A public school in Philadelphia, PA, recently contacted the lighting experts at Access Fixtures to ask for help upgrading their old high pressure sodium (HPS) wall packs to something more energy-efficient. They were already considering LED wall packs but were left with a common conundrum: Should they retrofit the wall packs or entirely replace them?
Two Energy-Efficient Options: Retrofit Kits and LED Wall Packs
The school had six HPS wall packs that were quickly approaching the end of their lives. Several had stopped functioning altogether; others were flickering their way into uselessness. To keep the property safe and well-lit, the school needed to install new wall packs. They knew they would be able to save more money annually by switching to LED, but how?
Their initial searches led them to 25w retrofit kit for wall packs designed to easily upgrade HPS wall packs to LED. The kits had everything they needed to retrofit their existing wall pack fixtures. To work properly, the lamps, ballasts, and sockets would have to be removed from the old wall pack casings, and a 25w LED lamp would have to be wired in.
Pros and Cons: Extra Labor or Extra Cost?
The retrofit kit includes a 25w LED mounted on an extruded aluminum heat sink that produces 2,200 light source lumens and is rated to last up to 50,000 hours. The individual kits are priced at $149.99, making them a cost-effective, high-performance solution for the school. However, the school would need to invest time and manual labor into retrofitting each of the current fixtures.
Lighting specialists at Access Fixtures also presented the school with the option of replacing the old fixtures with brand-new, 21w high output LED full cutoff wall packs. These fixtures use 16% less energy than the retrofit kits, providing 3,129 light source lumens for fewer watts; they are also rated to last a maximum of 100,000 operating hours. At $243.00 per fixture, they present a higher initial cost. They would, however, be less labor-intensive to install and would provide greater long-term energy savings.
Making Informed Lighting Decisions
The school’s old HPS wall packs emitted 3,571 mean visible lumens. The 25w LED retrofit kit for wall packs would exceed that by about 10%, while the 21w LED full cutoff wall packs exceeded it by 40%. The 21w LED wall packs also have twice the lifespan of the 25w retrofit kit and would not require any manual installation aside from swapping out the old fixtures. The retrofit kits offer are more affordable initially, but take time and labor to install.
Trying to decide the best way to upgrade your property lighting to a more energy-efficient solution like LED? Call an Access Fixtures lighting specialist today and let us help you make an informed decision for your lighting project. We’ll help you find the right solution for the right price that will work for you!