External

A number of factors need to be considered when designing external lighting schemes:

Safety In areas where both pedestrians and vehicles are present, it is essential that the lighting help keep both groups safe.
Security Lighting is a very effective deterrent but leaving security lighting on all night consumes significant amounts of energy.
Energy Saving If external lighting is left on overnight, then it may be on for more than 4,000 hours per annum, resulting in increased energy consumption and costs.
Obtrusive Light Stray light onto adjacent properties (especially domestic) should be avoided to prevent nuisance.

Areas

Illumination Levels

The SLL Lighting Handbook recommendations are:

Activity	Minimum maintained illuminance (lx)	uniformity (U₀)	Typical applications
Safe pedestrian movement in low risk areas	5	0.25	Industrial storage areas with only occasional traffic
Safe movement of slow vehicles	10	0.4	Open storage areas served by forklift trucks
Safe movement in medium risk areas	20	0.4	Vehicle storage areas, container terminals with frequent traffic
Normal traffic	20	0.4	Road lighting in container terminals, marshalling yards
Very rough work	20	0.25	Excavation and site clearance
Rough work	50	0.25	Handling timber
Safe movement in high risk areas	50	0.4	Critical area within chemical plants, oil refineries etc.
Normal work	100	0.5	Brick laying, carpentry
Fine work	200	0.5	Painting, electrical work

External Lighting Management

SmartScan External offers control features that reduce energy wastage, without compromising safety and security. These include:

Presence detection to ensure lighting is on when needed, and switched off (or dimmed down) when the car park is not in use.
Light detection to ensure car park lights are off during the day.
Time-based control for maximum flexibility.

Find out more

Colour Rendition

The colour rendition of LED luminaires is far better than that of older discharge lamp technologies. CRI 70 is good enough for most applications, but if good colour rendition is needed, then luminaires with CRI 80 rating should be selected. Whilst CRI 70 is the standard for Thorlux external luminaires, CRI 80 can be supplied in many cases to special order. Please contact your local sales engineer or email the sales office for more information.

Before

After

Luminaire Lifetime

External luminaires can be difficult to access due to mounting height (requiring access equipment to be hired) or because a busy area needs to be cordoned off to allow safe access. Consequently, luminaires with long lifetime values should be selected. Many Thorlux luminaires are rated for 100,000 hour life, backed up with a 5 year warranty.