On a recent sales trip to Orlando, I was performing an LED fixture demo at a warehouse for a client. The Philips ExceLine 4-Pod BayLyter HighBay LED fixture met the client’s project goals and was the fixture selected.

As any good sales person knows, the best way to demo a fixture is to show the customer how it will work in their environment. At the warehouse, the client had a large gantry crane and the idea to lower the hook, connect the fixture and raise it to the ceiling. This way the BayLyter would illuminate the area at approximately the same height as the existing metal halide fixtures. Sounds like a good idea in theory right?

As I proceeded with the demo and connected the BayLyter LED fixture to the crane, at about 15 feet in the air, my worst fear came true. The cable on the crane broke right at the hook and the fixture came crashing to the ground. The BayLyter landed on the power cord, immediately severing it and making the warehouse go completely black. The existing metal halide lights in the warehouse were turned on, and after they warmed up in about 5 minutes, we went to survey the damage. The BayLyter LED fixture had landed on one of its corners and took a 5”x2”x1” deep chuck out of the concrete floor. The corner on the LED fixture was dented and one of the four pods on the BayLyter was knocked loose. To my amazement, the glass was not broken and the LED boards were still attached and intact. Needless to say I had to reschedule the demo, but that is only one part of the story.

The next morning at the office, I decided to see if the BayLyter still worked. After attaching a new power cord, I plugged it in and yes the fixture worked perfectly. All the LEDs from each board lit up, even though it dropped from about 15 feet. The only thing that needed to be fixed was the bracket that held in one of the LED boards.

All of us in the LED lighting industry love to speak about how durable LEDs are, but have you ever heard of a fixture being dropped from this height and still working? Could your metal halide fixture do this?

In the past, I have heard a story of an electrician on a ladder installing a Lighting Science LED lamp in a recessed can, loosing his grip, dropping it and still working, but nothing to this extreme. I too have dropped a Toshiba LED lamp from a second story balcony and it survived. I find it amazing to see that with all these similar stories involving an LED lamp or fixture falling, the end result is still the same – the LEDs continued to worked.

Imagine the above situation happening with a T5 High Output HighBay. I can guarantee the lamps would all be broken, and you would have to evacuate the area because of the poisonous mercury that was just released. When the dust settled and the area cleaned, you would find the fixture completely destroyed. The reflector would be bent and I am certain there would be a few sockets broken. Basically the fixture would be useless.

The next time you are thinking of upgrading the lighting in your warehouse, be sure to consider the many benefits and durability LED lamps and fixtures can offer.

For more information, contact the LED lighting experts at LED Source®.