Parking Lot Light Bulb Replacement Tutorial
Parking lot light bulb change is ongoing greatly in the recent 5 years, from previous HPS, metal halide bulb to nowadays LED bulb. Needless to say, LED has changed the world of lighting because of its high energy efficient, long lifespan and free of hazardous mercury.
Today, we are going to list the LED parking lot light bulb types in market and try to explain their advantages and disadvantages.
1. LED Retrofit Kit
LED retrofit kit is used to replace traditional bulb in parking lot light fixture, especially to those property owner who like the old style of the fixture more than the LED fixture and want to keep it, or who prefer easy shift to LED or has the budget conversion to LED lighting. It has round/square/rectangular plate design in market with mounting hardwares(U bracket or E26/E39 mounting base) for smooth substitution.
Reliable components, Philips Lumileds SMD chips & MeanWell driver, Sunon fans and die casting aluminum heatsink, 120 degree beam angle, all downward lightbeam without loss of lumens, 130-140lm/w. Wattage from 30W to 400W available to replace 100W-1500W MH HPS, UL cUL DLC listed, 5 years warranty.
Cost is a little high, but it worths the price, specially for the electrical contractors or light installer who care about the quality for long-business partnership.
Need to bypass the original ballast, suitable to install in HID shoebox light fixture, some street light, flood light, wall pack fixtures and high bay fixture.
2. LED Paddle Bulb
LED paddle bulb is also called half corn bulb, only the flat side has LED chip, so the beam angle is 180 degree, it looks like the paddle for the boat, that is the name comes from.
The light bulb is designed for MH HPS downward light fixtures like shoebox light, flood light, street light or wall pack, as its biggest benefit is no light lumen loss, all lightbeam is direct to ground in these HID fixtures.
The paddle bulb needs to bypass the ballast, and with the E26 medium base and E39 mogul base, you can have an easy conversion changing from HID to LED technology.
Epistar SMD 2835 chips & internal driver, 100-277V, 347-480V version available, die casting aluminum housing, 180 degree beam angle, 150lm/w, 30W-100W has no fan, 120W-150W has fan inside. Wattage 30W-150W available to replace 100W-600W MH HPS, UL cUL DLC listed with 5 years warranty.
Price is affordable, and it is super fast to install it, it is worthwhile to try it for down lighting fixtures.
Most common problem: you need to make sure the fixture room is not too tight after installing this bulb, that will affect heat dessipation and could shorten its lifespan.
3. LED Corn Bulb
LED corn bulb is known as corn cob, its lower body is cylinder shape, and the curved surface and bottom face have LED chips there. Therefore, if you use corns, most probably, you might need a circular light distribution around, 360 degree beam angle.
The corn light usually comes with E26 and E39 base, which makes it easy to replace the old bulbs in low bay & high bay fixtures, post top light fixtures. However, we noticed that some customer would use it in shoebox light, wall pack or flood light as well, this is not recommended unless you keep the original reflector inside, so the light can be reflected to downward, otherwise, there are too much lumen loss and not energy efficient at all.
Epistar SMD 2835 chips & internal driver, 100-277V/347-480VAC, IP40 & IP64 rated, 360° beam angle with clear or frosted cover, 130-140lm/w, wattage from 27W-150W available to replace 75W-600W MH HPS or CFL, UL cUL DLC listed with 5 years warranty.
Cost is medium, and it is super bright. If you want to keep the fixture and just want to change the bulb to LED, cornlight might be a good choice.
Most common problem: the LED corn lamp size/length is important factor to consider before you buy it, some is small or short, while some is large or long. Therefore, take a measuring first and start to find a proper source.
4. LED Shoebox Light
LED shoebox light is an entire fixture replacement for the parking lot light, if your lighting fixture is too outdated, then you can consider this fast solution. Now the shoebox fixture LED is module-designed with slim and thin aluminum profile and fin cooling heatsink, it can be arm mounted on side of round pole or square pole, or top tenon slip fit mount on the round pole or wall mount in many commercial and industrial places.
Philips Lumileds SMD 3030 chips & Sosen/Inventronic/MeanWell driver, 100W-400W available to replace 250W-1500W MH HPS, 130-170lm/w, IP65 waterproof grade, black/dark bronze/white housing, type III/IV/V light distribution pattern, photocell dusk to dawn sensor and motion sensor optional, UL cUL DLC listed with 5 years warranty.
Price is reasonable, for the same wattage, we recommend to choose the higher lumen effacy, as it can be brighter and has higher efficiency, and can achieve better illumination effect.
Cons: the driver fail to work for most frequent warranty case, some power line voltage is unstable close to 277V, sometimes it reaches up to 280V, then if you use 100-277V driver, then the driver lifespan would be shortened or even burned. Therefore, we recommend to use a voltage stabilizer within the light’s working voltage range.
Other case is that the driver fails because of water leakage into the driver box. We know some customer install the light on the pole (light face down), some mounted on the ground(light face up). If the driver box screw is on the face side, you install it face up on the ground, as time goes by, the waterproof plastic is aging and the water would enter into the driver box and cause the driver dead.
5. LED Flood Light
LED flood light is the last parking lot light replacement, it is usually installed on the house arc, short pole or wall, usually applied in residential car lot.
Philips Lumileds SMD 3030 chips & UL driver, 120 degree beam angle, 70W-200W available, 175W-600W HID equivalent, bronze and black housing, trunnion mount / slip fitter mount, UL cUL DLC listed, 5 years warranty.
Pros: small size & lightweight, easy to install without other people help, cost is medium.
Cons: because the LED module is not large, the illumination coverage area is limited if mounted low height.
If you still have any question about parking lot light bulb replacement, please feel free to reach us [email protected] or call us +1 614-678-5596
