LED high mast lights are a popular choice for airports, railway yards, parking lots, and other outdoor areas because they provide bright, long-lasting illumination with minimal maintenance.
They’re solid state lights, which means they don’t use loose filaments or harmful gases to produce light. They’re also extremely durable and can stand up to rough handling, vibration, and other elements.
Brightness
High mast lighting is a type of outdoor lighting that’s used to illuminate large areas, such as airports, highways, terminals, stadiums, parking lots, seaports, and shipping yards. LED is a common light source for these applications, because it offers energy efficiency, flexibility, and durability.
The brightness of a high mast light depends on several factors, including lux level, lighting uniformity, and color temperature. The best way to choose the right light is to determine your lighting requirements first.
Another important factor to consider is the weather conditions in which your lighting will be used. If the lights are going to be exposed to high winds, they will need to be designed for stability and resistance.
Unlike other types of lighting, metal halide and high pressure sodium (HID) lights take a long time to reach full output. This can be a problem when you have a power outage, and you need to wait for the lights to warm up before you can turn them on again.
Durability
High mast lighting systems are used to illuminate large outdoor areas like highways, railway yards, parking lots, airports, seaports, stadiums, and other public areas. Moreover, these systems are also used for industrial purposes.
LED high mast lights are durable and can withstand harsh environments. They also have a lifespan of 50,000 hours, which means they can last 10 times longer than traditional gas-based or filament bulbs.
Despite their longevity, these lamps still require maintenance. Typically, operators need to change the lamps and ballasts in these fixtures regularly.
Another disadvantage of HID lamps is their warm-up time, which can take hours or even days. This can interfere with day-to-day activities and cause safety issues for employees.
This is why many high mast luminaires are now switching to LED technology. LEDs are highly energy efficient and last much longer than traditional lighting technologies, which can save you money in the long run. They can also reduce labor and maintenance costs.
Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency improves the economy and saves money by reducing power costs. It also helps to protect our environment by avoiding the need for new energy generation.
LEDs are a great option for high mast lighting because they use 30 percent less electricity than traditional lighting technologies. In addition, they last 50,000 hours or more and don’t need to be replaced as often as HPS lights.
Moreover, LEDs are much brighter than their HID and halogen predecessors. They produce light in a more evenly distributed beam, are glare-free, and are able to achieve excellent color rendering.
In an effort to save energy, the Maine Department of Transportation has been converting its 1000W HPS lamp fixtures to Global Tech LED modules. Ron Cote, a lighting engineer for MaineDOT, said that the savings have been substantial and the LEDs are working well.
Cost
High mast lighting is a common type of outdoor illumination for highways, railway yards, trucking terminals, and airports. They are often mounted on poles ranging from 40 to 150 feet high and installed with 4 to 16 fixtures each.
Traditional high mast lighting systems utilize HID (high-intensity discharge) lamps with wattages ranging from 400 to 2,000 watts. The amount, spacing and mounting height of the light fixtures, along with the function of the area being lighted all play a role in the wattages used.
A few 1000w or 2000w HID high mast lights (very common wattages for existing high mast lighting) can cost up to $6,300 and $12,500 per lamp, respectively, to operate per year in electricity costs alone. Maintenance costs can also be significant.