them. He could help them turn their porch into a real party place.

“But,” he cautioned them, “you don’t want to put in LED luminaires or LED string lights. They won’t be bright enough.” He touted the light output of incandescents and how little they’d cost to use.

My brother just grinned, and pointed to his well-lighted porch across the street. Pulling out his phone, he clicked a button and turned out the porch lights. The whole street corner turned dark (their street lamps were out). Clicking another button on the lighting app, he turned everything back on, and then dimmed them a bit.

The electrician wannabe’s jaw dropped when Mark told him that everything over there was LEDs.

“By the way,” Mark chuckled. “Everything lit over there uses less power than three of those incandescents you’re bragging about. Just sayin’…”

We both laughed as he told me this story last night. Both of us are kind of LED nerds. I’ve been one for a long time and pretty much my entire home is lit by LEDs, and most are smart bulbs and LED fixtures.

Even outside, up on the side of the house.

I haven’t had to climb a ladder to change out a bulb in I don’t know how long.

By the way, when you’re talking to your clients, that’s a good point to bring up. LED bulbs and luminaires are real time-savers when it comes to lighting maintenance. And as you know all too well, saving time saves money. LEDs have a much longer life expectancy than most other lamps.

While the energy savings may appeal to your residential customers, they might not get quite as excited about the reduction in maintenance.

After all, how hard is it to screw in a light bulb?

But your commercial and industrial customers will love the ROI that installing LED luminaires can bring them. Of course, they’ll love the lower energy costs. And more precise control over the lighting will be appealing to them as well.

But when talking to them about upgrading or retrofitting their fixtures, don’t forget to tout the huge reduction in maintenance. In some industries, maintaining the correct light levels can be critical. For example, in the food and beverage industry, a required lumen output is regulated by governmental codes and standards.

LEDs not only last longer, but have a higher and longer lumen maintenance factor (light level over time).
Something else to think about concerning luminaire and lamp life expectancy is the safety factor.
 Fixtures in high or elevated locations can be a hassle to get to, and sometimes it’s downright dangerous.

Often these fixtures require extension ladders or manlifts to get to the lamps. Not only can that be risky, but often repair or replacement has to wait until enough of them are out to make it worthwhile. That means dark spots.

And dark spots are potential hazards.

Here’s something else I realized recently. Some fixtures and luminaires are almost impossible to get to without a lot of work. I was sitting in an auditorium, listening to a boring lecture. I leaned back and almost fell asleep.

As my head rocked backward, I glanced at the ceiling before jerking back to attention.

“Hmm,” I wondered. “How do they get to those distant ceiling fixtures with all these bolted down seats in the way?”

While auditoriums and lecture halls (and movie theaters) are difficult to maintain, lighting-wise, there are other public venues as well that are hard to handle.

Church auditoriums, filled with pews, and high-ceiling lobbies in hotels are other opportunities ripe for LED luminaire upgrades or retrofits.

When talking to customers about switching to LEDs, be sure to cover all the bases in energy efficiency, lighting control, and maintenance reduction.