The customers experience at night begins in the parking lot, making Parking Lot Lighting the most valuable tool for a business at night. If a parking lot is poorly lit, customers will not stop, park, or shop. When a potential customer or client is considering visiting a store, shopping center or dealership, light can create a great sense of curb appeal attracting potential buyers or shoppers. A Well illuminated facility sends a clear message to customers that your business is open, ready to conduct business, and represents a more inviting, safer place to shop.

Making a good first impression!

Making this first impression a good one is vital to the success of any business. It is human nature to subconsciously be attracted to well illuminated areas, and thus increases traffic flow. Recently we received a call from a National Store Chain that the parking lot lighting was poor and needed to be improved. The concern was that most shoppers at night were female, and the lack of good, bright lighting made the store look unattractive to these potential shoppers. This is not just an assumption. As stores and shopping centers become larger in today’s real estate world, the walking distance from store to car becomes larger. Men have a tendency to not think about safety as much as women, so business owners must cater their lighting to the concerns of most women.

Poorly illuminated areas provide drastically increased potential risks, ranging from theft or purse-snatching to assault, rape, an even kidnapping. Women feel especially at risk walking to their car alone after dark. Few people realize the dangers inherent in this commonplace activity, but the fear alone may prevent potential customers from shopping at stores or centers with lower light levels. The criminal element is more likely to strike in these areas because the lack of Parking Lot Lighting allows the element of surprise and reduced visual acuity and increasing premise liability.

Target Corporation prides itself in offering more for less. Target Corporation operates Target stores, a chain of large, general merchandise discount stores, The company currently operates 1,272 Target stores in 47 states, all of which are required to maintain a pristine, warm atmosphere for shoppers. Target established a corporate policy to maintain standards for light levels for its stores’ main parking, peripheral parking and front drive areas. As part of their store maintenance program, Target periodically evaluates the light levels of each of its store location’s parking lots. That’s why when Target believed its parking lot light levels at a popular location were not meeting its corporate standards, they called in the lighting experts to measure light levels, and take corrective action.

How much light should a parking lot have?

First we must understand that there is no such thing as too much light in a parking lot. Most often we find that retailers do not put a focus on parking lot lighting fixtures due to high costs of repair and energy consumption. There are many alternatives such as LED and Induction lighting that can reduce these costs while providing high levels of light. The Illumination Engineering Society in Partnership with Nema, the Nations leading authorities on parking lot lighting standards, has determined that the most appropriate light level for a business at night is 4.0 foot candles or greater. Local ordinances controlling light pollution may require lower levels, however meeting a maximum light level is most beneficial. This foot candle recommendation is both vertically and horizontally across the plane. Some businesses or centers that just measure light levels directly beneath a light pole may have inadequate lighting across the parking lot.

How can parking lot lighting be improved affordable?

Synergy Lighting offers a wide variety of HID, LED and Induction based lighting products that can improve parking lot lighting design scotopically, without requiring additional expenses of poles and wiring to be added. The human eye responds to brighter whiter light on a scotopic level with increased see-ability or visual acuity. Any of the following tips can improve a lighting system on an affordable basis:

• Convert High Pressure Sodium HID, to Metal Halide
• Use Natural White Lamps whenever possible
• Convert HID to LED or Induction which provides improved see-ability and scotopically rich lighting
• Change older fixture heads to newer heads with type III polished reflectors
• Replace hard mounted fixtures with adjustable angle fixtures

Why use LED or Induction for Parking Lot Lighting

With vast improvements in efficiency and affordability, the LED Parking Lot Lighting and Induction Parking Lot Lighting alternatives are an excellent choice. Both of these options offer over a 50% savings on energy waste while providing some of the brightest white light in today’s market. The ratio of light measured photopically (standard light meter), and scotopically (human eye), this is known as the S/P Ratio. The S/P Ratio for a 5000K natural white light source is 2.1. Standard metal halide light bulbs are 4000K cool white and have a S/P ratio of 1.65.  where as a High Pressure Sodium system has an S/P ratio of 0.64 with the same photopic luminance as metal halide. This means that Metal Halide is twice as effective as HPS, while LED and Induction which are standard at 5000K are three times more effective while reducing electricity costs by 50% or greater.

For more information on Parking Lot 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

Synergy Lighting is Florida’s #1 Provider of wholesale lighting, and the largest selection of Light Bulbs. However we find that most businesses are not aware of the recent ban of incandescent, halogen and many popular fluorescent tubes.

On July 1, 2009 Congress passed an amendment to the Energy Independence and Securities Act of 2007. This amendment called specifically for the ban of manufacturing any incandescent or halogen floods, all 13oV commercial grade light bulbs as well as most 2′, 4′ and 8′ models. This comes just after the July 1, 2010 ban of magnetic ballasts.

What does this mean for you business?

This means that 90% of all businesses will have to make significant changes to their lighting by 2012. The push is to achieve greater energy savings and efficiency. Synergy Lighting carries all the new lighting including CFL and LED Light Bulbs as well as High Lumen T8 and Natural White light bulbs. A business owner should be cognisant of these changes before purchasing any lighting or light bulbs that are discontinued under this new rule. Some companies may attempt to liquidate old stock or surplus inventories of these discontinued lamps, which we do not recommend anyone to purchase as it will increase the replacement costs in the future.

Synergy Lighitng Provides free delivery and great pricing on over 5000 of the most popular light bulbs to customer in Sarasota, bradenton, Clearwater, Tampa, Naples, and all surrounding areas. To learn more about the new DOE Law 2012 , visit us online at www.synergylightingusa.com or call us toll free at 1-877-220-5483.

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

Synergy Lighting has expanded its line of innovative LED Light Bulbsto over 12 brands from top manufacturers. With a growing movement towards energy savings are reducing our overall carbon emissions, LED Light Bulbs are fast becoming the wave of the future. LED lighting is accredited for achieving energy savings of up to 90% while extending useful life to that of 20 times traditional lighting sources. LED Light Bulbs not only save the consumer by drastically reducing the electrical consumption, but create tremendous savings through labor reduction. An average commercial building can reduce labor costs by up to $113.00 per bulb over the life of the LED lamp.

All of LED Light bulbs from Synergy Lighting are available at wholesale prices with Free Delivery to Sarasota, Tampa, Naples, Clearwater, Orlando and Miami, Florida and surrounding areas. For more information or to see if your business can switch to LED lighting, from Top Brands such as TCP, Sylvania, Eco Story, ProLED or many more, 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

Restaurants have always seemed to get the raw end of the stick when it comes to energy saving light bulbs. Nearly 97% of all Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs are not dimmable, leaving restaurants to either be overly illuminated with CFL’s, or sticking with incandescent and halogen bulbs. Most restaurants need to dim their lighting in order to create a subtle and enjoyable accent level for dinning.

Dimmable Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs in the past would flicker when dimmed, or cut out at low levels. Because of this poor dimming, the practical applications were extremely limited. With time comes technology, and a new wave of dimmable CFL light bulbs. The new dimmable CFL light bulbs from Halco Lighting  and TCP have a greater dimming range and when paired with the Leviton CFL Dimmer, these lamps perform extremely well with no flickering or cutting out prematurely.

For restraunts that require greater dimming levels than standard Pro series CFL Dimmable are capable of, a special line of Cold Cathode Dimmable CFL’s are available. Cold Cathode lamps in simple terms is a NEON light bulb, resembling the shape of a CFL. These bulbs are fully dimmable and result in an extremely long life averaging 25,000 hours. Due to the cold cathode technology, these lamps can be dimmed as low as 1 watt, and are not subject to premature failure from rapid switching on and off.    Cold Cathode lamps are also available in a Soft Pink version commonly used in higher end restaurants to create rose hues to enhance the color of meats and pastas.

For more information on Cold Cathode Lamps, view our website  or call Synergy Lighting for a free consultation. Some CFL Cold Cathode Lamps qualify for Incentives

Phone: (941)-756-4844

Toll Free: (877) 220-5483

e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

Synergy Lighting for years now has attempted to educate its customers on the value of quality light bulbs. In hard economic times, businesses often look for ways to cut expenses and save money. We see these businesses often perform layoffs or reduce their inventories in order to keep a positive cash flow. However most businesses do not realize their savings potential just by switching to quality light bulbs which can result in huge savings.

First we must identify the difference between price and cost. A .39 cent light bulb does not have a cost of .39 cents. That is the price of the bulb. The cost is measured by how much electricity is paid for to illuminate the bulb, and how much labor is paid to change the bulb time and again. For most businesses, a .39 cent light bulb has an annual cost of $42.65 when you calculate electricity and an employee changing the bulb twice a year at a pay rate of $10.00 per hour. Remember, a $10.00 an hour employ also has taxes to the business owner above and beyond their normal pay rate.

Three Things That Kill Light Bulbs:

Heat

Any illuminated light bulb has heat. Even cooler burning lamps such as CFL’s and Fluorescent produce some form of heating.  This heat or burning of the filament or cathode, over time dissipates the tungsten and the filament becomes thinner and weaker till it eventual breaks.

Vibration

Often customers grin when we tell them about vibrations damaging the tungsten filaments or cathodes. The standard feedback is that their light bulbs are firmly mounted and do not have vibration. Air Conditioning, doors opening and closing and wind load forces on a building cause subtle vibrations undetectable to humans, but can be passed on to the filament of a lamp even if so subtle we can not feel them. As you will see in the video below, the filaments or cathodes have their own vibrations from molecule collisions while under a heat load.

Power Surge

Every time we turn a light on there is a power surge to the filament or cathodes. Many other power surges happen daily that we do not recognize, such as every time an Air Conditioner turns on or off, a large motor operates, or even a power surge from a laser printer spooling up. By design, the utility company redirects power to grids several times a day which causes a series of small power surges that are only sensitive to light bulb filaments.

It is only when we combine all three of these actions together that it kills a light bulb. Over time naturally the repetitiveness of these actions will kill the lamp, or if any one of the three has a drastic increase over the other we will realize this with a premature failure of the lamp.

Sylvania, Philips, GE and many other manufacturers use a Standard Tungsten-Alloy Filament stretched between two filament supports. Unlike the Pure Tungsten Filaments invented by Thomas Edison, and used in most Industrial Grade Bulbs, the tungsten-alloy filament is weaker and does not hold up as long. This may be part of planned obsolescence, or a way to get a consumer to buy more bulbs.  Industrial Grade lamps such as Halco, Superior Life Lamps use Pure Tungsten filaments with additional filament supports. This increase lamp life and stability when subjected to Heat, Vibration and Power Surge.

As previously stated above, the typical Philips, Sylvania, GE bulb with a price of .39 cents has a cost annually of $42.65. If we change to an Industrial Lamp with a price of .59 cents, the price is higher, but the resulting cost would be lowered to $33.92 per year because of it’s life that is 4 times longer. This has an additional Price of .20 cents that results in a cost savings of $17.46.

50 Bulbs saving $17.46 over 24 months would save a business approximately $873.00! That’s cutting costs!

Conclusion: Spending a few cents extra on a quality light bulb can result in tremendous savings and increased cash flow over time.

For more information on quality light bulbs, 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

If there is any ideal candidate for color corrected light bulbs, Art & Frame of Sarasota would be near the top of our list! Robert Antovel; Owner of Art & Frame had reached the point where he realized that it was time for a significant change. With the current economy as it is, and with the changes going on globally, it was time to Go Green, and Go Big! That’s just what Robert did when he decided to enlisted the help of Synergy Lighting of Sarasota to help achieve his goals. One of the top of Robert’s list was to cut the electricity costs of his nearly 10,000 s.f. facility on US41 & Bahia Vista. The Second on his list was to Go Green.

Synergy Lighting helped by hand selecting light bulbs that were bright enough to use less wattage, but had to be of the highest available color rendering. With the customer in  agreement, Art & Frame converted to Natural White Lighting using the latest in Tri-Phosphor Technology with the Ultra 50 Pure Natural Daylight Lamps. Unlike standard daylight bulbs, the Ultra 50 yields a true replication of natural light produced by the sun. This special Tri-Phosphor technology available exclusively through Synergy Lighting has the greatest levels of light output, allowing the client to use less light bulbs through a practice called “De-Lamping”. This is a common practice used by Lighting Experts to improve light quality while reducing the number of lamps, and ballasts in a business.This results in a 50% energy reduction per fixture that is de-lamped.

The end result for Robert was an extremely well illuminated store that shows all color accurately to natural sun light. In an art supply store such as  Art & Frame Sarasota, there couldn’t be a greater reward for the store and it’s large clientele. Customers can more accurately select the paints that they need, match any colors for Framing and Matting as well as showing products with visual acuity. Going green was achieved due to the low mercury content, and the reduction of our natural resources used to produce the electricity to power the Mega Art Store. 

For more information on using Pure Natural Daylight bulbs such as Sky Brite and Ultra 50, check out our Natural Lighting Articles, or call Synergy Lighting.

Phone: (941)-756-4844

Toll Free: (877) 220-5483

e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

Ultra 50 Specs
Download Ultra 50 Light Bulb Article

Often we tell customers about these really good natural white light bulbs called Sky-Brite Plus ®. Customers often neglect to address lighting thinking that their existing lighting is sufficient. At Synergy Lighting, we pride ourselves on our expertise and making the best possible recommendations to our clients and potential clients, all to often to be ignored. One customer who did not ignore our recommendations was the owner of Great Clips located in Bradenton, FL.

Great Clips chose to provide their employees and customers with Sky Brite Plus ® light bulbs. This not only saved money on the power bill, but as you can see from the before and after photos, drastically improved the business. The employees have a much brighter and exciting environment, that will surely pass on to the customers as a Great Place to get Great Clips! The business in whole now appears that it is open and ready to perform business, conveys a sense of cleanliness and improved safety.

When it comes to hair salons, natural lighting improves the stylist ability to provide great haircuts and perfect hair color matching. There are many more benefits to retail and commercial clients as well.

To learn more about converting to Natural White Light Bulbs, and energy savings, visit www.synergylightingusa.com , or call Synergy Lighting.

Phone: (941)-756-4844
Toll Free: (877) 220-5483
e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

Sky Brite Plus Product Information Sheet: Click Here

Recently we we’re asked to produce a Techno Look to a retail fashion store in Brandon, Florida. This was a very unique challenge for Synergy Lighting, as the customer wanted natural bright white light bulbs for color rendering throughout the main portions of the store, but also did not want it to be too bright.  Usually our depth is increased with brighter lighting, however to achieve a “Techno” Look, we had to get a little advice from local teenagers. It seems Synergy Lighting is not quite in touch with the “Techno” Community of younger generations.

The end result was a combination of Bright White Skybrite lamps utilized in 2×2 troffers, and Compact Fluorescent Warm White PAR’s to develope contracting color schemes between display and racks. This project not only achieved a more than satisfying result for the client, but resulted with a 35% energy reduction over the previously installed Cool White Troffers.

Synergy Lighting goes beyond the realm of ordinary lighting with the ability to research and design nearly any concept in lighting. Our design services are no-charge.

For more information, visit www.synergylightingusa.com , or call Synergy Lighting.

Phone: (941)-756-4844
Toll Free: (877) 220-5483
e-mail: sales@synergylightingusa.com

With the ever growing steps in energy conservation, many consumers find great savings in using Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs known as CFL’s. The light bulbs create tremendous energy savings and produce less heat than their incandescent predecessors. However consumers must beware of the cautions associated with use of these lamps.

CFL’s are designed to replace incandescent lamps in most portable and non-portable fixtures, such as table lamps and wall mounted fixtures. The limitation of using these CFL bulbs is their use in outdoor applications and enclosed fixtures. CFL’s such as spiral lamps are permissible in enclosed fixtures, providing that they are specially designed for that application and limited to 42 Watts or less. CFL lamps greater than 42 watts are designed for use only indoors with open rated fixtures. Many manufacturers of these higher wattage CFL’s, such as TCP, Maxlite, and Sunlight Brands expressly denote that these high wattage CFL Lamps are not for use outdoors or enclosed fixtures due to risk of fire.

According to Ellis Yan, Chief Executive Officer of TCPI the nations largest producer of CFL lamps, “The high wattage CFL’s are designed with an integral cooling fan to reduce the heat levels produced from overheating the electronic components. Using these lamps in enclosed fixtures may pose a serious risk to consumers”.  Education is a passion for Ellis that extends into the company’s business philosophy.He has been instrumental in establishing consumer and school education programs to share the energy efficient and environmental benefits of using compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). He is also dedicated to health and wellness and has developed incentive programs encouraging employees to make decisions that are good for their health and the environment.

In 2008, the Office of National statistics reports there were 1033 fires caused from misuse of CFL light bulbs. Energy Star, a joint effort between the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, CFLs installed in enclosed fixtures designed for incandescent bulbs may overheat. This can pose serious risk of injury or fire, and significantly reduce both light output and lifetime.  Even under optimum conditions, light output from a CFL will decrease over its lifetime. To maintain existing light levels, select CFLs with rated lumen output (of bulb and ballast together) at least as high as the bulbs they replace. CFLs should have a power factor (PF) above 50% and a Color Rendering Index (CRI) above 80%. ENERGY STAR-qualified integral CFLs and most available modular CFLs meet these criteria.

Particularly for high-use fixtures, consider replacing an existing screw-based (“incandescent”) fixture with one designed exclusively for CFL use—i.e., a fixture with a hard-wired ballast that accommodates pin-based CFLs. (Residential CFL fixtures are also covered by an ENERGY STAR labeling program.

For More Information

• DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Information Center
  Phone: 1-877-EERE-INF or 1-877-337-3463
• The EPA/DOE ENERGY STAR®program provides product listings of complying CFLs and dedicated CFL fixtures.
  Phone: (800) 372-7827
• The Lighting Research Center’s Web sitehas valuable information covering CFLs and other lighting systems.
  Phone: (518) 276-8716
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory provided supporting analysis for this recommendation.
  Phone: (202) 646-7954