Starting Time for Flood / Fluorescent Lighting Fixtures

Is it required to use fluorescent lighting fixtures whereever we use flood lighting fixtures? NO

mainly in case of shelters where structure / ceiling mounted flood light fixtures are used.

Is there a difference in the starting time between the flood and fluorecent lighting fixtures NO

Some types of halogen or sodium floodlights have starting (warm-up) times of several seconds to a minute or so, and even longer restrike times if the circuit is interrupted and then restarted. Fluorescent lights are faster, but not always instantaneous.

Because of this, it might be useful to include some incandescent or fluorescent lights, but if there are requirements to do so, I don't recall seeing them. This could depend on local Codes.

Generally fluorescent lamps strike almost instantly on electronic ballasts at temperatures between a nominal -20 to 50 deg C . Their is a slight delay if you use switch start circuits depending on the condition of the lamp and the type of starter, say 1 to 3 seconds.There are many different types of starting circuits in fluorescent ballasts but most will start a lamp within 3 sec.The light output of fluorescent lamps at temperatures between 10 and 50 degrees C is within 80 percent of the nominal value.

Floodlights are normally equipped with halogen type incandescent lamps or high intensity discharge lamps (HID Lamps) . HID lamps operate over a wide temperature range but strike at a low light output and take approximately 3 to 5 minuits a to warm up and come to their full light output.

If the floodlights are High Pressure Sodium or Metal Halide, it can take several minutes for the lights to come on. (A lot depends on the air temperature.) The easiest way to handle that is to have a quartz restrike bulb built into the flood light. This bulb comes on immediately, similar to an incandescent bulb, and turns off automatically when the flood light is fully on. This is a common option offered by the major lighting manufacturers (G.E., Holophane, Cooper, Meta-lux, Hubbell, etc.) This eliminates the need for the fluorescent fixtures, and is more cost-effective.

Apart from what the other contributers mentioned, you may have to cater for emergency lighting. But that is usually very well specified in your local building or electrical codes. These fixtures usually have a battery supply, but supply lighting at a much reduced, "emergency" lux level. Depending on the setting, this could buy you time until the HID lamp restrikes in the event of a power interruption. I also have read about the integration of LED elements in certain luminaires to provide the immediate lux levels required, but have no firsthand knowledge of it. I assume it would only be applicable too lower lux levels?