How Many Lumens Do I Need For Parking Lot Lights?

It’s difficult to know how many lumens you’ll need for your parking lot lights. If you set it too low, your parking lot will appear to be gloomy and dangerous. And, if you set it too high, it can look like a runway for your local airport.

What are lumens?

In the past, watts were commonly used to assess conventional bulbs. However, watts are used to quantify energy use rather than light output. And, with LED, wattage isn’t as crucial as it formerly was. Instead, modern technology will list brightness as the number of lumens it produces.

Wikipedia explains lumens as, “The lumen can be thought of casually as a measure of the total amount of visible light in some defined beam or angle, or emitted from some source.”

To be precise, brightness is measured in lumens. And lumens are a unit of measurement for how much light a bulb produces. A higher lumen count indicates a brighter light, while a lower lumen count indicates a dimmer light. Watts, on the other hand, do not. Watts aren’t useless, but they represent energy use rather than brightness. Thanks to new, energy-efficient LED technology; we can no longer rely on wattage to describe how bright a bulb is.

How many lumens do you need for a parking lot?

If using LED pole lights, on each pole, it’s usually proposed to have 2 LED parking lot light heads with 20,000 lumens each, poles spaced about 15-20 feet apart. And, that’s for typical illumination. 

If you want your place to have more illumination, get brighter lights and make the pole higher. For example, you may space the poles about 30-40 feet apart and 2 LED parking lot light heads with 30,000 or 40,000 lumens each.

Why are LEDs a better option for parking lot lighting over traditional lights?

LEDs are brighter; LED street lights can typically generate the same amount of brightness as traditional lights while using half the amount of energy. The light in traditional lighting is omnidirectional, which means it shines in all directions. On the other hand, LEDs are directional, which means you can direct the light in the direction you want it to travel. That implies you can use LEDs to answer specific lighting demands that you couldn’t solve with traditional lamps. Giving you the opportunity to brighten dark spots you’ve never been able to reach previously.

Bonus Tip -

The widely used national codes generally do not include any parking lot lighting standards, but it’s always good to verify your local regulations. Some cities have set limits on lot lighting to minimize light pollution and light trespass, while others have set minimum parking lot light requirements for safety and security.