LED Flood Lights for Commercial and Outdoor Lighting

The biggest disadvantage is the higher initial purchase price in comparison to low voltage halogen or HID flood lights. A good high-quality 200W LED flood light will cost approximately between 2-3 times the cost of a like for like metal halide floodlight. As the LED flood light uses between 60-70% less power and has 3-5 times the life span of existing MH luminaires the cost of ownership over 5 years is drastically reduced. A factor to consider is the cheaper LED flood lights with cheaper components often have poor thermal management and can suffer from lumen depreciation at an increased rate.

Most good outdoor LED flood lights are rated for 50,000- 100,000 hours of use. At 12 hours a day, that is about 11-23 years before the LED’s have reached L70 (70% of original brightness). How long the LEDs will last entirely depends on the thermal management used, as die-cast aluminum enclosures with adequate heat sink fins will outlast stamped steel enclosures by a major margin.

Premature LED flood light failure can almost be narrowed down to two problems: poor driver quality, and poor thermal design. The most common point of failure of a lamp is the LED driver, the electronic that controls the power going into the lamp. Budget fixtures typically use a capacitor based driver that degrade in high temperature conditions. The other issue is heat; LEDs never usually fail, but if heat cannot escape the driver components and cause the phosphor coating on the LED chips to degrade.

It varies by application. For residential lighting, 1,500-3,000 lumens (roughly a 50W LED flood light) will illuminate a backyard or driveway. Commercial parking lot fixtures frequently require 10,000-30,000 lumens, depending on mounting height and spacing. Sports fields and stadium flood lighting calls for 50,000 to well over 150,000 lumens per fixture. A rule of thumb set forth in IES recommendations: 1-2 lumens per sq. foot for security, 20-50 lumens per sq. foot for sports venues.

In the commercial and industrial sectors, LED flood lights offer compelling payback potential. Our review of thousands of parking lot, warehouse, and security applications revealed that 150W equivalent LED fixtures typically pay for themselves within 18-24 months through energy and maintenance savings alone. Energy costs of $0.12 per KWh over a 12 hour daily burn rate results in savings of about $110 annual per fixture. Accurate comparison to legacy fixtures should be based on lumen equivalence, not wattage.

LED wins over metal halide on nearly every count. LED’s turn on full brightness instantly; metal halides can take 5-15 minutes to warm up before reaching full level; require a rest time of 10-20 minutes following a power outage. LED’s maintain constant color temperature throughout life while metal halide shift toward pink or green as they age. Dimming, photocell and motion sensor control function difficult with HID’s but trivial with LED.

Yes. Most LED flood lights are simple retrofit replacements for existing 1000 watt, 400 watt or 150 watt metal halide fixtures. Verify Voltages (standard 120V, 208V, 240V, or 277V) – your fixture should accept “universal” 120-277 volt input. Choose then based on the lumen output / foot-candle you need, not the watts. In general the following replacements hold: 100W LED fixture for 250W-300W Metal Halide; 200W LED for 400W-500W MH fixtures.

Far less than MH or halogen. A well-built 200W LED flood light typically reaches 60–80°C at the heat sink, versus 200–300°C for a comparable metal halide fixture. Die-cast aluminum housings with integrated fins handle the dissipation.

Stadium-grade fixtures at 1000W–1500W can push past 150,000 lumens. For most commercial projects, 500W models at 65,000–80,000 lumens are the practical ceiling.