Area flood light: pole position before fixture
A yard, a car park or a service area is lit by where the poles stand. Move a pole and the whole scheme changes, so the pole plan is the design and the fixture is the detail that fills it.
Specification
What the sheet states for this build, and what is confirmed per project.
| Topic | What the sheet states |
|---|---|
| Light level | From the use of the area, on the calculation |
| Uniformity | Across the working area and the circulation |
| Optic | Asymmetric or wide, per pole position |
| Cut off | Back light and up light controlled at the boundary |
| Mounting | Pole, wall bracket or roof edge |
| Pole | Height, position and the foundation, usually a separate line |
| Control | Zoning, timers and dimming by time of night |
| Access | Cleaning and re aiming, from where |
| Data sheet | Current revision, naming the delivered model |
The pole is often supplied by others and is the longest lead item on the job. Ask who provides it, and get its height, spigot and foundation fixed before the luminaire order.
Poles are the design
Four poles in the corners of a yard give a cross lit scheme with dark pockets between them, at the edges most of all. Poles along two sides give a directional scheme that is even across but throws light outside the boundary. The arrangement is chosen against what is outside as much as what is inside.
Because the poles are civil work, they are also the expensive part and the part that cannot move. Modelling two arrangements before the poles are ordered is the cheapest hour in the project.
- The arrangement, modelled at the real pole positions.
- What is outside the boundary, and which way the overshoot would go.
- Who supplies the poles, and the foundation design.
CCTV changes the requirement
A camera does not need the same lighting as a person. It needs contrast on the faces it watches, a level that does not bloom, and no bright source in its field of view. A yard that is comfortable for staff can still be useless for identification.
Where cameras are part of the reason for the lighting, say so at the enquiry. Aiming can be adjusted so a fixture is not in the camera's view, and the level on the gate or the entrance can be raised without lighting the whole yard to the same level.
- Whether cameras are part of the requirement.
- The camera positions, so no fixture sits in a lens.
- The faces that need identification, not just the area.
Trespass at the boundary
A yard light is aimed outward by nature, so the boundary is where the complaints come from and where the planning condition usually applies. Back light control, a shield, or a slightly inward aim are the three practical answers, in increasing order of optical sophistication.
It is worth photographing the boundary at night after commissioning. A photograph is the evidence that settles a complaint, and it takes ten minutes.
- The boundary condition, and the nearest windows.
- A shielded optic where the boundary is close.
- A night photograph at the boundary, kept with the handover.
Before the order
- Pole plan agreed before the luminaire order, with the foundation detail.
- Boundary check at night after commissioning, photographed.
- Camera requirement stated at the enquiry, not discovered later.
- Build
- Area flood light
- Line
- Flood lights
- Ask for
- Specification sheet, photometric file, aiming drawing
Send the space, get the sheet.
Build, specification sheet and the option list for each line item, in one reply.