Synergy Lighting is Sarasota’s Premier Landscape Lighting Company. Synergy Lighting carries the largest selections of Landscape Lighting Fixtures from Kitchler, Focus Industries, Energy Focus, Electro-Elf and Evergreen all at wholesale prices as well as many other nationally recognized quality landscape lighting manufacturers. With pride ourselves on the highest levels of Professionalism and Reliability.

Landscape Lighting Illuminates Lifestyles

Adding landscape lighting to your property enhances beauty and curb appeal that not only makes your home or business look attractive, but landscape lighting can create a greater sense of personal enjoyment. Whether your landscape lighting project illuminates the front of your home, or around the pool or patio, landscape lighting brings indoor living outdoors. Outdoor lighting can be used to create beautiful highlight aspects of your landscape such as trees, water features or stone work. Landscape lighting can also be used as a border to illuminate and accents paths and walkways, and patio decks.

Landscape Lighting Increases Home Safety

Perhaps the most important reason to incorporate landscape lighting into your landscape project is for safety. Properly illuminated outdoor spaces deters potential crime and undesirable intruders. Further, entrance ways, paths and walkways should be illuminated to ensure that people can safely travel about the yard. Especially important is to have a well lit main entrance so that people can find their way to into the home with out stumbling. Pool decks should be illuminated with outdoor lighting for the safety of people around the pool at night.

Free Landscape Lighting Design And Consultation

Synergy Lighting offers free landscape design layouts and consultations for those who are seeking to incorporate landscape lighting for their home or business. Our Designers are expert Lighting Specialists that have the highest levels of training and experience in the industry. We will help you to chose the right fixtures to create the perfect illumination package for your home or business. From flood lights to pathway lighting, or even the latest in solid state LED Landscape Lighting, we have you covered. All of our Professional Series Landscape Lighting fixtures come with a lifetime warranty.

About Synergy Lighting

Synergy Lighting has served the Sarasota area for over 10 years. Specific to Landscape Lighting, Synergy has designed 100’s of projects for Landscape Architects, Electrical Contractors, Property Managers, Specifiers, Outdoor Living Area Professionals, and Landscape Designers to create dramatic and artistic lighting systems that are guaranteed to stand up to the elements. Synergy Lighting was nationally recognized for our Design of the LED Lighting that decorates Sarasota’s Selby Five Points Park located in Downtown Sarasota. Nationally, Synergy Lighting has designed Solid State LED Landscape and Architectural Design Systems for clients from San Diego, Chicago, New York, Houston as well as many other residential and commercial projects around the country.

Call us today for your Landscape Lighting Project! 941-756-4893

There is no feeling like that of sitting down to eat at a good restaurant with good service. From the time we walk in the door capturing a sweet aroma of fresh grilled entrees, to the time we are seated by a pleasant and smiling hostess, we are in store for a treat. One would only assume that the decor has been well designed, the menu carefully selected and the service well performed. This is what we all expect of a restaurant.

The Importance Of Lighting

With the high risk associated with restaurants, it is absolutely vital to provide not only good food and service to clientele, but it is crucial that the clients leave feeling good about the decision to eat in a particular establishment. This goes to every last detail from plate garnishment to easy to understand menus. However the most often overlooked item is lighting. Restaurants often have multiple types of lighting fixtures to help create the overall atmosphere and design image. According to the American Lighting Association restaurants should have no less than (2) levels of light consisting of task and accent lighting, with a high recommendation of dimmable light bulbs and systems. By using multiple lighting fixture types a design image can create brilliant displays of decor, and architecture while providing a primary focus on the dining table. The dining table is where light balance becomes crucial for a restaurant. If a table is poorly lit, food can appear dull and unappealing despite flavor and presentation. Meanwhile over illuminated tables can be too bright and distract from a pleasant dining experience.

Well Balanced Lighting Affects Return Visits

All to often in restaurants we find that there is a difference in lighting over tables versus booth seating areas. This may consist of recessed cans or track over table tops and pendant lighting over booths and bar areas. When serving customers in a restaurant, you must ensure that every customer has the ability to receive the same levels of service, and pleasant experience no matter the seating area.  Because different seating areas have different styles of fixtures, a restaurateur must ensure that the light delivered to the table is well balanced and equal from either fixture type.  Recently while dining in an Applebees restaurant I was seated at a table top which sat under track lighting.  Installed in the track was a 50 Watt Halogen Spot Light.  The light was so focused on the table that it created glare and a hot spot on the table, while across the isle were booths that had pendant lights with bottom globes. The booths had only a fraction of the light provided to our table, and no relative hot spots. In this scenario, my dining experience was in the hot seat while diners seated in booths could barely see the food on their plates.

Balancing light levels to ensure a consistent and pleasing dining experience is crucial to the subconscious emotions that a customer will experience. In the case of Applebees, a lower wattage narrow flood should have been installed over tables, while a higher wattage lamp should have been installed over booths. In the photo above you will notice a hot spot in the bar area to the lower right of the image. This is a hot spot created by poor lamp selection. The result of this “seat yourself” restaurant was that the table with the hot spot remained empty throughout the course of our meal, where other tables with well balanced lighting sat to capacity.

For more information on Light Balance, view our website or call Synergy Lighting for a free consultation.

Phone: (941)-756-4844

Toll Free: (877) 220-5483

e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

With Tropical Storm Bonnie fizzling out on the Sun Coast of Florida, businesses may not feel any need to worry about a Hurricane Strike. As all of us that live and work in South Florida know, Hurricane Season can become very unpredictable. It is estimated that the 2010 summer hurricane season may be the biggest yet and it is just getting started.  Businesses in North Port, Florida learned the hard way that these massive storms can hit at anytime, any place with no accurate predictability. We all get consumed by rushing around gathering batteries, flashlights, water and plywood. But wait! Has anyone bothered to make sure that their emergency lighting is working properly?

Don’t get Left In The Dark!

Synergy Lighting is offering FREE Inspections of all emergency and exit lighting for any business located within Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte County. This inspection will ensure that all light bulbs and emergency battery back-ups are working properly so that your business, hotel or shelter is prepared for this hurricane season. Should for any reason your emergency or exit lighting not function properly, Synergy is offering replacement emergency lights and exit signs at our cost for the duration of the hurricane season.

Why is emergency lighting so important?

In the event a hurricane should strike here on the Sun Coast, it is more likely that businesses and hotels will be without power for long periods of time. Emergency Lighting, is not only required by law, but is often times the only form of lighting to illuminate emergency evacuation paths and egress points within a commercial building.  This could mean the difference between life and death should a building be damaged badly from extreme high winds and weather associated with a hurricane or tropical storm. Flashlights can be left on and batteries drained, however emergency and exit lighting is designed to provide 90 minutes of illumination after a power interruption. Business Owners and manager should know that If the winds are high enough to down a power line, they can be strong enough to cause structural failure to any commercial building or hotel.

For more information on Emergency Lighting, view our website or call Synergy Lighting for a free consultation.

Phone: (941)-756-4844

Toll Free: (877) 220-5483

e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

Metal Halide lighting systems are very popular in commercial buildings and retail stores as area lighting, and shopping centers, commonly as the most common form of parking lot lighting in today’s market. Yet anyone who has the responsibility of maintaining these lighting systems, knows that sometimes metal halide can be very expensive. Not only from electrical consumption, but the cost of light bulbs, ballasts, labor and often times lift fees can be very tolling to a businesses bottom line.

The number one reason Metal Halide or HID lighting can be costly is the lack of preventative maintenance.

Like any light bulb, Metal Halide lamps offer significant signs that it is time to replace a light bulb.  Unfortunately, most people do not take the time to notice the warning signs. First we must understand, that the only light bulbs that can be run to their hard fail point is incandescent and halogen light bulbs. These lamps have only a filament that breaks, thus breaking the circuit upon failure. But all other commercial lamps such as CFL, Fluorescent, and HID require ballasts. Any light bulbs or lighting system requiring ballasts, is NOT designed to run until a lamp burns out completely. Failure to replace a commercial light bulb before complete lamp failure will damage the ballast and cause a drastic increase in maintenance costs.

In the case of Metal Halide, most manufacturers rate these HID light bulbs with a life of approximately 20,000 hours. This rating traditionally means the point in which 50% of the lamps will fail, but in the case of maintenance, this is the DO NOT EXCEED time of all lamps. At this point, all lamps should be replaced.

Replacing lamps before they burn out saves money!

Signs that a Metal Halide light bulb or ballast needs replaced:

• The lamp appears to be a different color, or are turning pink

This is known as color shift, a natural effect of Metal Halide over long periods of operation. Usually the lamps will gain a pinkish hue when compared to other lamps in the same system. This is caused when metal vapors in the lamp are expired from heat or burning, and the lack of a particular mixture in the arc tube renders a different color. By this point, most lamps have lost at least 40% of their original light output. The lamp needs to be replaced as continued operation will damage the ballast.

• The lamp is cycling on an off, or takes a long time to come on

This is often misdiagnosed by electricians who do not have expert knowledge of HID lighting systems. The most common correction most find for this is to replace the light bulb. Once a new lamp is installed, the metal halide bulb will light and come up to full brightness.  However, this is not the correct repair. The ballast in an HID lighting system requires a capacitor, this is a current limiting device that prevents too much amperage to be delivered to the HID bulb. As a metal halide lamp ages, it will require a greater load to maintain illumination. Because of the extreme heat produced by the HID system, the liquid gel that fills the capacitor will crystallize and change the electrical characteristics of the capacitor. At this point the capacitor is providing a low power factor and delivering a higher current than designed. The metal halide lamp will receive an unrestricted current (amp draw) and become brighter until it cuts out again. Then the thermal switch will cool, reset and the cycle repeats. This will prematurely fail the new replacement lamp and result in heavy blackening of the arc tube. The ballast, capacitor and lamp need to be changed.

• The fixture makes a humming noise

When a metal halide lamp receives a higher amp load than it was designed for due to the capacitor characteristics changing, the operating temperature of the ballast will rise tremendously. When the ballast overheats, the varnish coating of the coil will begin to melt away from the copper winding of the coil. This coating is what prevents the windings from vibrating against each other. At the point in which the ballast is buzzing, the windings are now beginning to touch, and vibrate resulting in sound. Eventually the varnish will melt enough to allow winding to short across each other, thus resulting in complete failure of the ballasts, and usually will trip a circuit breaker, downing the entire circuit.

• The light bulbs appears to turn green or blue

Mostly we find that the lamps turn a greenish color, either light to heavy green. This is caused by a capacitor becoming weak with age.  It is delivering a high power factor, enough to maintain illumination of the lamp, but a low current, not enough to illuminate the lamp completely. The gases in the arc tube are not reaching their peak operating temperature, and the lamp glows green. Sometimes the capacitor itself can be replaced and the system will recover. However if the fixture is part of a parking lot lighting system, this is a good sign that the components are very old, and the ballast itself may not last long, as it will be the weak link of the system. It is a good idea to change the ballast and capacitor at this point.  A return trip with labor and lift in as short as a month would cost more than the ballast at the time.

• A new Metal Halide bulb isn’t as bright or white as the old bulbs

This is a common compliant for businesses replacing a small portion of metal halide lamps, and mostly is the complaint we receive when the customer or electrician replaced a burnt out lamp. Manufacturers make most metal halide lamps in two color temperatures, 3000K which appears slightly yellowish, and 4000k which appears brighter white. Sometimes this can be caused by using different color lamps, or one brand to another may have varying degrees of color. Acceptable limits of color are 300 degrees of variance. However, if the lamps have been burning for a long period of time, you may never match the existing lamp.

As the metal halide lamp becomes older, it will require a higher load (amp load), and when burning on the same capacitor, the system in whole is becoming out of spec by the bulb and capacitor both requiring and delivering this higher amp load simultaneously. When the metal halide lamp requires and is delivered the higher amp load, the color of the lamp will become whiter and seemingly brighter.

We can replicate this by removing a capacitor form the system. The HID system will work without a capacitor as its only job is to limit current. When we completely remove the capacitor, a metal halide lamp will rapidly draw more amps, gain extreme brightness, and become drastically whiter until the ballast overheats and fails.

When installing the new lamp with the right color temperature on a system with this age, the new lamp does not require as high of a current as the old lamps, and it will never appear to have the same level of  “whiteness” as the old lamps. The only cure is to replace all the lamps in the system. This is a good idea, because again running the old lamps until they fail will damage the ballast. The ballast itself continues to operate even with a bad lamp and will over work itself continually trying to ignite a bad lamp.

The most affordable way to maintain an HID Lighting System is to divide your operating hours per year into the lamp life and determine the length of time before completely re-lamping the system will be required. At that time, re-lamp the system which will prolong ballast and capacitor life, and you will see a significant savings in both ballast costs, and labor repairs.

For more information on HID Lighting Systems,  view our website or call Synergy Lighting for a free consultation.

Phone: (941)-756-4844

Toll Free: (877) 220-5483

e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

Changing ballasts in a commercial setting has often been difficult without interrupting operations. For most businesses, turning out the lights in a store so that an electrician can replace and rewire a ballasts is not an option. This requires the electrician or maintenance repair man to work with the electricity hot.

Working with live electricity poses serious risk

Working with electricity hot can pose serious risk of electrocution to those performing the repairs. Fortunately the New N.E.C. code requires that all manufacturers of lighting fixtures for commercial use require quick disconnects. Ideal Industries has solved this problem with the new IDEAL PowerPlug is the first disconnect that fully meets both the new Canadian Electrical Code 30-308(4) and new National Electrical Code 410.73(G) for non-residential fluorescent fixtures with ballasts.

Using these quick disconnects prevents the possibility of electricution during repairs and replacement. Synergy Lighting goes beyond the basic requirements of the N.E.C. by utilizing these PowerPlug connectors with every ballast we replace at no charge to the client. Synergy lighting feels that by including these with every ballast replacement that it should be a standard for taking care of the customer, the right way every time.

For more information on Ballast replacements, or Powerplug disconnects, contact our service department at 877-220-5483 Ext 201

Over the years, we have always had a hard time understanding the decisions made by many electricians and customers. It seems like an everyday occurrence to come across a business who purchased the lowest price fixtures they can to light their business. Now that part we do understand, but it is the rest that we don’t. Most of the time when a customer buys based on price, they neglect the cost of operation.

Josey’s Poseys, an award winning Florist in Bradenton, Florida, had this exact situation when we met them. They were using 200 watt quartz halogen floods to light the exterior of their building. The light bulbs for these fixtures had to be replaced every 6 months, and had an annual operation cost of $131.40 per fixture. Synergy Lighting recommended switching to a Compact Fluorescent Fixture using natural daylight bulbs. In our recommendation we were focused on creating whiter, cleaner light as well as reducing the cost of operation.

Total cost of replacement was $170.00 for this project, and yielded a $571.79 per year, energy savings. The warranty for these light fixtures is five years, and the light bulbs should need replacing every two years.

For more information on replacing quartz halogen fixtures with CFL energy saving fixtures and natural white light, give us a call at 941-756-4844 or visit us online at www.synergylightingsupply.com

We received a call from a customer that his neon wasn’t working. No big deal we thought, and how would you like to handle it?, we asked the customer. The customer ordered a neon transformer and was going to change the transformer himself. That is until he realized that the transformer is 15,000 volts.

Neon repair is almost as simple as changing a light bulb or a ballast. In theory it is the same concept. However the ballast in a fluorescent light produces approximately 296 volts of electricity, and a neon transformer typically ranges from 7,500 volts to over 15,000 volts. The amp load on neon is very low, but there is enough potential to cause serious electrocution when working with electrical components.

Synergy Lighting provides all types of signage from Pylon and road signs to neon and LED. In this case the transformer was bad, but there was also a bad neon letter. Synergy has the capability to have made the reproduction of any neon letter, rod or design with a 48 hour turn around time and can color match any shade of neon.

For more information about neon repair or installation, visit our website at www.SynergyLighitngUSA.com or call us at 941-756-4844. Don’t be the one to get shocking results attempting your own repair, we only recommend using a Licensed Sign or Electrical Contractor.

Synergy Lighting Provides free delivery to the following areas:  Sarasota, Bradenton, Tampa, St Petersburg, Clearwater, Brooksville, Venice, Port Charlotte, Naples, Ft Myers and all surrounding areas.