Wall packs lights are used in a multitude of applications for illuminating areas for safety and security purposes in and around parking lots, commercial and industrial complexes, factories, office buildings, schools, hospitals, hotels, warehouses, loading docks, storage facilities, landscaped areas, public park structures, building entrances, and anywhere an outdoor wall mounted light might be needed or desired. These lights provide high quality light to boldly illuminate areas and are generally set up to be triggered by a photo switch to automatically turn them on at night and off during daylight hours. They are built to withstand harsh environments and do so with great reliability, nearly eliminating any unit enclosure maintenance. Although they are mostly intended to be used in an outdoor application, there are indoor instances, such as stairwells, hallways and exits, which lend themselves well to the use of wall packs. Installation, for the most part is an easily accomplished task, as they fit numerous electrical J-box configurations. The units themselves are produced in countless different shapes and configurations and may be field adjustable to accomplish the desired light direction. All these attributes make them a natural choice for numerous wall mount lighting applications.

In the past, wall pack lighting units used various types of technology, such as high pressure sodium, metal halide, and fluorescent lamps. Today, LED wall pack units are leading the way to new standards of illumination and energy efficiency that has never been available with any of the previous technology. The leading advantage of LED units is energy savings, as LED wall packs generally use 30-50% less energy than traditional systems. In that regard, there may also be local utility rebates available for the replacement of older technology or on new construction LED use. The lifespan of LED wall packs is astonishing when compared to any of the previous lights. An LED unit is capable of operating 8 hours a day for 20 years before replacement is necessary. Twenty years, folks! That’s incredible! Older technology, over that period of time will potentially require replacement every 3-5 years or maybe less. The replacement cost not only involves the bulb price but the man hours needed to accomplish the task, sometimes in an application which requires working in an area where elevation help is needed, i.e., a ladder or other uplifting means. Also, as any of the older technology lighting grows old, the lumen output is greatly reduced and when spent, suddenly goes dark. On the other hand, the degradation of LED light is very minimal in comparison and, instead of suddenly burning out, they just gradually loose lumen intensity. The lost lumen output occurs so slowly and slightly that the change is hardly perceptible until the very end of their useable life.

The quality of light produced by LED wall packs is also much improved over the older lights. Color rendering, for one, is a factor which played a very small part in any of the previous technology. The LED’s can, and do, establish a new standard for wall pack lighting color rendering, making them more desirable in all applications, and in applications in which older technology would never be considered. A couple examples of this would be in a museum or retail display, for both security and viewing purposes, where the use of LED’s to illuminate sorts of materials and objects which would be susceptible to color and/or material degradation due to UV and/or infrared emissions. LED lighting emits only very tiny amounts of either, thus making it extremely safe for any precious art, artifacts, cloth, or materials of any composition which may be damaged by exposure to UV and/or infrared light. Along with those attributes, the lack of heat produced by LED applications is another advantage the other technology does not have (except, possibly fluorescent but, still, fluorescent lighting is almost stone age compared to LED). As well as the color rendering improvements, LED lighting also is capable of providing much more lumen output per energy input than any of the others could ever wish for. The characteristic quality of the LED lighting also creates less shadowing which helps to improve the overall area illumination and more evenly light areas which might be a bit more concealed.

A few more benefits of LED wall pack use includes the “green” factor in regard to the disposal of spent lamps. LED’s are safely recyclable, as they contain none of the potentially toxic chemicals, such as mercury, which are harmful to the environment. LED’s are also an instant on light, whereas the other technologies require a “warm up “ period of anywhere from a few seconds (with fluorescent) to minutes (with HID units), when started or restarted. There is also no “flickering” that occurs with LED technology, and any of the older lights can become susceptible to that annoying phenomena with age and ambient temperature. LED technology is more friendly in colder environments which can greatly affect some older technologies. The only potential drawback to LED wall packs might be the initial cost, but that argument is heavily outweighed by the overall energy and maintenance savings, and the lamp lifetime of trouble free and highly efficient and bright uniform light produced. Also, remember that the initial cost may be reduced by utility company rebates. All-in-all, there really is no satisfactory reason to not strongly consider the use of LED technology.

For technical information and assistance in determining what particular wall pack unit might best fit your intended application, please consult product spec sheets, and other listed product information on the Polar Ray site, or speak with a Polar Ray consultant for personal assistance at 303-494-5773. Click here to view our LED wall packs.