Induction Lighting in Warehouse/DC setting

There is a lot of dangerous information out on the web about induction. I personally have done a couple of jobs replacing T12's and 400w MH with induction. It is a great energy saver for the client. I can say that I have bounced around with 3 different suppliers. 2 of which I will never deal with again and actually issue warnings. If you want some real answers I can share with you the guy I have worked with. Crazy thing was this guy made me more money on my job than I had expected. Go figure.

For large scale lighting you wont come close to what common Metal halide lighting systems can do for the cost and efficiency that they deliver.

As far as lamp disposal I am sure you can find someone who is more than willing to take your money and your used bulbs and dispose of them in a way you do not know about.

For a $50 a bulb disposal fee I will happily take all the used bulbs you can afford to send me!

Thanks, We recently (past 3 years) replaced all of our lighting with T8s single profile 2 lamp 8ft fixtures. Depending on the height of the area being lit we have left 4-8ft gaps between the light fixtures. Most of our DCs are catwalked 2 level pick modules lit both on the top and bottom. Based on your experiences do you think its worth pursuing induction lighting? I have read that vibrations disrupt and destroy this type of lighting. Certainly trolleys and merchandise carts rolling over the walk ways create quite a vibration. The light fixtures are actually attached to the bottom of the cross beams and J hooks to maximize the cube. Do you feel that this is a real concern?

I know that AMTRAK recently did a big install in one of their maintenance facilities replacing 400w MH with 200w Induction with similar vibrations concerns and they are happy. Not sure why you are looking though. 2L T8's are cheap, may need more ballast and lamp replacements. Induction would definitely brighten the place up, reduce maintenance.

You nailed it! Some of this lighting is 22ft high which means 2 guys on a scissor lift dodging catwalks and travel lines. So the idea of changing lamps every 10+ years is very appealing. Also better lighting means better team member effectiveness and efficiency. Several companies (trying to sell me their lights) have mentioned the "huge" energy savings we will realize with induction lights. But I am not so sure about the savings verses T8s, any thoughts? Thanks for all your input!

Huge may a bit of a stretch. But, it does sound like you may have the ability to reduce fixtures. End result your total connected load tied to lighting would be reduced. You should connect with my lighting guy. He is much more help than I ever could be. I am working right now on taking out 48 400w MH in a freezer and replacing them with 48 250w induction. The customer was replacing the lamps every 18months.

That would be great, is your lighting guy on CR4? Thanks again!

Here is some discussion. This is from a promoter of induction lighting, so you might want to find some independent verification.

Induction lighting has been around for about 120 years, it was an invention of Tesla. He was selling such systems before 1900. I found a great website talking about both types of lighting that come under "Induction". See here:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrodeless_lamp This is a great "primer" on induction lighting, I hope this helps.

(CR4 editor not working properly today, editing impossible)

My comments started with web based information is quite unreliable. Offering weblinks go someones google search results is nice but I hope not the typical manner in which information is obtained. email me at technoevanguy @ gmail and I will send you the contact information for the guy who has helped me.

induction in warehouse can compete with MH but in no way can compete with T5/T8 from a cost perspective. The flourescent fixtures are just too cheap and since both induction and fluorescent utilize electronic ballasts the energy efficiency will be about the same. Where you really save is with the maintenance. ie you see a lot of gyms going with induction as it is too difficult to move the equipment to get to the lights.

"Magnetic induction lamps are basically fluorescent lamps with electromagnets wrapped around a part of the tube, or inserted inside the lamp. In external inductor lamps, high frequency energy, from the electronic ballast, is sent through wires, which are wrapped in a coil around the ferrite inductor, creating a powerful magnet.

The induction coil produces a very strong magnetic field which travels through the glass and excites the mercury atoms in the interior which are provided by a pellet of amalgam (a solid form of mercury). The mercury atoms emit UV light and, just as in a fluorescent tube, the UV light is up-converted to visible light by the phosphor coating on the inside of the tube. The phosphor coating is tinted to produce a wide range of light temperatures (2700 - 6700), measured in degrees in the Kelvin scale.

The processor (ballast) takes the incoming mains AC voltage [or DC voltage in the case of 12V and 24V ballasts] and rectifies it to DC. Solid state circuitry then converts this DC current to a very high frequency. This high frequency is fed to the coil wrapped around the ferrite core of the external or internal inductor.

The high frequency creates a strong magnet field in the inductor which couples the energy through the glass walls of the lamp and into the mercury atoms inside the tube. The ballasts contain control circuitry which regulates the frequency and current to the induction coil to insure stable operation of the lamp. In addition, the ballasts have a circuit which produces a large "start pulse" to initially ionize the mercury atoms and thereby start the lamp. The induction lamps do not start at 100% output - they start at between 75% and 80% output. It takes between 60 and 120 seconds for the lamps to reach 100% light output.

The close regulation of the lamp by the microprocessor controlled circuits allows it to operate at around 98% efficiency. Only around 2% of the energy is wasted in the induction lamp processor compared to the 10-15% wasted in traditional "core and coil" type ballast designs used with most high output commercial and industrial lighting."

http://www.induxlight.com/technology.a.html