Can Floodlight Be Used for Streetlight

There are various types of fixture in market. Different type of light is designed for specific application. For example, the key goal for using streetlights is to ensure the safety of drivers and pedestrians in a dark or dim environment. The streetlights brighten the space and make people feel safer. They also play an important role in public security by reducing crime. Floodlights are normally used to illuminate larger areas like sport fields and warehouse. They lit the application and increase the visibility to protect people from dangerous as well. The common point of floodlight and streetlight is the illuminating ability for outdoors. It seems that floodlights can be used as streetlight with the common point. If so, would the cost of floodlight or streetlight declined? Let’ s talk about whether the floodlight can be used as streetlight.

Firstly, we should know what are the floodlight and streetlight.

What is a floodlight

A floodlight has broad beam spread and high lighting intensity. Floodlight is of highly diffuse and non-directional, resulting in soft, transparent shadows that fade slowly when illuminate objects. It is able to illuminate larger space with the help of broad beam angle. As floodlight is non-directional, fixture manufacturers put the reflector on a regular fixture to concentrate the light in one direction. Floodlight is mostly used in larger areas, such as driveways, stadium, warehouse, sport fields, etc. It can lit up the area completely during low-light conditions. A qualified floodlight can match the clear television broadcast and suitable visibility for spectators and operators. To save energy, the usage of solar floodlight is a popular option for many customers.

What is a streetlight

A streetlight is mainly used for illuminating the road. The streetlight is usually placed on the edge of the road or path. The advantages of streetlight include the reduction of crime, increase of safety and the prevention of accidents. When it comes to design the streetlight system, consideration of the risk of glow, trespass and glare are critical for drivers, pedestrian and residents that live by the streets. The failure of concerning criticisms of streetlight would cause lighting pollution or even injury. Generally speaking, there are six types of lighting distribution to cover different conditions. Fixture manufacturers produce the fixtures with proper lighting distribution to meet the requirements of different type of roads. Outdoor site-lighting performance is a method that widely used in testing the performance of lighting distribution designs that planned for a application to minimize lighting pollution. Light-sensitive photocells are equipped with most of streetlights to control the lamp in terms of the amount of natural light.

The difference between floodlight and streetlight

To clarify whether floodlight can be used for streetlight, the difference between floodlight and streetlight should be taken into account. Application, installation, lighting distribution and the lighting uniformity are the main difference between floodlight and streetlight.

Application

Floodlight is mainly used in outdoor areas like the playing field, stadium, parking lot, amusement park, airport, building facade and so on. It can illuminate larger and wider areas compared to streetlight. Streetlight is generally located on the edge of the road, including park road, cycle path road, pedestrian street, community road, etc.

Installation

A streetlight is commonly mounted on poles with appropriate height to provide sufficient illumination. To provide power for fixtures, foundation and trench of poles are needed. Qualified technicians are also required for proper installation. But installations of floodlight are more flexible. A floodlight can not only be installed on the pole, it can be installed on the roof, wall or even the lawn as well. The following picture shows the different installations of floodlight.

Lighting distribution

The lighting distributions of floodlight can be divided into symmetrical, asymmetrical and double asymmetrical in a simple way.

NEMA (National Electric Manufacture Association) classified the distribution of floodlight by the beam spread. NEMA classification is determined by horizontal and vertical beam spread angles where the light intensity is 10% of the maximum beam intensity. If a flood light is of 50 degrees horizontal beam spread and 50 degrees vertical beam spread, the NEMA type is 4 X 4.

Beam Spread (°)	NEMA Type	Beam Description
10-18	1	Very narrow
18-29	2	Narrow
29-46	3	Medium narrow
46-70	4	Medium
70-100	5	Medium wide
100-130	6	Wide
>130	7	Very Wide

 

IES(Illumination Engineering Society), develops the lateral light distribution with regards to the lighted area width described as multiple of the mounting height (MH) for street and area light.

• Type Ⅰ:

Narrow symmetric patter, half-maximum candela trace falls between 1 MH on the house side and 1 MH on the street side of the luminaire position. It is great for walkways, paths, roadway and “high mast” applications.

• Type Ⅱ:

Narrow asymmetric pattern, half-maximum candela trace falls between 1 MH and 1.75 MH on the street side of the luminaire position. It is used for walkways, roadways and bike paths.

• Type Ⅲ:

Wide asymmetric pattern, half-maximum candela trace falls between 1.75 MH and 2.75 MH on the street side of the luminaire position. This type of distributions allowing the light to project outward and fill the area. It is meant for roadway, parking, other area light applications.

• Type Ⅳ:

Asymmetric forward throw pattern, half-maximum candela trace falls beyond 2.75 MH but less than 3.7 MH on the street side of the luminaire position. Ideal for wall mount or pole mount perimeter applications.

• Type Ⅴ:

Symmetrical circular pattern, has distribution that is circularly symmetrical around the luminaire position. It provides equal forward and rear lighting distributions. It is best for parking and area lighting.

• Type VS:

Symmetrical square patter, has a square symmetry of candlepower that is essentially the same at all lateral angles. It is suitable for large areas, like the parking lot and the areas that require sufficient and evenly distributed light.

From the classification we can know that the streetlight has Type Ⅱ or Type Ⅲ lighting distribution under normal conditions. Therefore, floodlight has wider lighting distribution and broader beam spread than streetlight.

Uniformity of the light

Uniformity refers to the ratio of the minimum illuminance to the average illuminance on the specified surface. Uniform and evenly lighting brings comfortable visual experience. As mentioned before, floodlight is of highly diffuse and non-directional. The mounting position has a direct impact on the uniformity of floodlight. If the floodlight is placed too close to target area, uneven lighting distribution may occur. However, all streetlights are design precisely to provide uniform and evenly lighting distribution as well as minimizing light pollution. The bat wing type lighting distribution is commonly and widely used in streetlight. Without custom design, the uniformity of floodlight is not as good as streetlight.

Can floodlight be used for streetlight?

Floodlight can be used for streetlight in theory. Streetlight is aimed at illuminating a particular direction on road surface. But floodlight covers a broader and larger area of aimed object. The addition of reflector or lens assists the adjustment of beam spread of floodlight to flood or concentrate the light. Full cutoff or semi-cutoff distribution of a flood is acceptable to be used as streetlight. Full cutoff means the maximum lighting intensity must be less than 10cd/1000lm at 90 degrees and less than 30cd/1000lm at 80 degrees. Semi-cutoff is defined as the maximum lighting intensity must not exceed 50cd/1000lm at 90 degrees and less than 100cd/1000lm at 80 degrees. Moreover, the floodlight should mounted in proper mounting position and height to ensure the illuminance uniformity.

Though with the advanced technology and the use of reflector and lens, a floodlight is able to meet the requirements of streetlight, it is more expensive than the streetlight with the same specification. Thus, classifications of the light are reasonable and reliable. There is no need to spend extra cost to refit floodlight to streetlight.

Still wondering which light is right for your application? Please feel free to contact our sales team.

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