Electro-Matic Visual Blog

Car dealership parking lot lighting is more important than you think. LED lighting is rapidly becoming the obvious ideal option for a variety of applications, including your outside parking lot at your car dealership. That being said, LED lights are without a doubt the most energy efficient choice that is readily available on the marketplace. LED lighting for car dealerships are unrivaled in their life-span and efficiency, in comparison to traditional lighting.

Why Choose LED Lights?
LEDs can discharge an extremely high quality of light with a great series of varieties. LEDs are little lights which keep in a stable state, implying that they do not include the very same recycling or breaking concerns which is typical of other lighting applications.
LEDs supply a far better financial investment for your dollars, as the longer life-span, ease of usage and series of control will eventually conserve you running expenses in the long term, develop you a much better and more noticeable parking area.
Here are five tips in maintaining your car lot of your dealership:

Adequate Lighting
The first step that you should follow when trying to provide lights to a parking lot is to ensure that there is adequate lighting. Having adequate lighting in a parking lot is important as it will make it much safer.
Your car dealership parking lot lighting should be as energy efficient as possible. Keep in mind that your dealership will see its share of nights, dark days or severe weather conditions. LED lights will supply a much better light quality with less, so it is both more expense reliable and a better alternative. To summarize, less is more.
The parking lot should be well lit to invite and provide your dealership appropriately, and supply a reassuring, safe and clean environment which to get your clients, while motivating and impressing your personnel when they get here for their regular shifts. The quality and kind of the requirements that enter into your dealership lot’s environment will generally set the tone concerning professionalism and security for your dealership, image, and brand as a whole. Also, the lighting will heavily compliment the new cars, making the colors shine tremendously. LED lighting will significantly alter how your consumers communicate upon their impression of your business.
Not only does it need to have adequate light, but it needs to be evenly distributed throughout the lot for safety and security reasons. Not having evenly distributed light can make it very hard to see and drive, which could lead to accidents. Ideally, you should have automated lights that will turn on once it starts getting dark. Having lighting that is evenly distributed will also make any onsite security cameras much more effective at picking up images in the lot.

Dealing with Harsh Weather
With LED lighting, the parking area that is being lit up throughout the harsh weather conditions or throughout night time look like a lot more carefully to how they are throughout the day. Instead of the orange or yellow-colored tint, LED lighting supplies the natural white color which lights up the lot, dealership, and the foliage. “Dead” locations are a lot less typical, as the power of LED lighting can shine through and offer broader protection of the lot.

Energy Efficiency
When you are looking to improve the lighting in your parking lot, you should also focus on a lighting solution that is energy efficient. Parking lot lights are frequently illuminated up to 13 hours per day. Because of this, it is very easy to quickly burn through standard light bulbs and run up expensive utility bills. A more affordable and environmentally friendly option would be to invest in LED bulbs that can cut your energy usage in half.

Use Control Systems to Automate Processes and Save Energy
Many auto dealerships keep some type of lights on 24 hours a day, and while this is useful for security and for highlighting your vehicles both day and night, it can lead to some rather hefty energy bills. One way to counteract some of these costs is by combining the lights with a control system that automatically optimizes lights and only uses the minimum amount needed.

Consider Lighting Height
The height of your parking lot lighting is just as important as the type of fixtures you choose. If you choose a light pole that’s too short, the light will end up being focused on a tight area, which means having to place more light fixtures to compensate, ultimately leading to spending more money. On the other hand, using a light pole that’s too tall will cause the light to be too spread out, appearing dim as a result.

While light poles come in a variety of sizes, (such as 16 feet, 20 feet, and 25 feet) your choice will ultimately come down to the size of the parking lot. A good rule of thumb is to use taller light poles and brighter bulbs for larger parking areas.

The Lakes Mall is a 600,000 sq. ft regional shopping mall located in Muskegon County. The mall sits on a 101-acre property line and has over 40 stores and 4 anchor stores located on its premises.  

Situation
General Manager, Jonathan Pittman, pays the initial energy cost for common areas and the inline spaces in the parking lot. The energy challenge at this property, however, was that the landlord did not have separately metered spaces. Although the retailer reimburses landlords for their space energy consumption the common area had high wattage lighting throughout the mall which created an expensive lighting system.

The common area of the mall had CFL and Metal Halide lights ranging in wattage consumption from 15 - 1,000-watt bulbs.

Objective
The objective was to find a way to lower energy costs for the landlord by reducing the wattage of each fixture in the common areas of the mall starting with the parking Lot Lights.

Solution 
EM resolved a problem by diagnosing the mall's common area energy usage. They created a plan of action and implemented a project to remove high-wattage CFL and Metal Halide lights and replace them with lower-wattage LED light bulbs and fixtures.

The mall has benefited from this lighting project because the energy usage is lower causing an energy cost savings for the land lord. The mall's lighting is also brighter and gives it a cleaner and crisp look that customers and retailers can enjoy.

"The lights brought life back into the mall. Foot traffic has increased in the mall since the lights have been installed. “ Jonathan Pittman, Lakes Mall General Manager

List products and services Electro-Matic used:
We used 55 Different LED products for both inside and outside.

Any external companies that helped on the project or solution and their services provided:
Tri-State Light did the install.

Crystal Gardens is a premier banquet center that has offered elegant and spacious banquet rooms, custom table settings, and the perfect menus for more than 40 years. However, their Southgate, Michigan location had an Optec unit so out-of-date that replacement parts were no longer available.

Mike Richardson, at Mr. LED had sold them their old unit so Electro-Matic knew a replacement project with them was on the horizon for years. Through Mr. LED, EM Visual scheduled a demo with Crystal Gardens for operation and ownership. The demo featured the modern technology of our Fusion Series. Following the demo, Crystal Gardens decided to move forward with the project.

Electro-Matic upgraded the resolution significantly from what they had previously. We were able to meet the project budget and Mr. LED was able to coordinate the project efficiently.

“Working with Mike at Mr. LED Signs is always a pleasant experience. After a couple of years of consideration, Once he was able to set up the demo, the project closed very quickly. It’s a primetime installation for EMV on the main hub in Southgate on a highly viewable intersection.” 

– Visual Sales Team

Products and Services Electro-Matic used:   

• Fusion 5’ x 11 m/s 16 mm – 84 x 192
• AAA Signs, Flat Rock, MI performed the installation.

 

Fashion Square Mall of Saginaw, MI, as we have talked about before, has installed both interior and exterior LED lighting to improve their facility and reduce their operating costs. In this post we will focus on just the interior application and what benefits are being seen from converting from LED lighting.

 

Fashion Square Mall of Saginaw, MI employs over 1200 retail employees and has been doing so since its opening in 1972. Fashion Square Mall is home to popular department stores, apparel stores, fine jewelry, specialty stores, and sporting good stores for people in the Great Lakes Bay Region. With the expensive operation costs that running a shopping center brings,Fashion Square Mall decided to

 

Smart lighting is designed for ultimate energy efficiency and is a great compliment to LED lighting. Smart lighting wireless controls are the next big step to further benefit from LED lighting. Electro-Matic Visual’s wireless controls and application experience can enhance energy savings with LED lighting. These wireless controls allow dimming profiles to optimize energy consumption with lighting requirements and is just one of many ways smart lighting can optimize your ROI on LED lighting.

Smart lighting also includes motion-sensing controls and when integrated correctly with LED lighting the savings can be even more substantial. Motion sensing can be paired with wireless on/off control to automatically turn off individual lights or sections of lights. Motion sensing is also an ease of mind technology. Since the lights are turned on with motion and turned off with lack of motion, you no longer need to worry about shutting down after the day or setting up timers.

Smart lighting allows you to get numbers and reports on current draw, hours of usage, voltage functions and other data so you can see what areas you can improve on to maximize your lighting efficiency for your application.

 

If you would like to learn more about Smart Lighting and LED Lighting and how it can save you money try our ROI calculator or visit our website: visual.electro-matic.com