Floodlight or spotlight? | China Factory & Supplier
Floodlight or spotlight? | China Factory & Supplier
Floodlight or spotlight?
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Floodlight or spotlight?
Introduction
Today, LED lamps are used in a wide variety of applications, including streets, retail stores, warehouses, parking lots, plazas, exhibition halls, stadiums, and more. To obtain better lighting effects, a combination of different types of LED lamps may be used in a single application. Floodlights and spotlights are popular choices for lighting needs due to their high efficiency and low energy consumption. But it seems that people often confuse the difference between floodlights and spotlights. You may also be wondering which light is more suitable for your application scenario. We would like to introduce what floodlights and spotlights are, how they differ, and how to choose them for your lighting project. Hope this article helps you.
What are floodlight and spotlight?
Floodlights generally have a wider beam distribution and are usually used when wider illuminance is required. The beam distribution usually exceeds 45 degrees and can reach up to about 120 degrees. Floodlights create a highly diffuse, non-directional light rather than a well-defined beam, resulting in soft and transparent shadows. Due to the wider beam angle, larger spaces can be illuminated. Such as lighting in the surrounding area of the factory, gardens, billboards, stadiums, etc.
Spotlights are lamps that are used to specify that the illumination on the illuminated surface is higher than that of the surrounding environment. In contrast to LED floodlights, the beam distribution generally does not exceed 45 degrees. Spotlights project a directional, well-defined beam of light that illuminates a specific area. For example, if you install light fixtures to highlight your favorite landscape features, spotlights are required while floodlights are generally not an option at this time. Spotlight’s application scenarios include architectural decorative lighting, commercial space lighting, and places with heavy decorative components.
If you find it hard to remember the concept of floodlights and spotlights, keep this in mind: a floodlight illuminates an area with a wide beam, while a spotlight illuminates a specific point with a narrow beam. This might come in handy when creating your lighting plans.
What’s the difference between floodlight and spotlight?
Through our understanding of the concept of floodlights and spotlights, we can also know the approximate difference between them. They include beam angle, beam width, and application. Other than these, the wattage I think is also a difference between them.
Beam angle
LED flood light can diffuse light with a beam angle of up to 120 degrees. It can illuminate a larger amount of space with the same wattage and lumen output as a spotlight.
LED spotlights to emit a very narrow beam, usually no more than 45 degrees. This beam angle is more focused and easier to control and aim.
Beam angleBeam width
To know how wide my light’s beam will be from a certain distance away. This matters to beam width. Knowing the width of a light’s beam in degrees isn’t always helpful, while it would be much easier to know the beam width in feet or meters, from a given distance away. Luckily, there’s a simple formula that can help you figure this out:
Angle of Beam x 0.018 x Distance from Light = Beam Width
So, if you have a 90 degree 100W floodlight, and want to know how wide the beam will be from 10 feet away, just do the math:
90 degrees x 0.018 x 10 feet = 16.2 feet wide=4.89 meters wide
If you have a 25-degree spotlight and want to know how wide the beam will be from 10 feet away, here’s how you calculate it:
25 degrees x 0.018 x 10 feet = 4.5 feet wide=1.36 meters
Beam widthWattage
Floodlights are normally with a higher wattage than spotlights. Below is the common wattage for floodlight and spotlight.
- Floodlight, 10W, 20W, 50W, 100W, 150W, 200W, 300W, 500W, 750W, 1000W or even more.
- Spotlight, 6W, 9W, 12W, 15W, 18W, normally less than 20W.
What’s the best wattage for outdoor flood lights? Floodlights with different wattages have different application scenarios. Of course, floodlights with different wattages can also apply to the same application scenarios through the proper lighting arrangement. So below we list the recommended application places for floodlights of different wattages.
LED WattageLumensTypical UseArea Covered10W1,200lmGateway and Patio Area5m x 5m20W2,500lmDriveway5m x 20m30W4,000lmSmall Garden10m x 10m50W6,000lmMedium Garden15m x 15m100W12,000lmLarge Garden20m x 20m150W18,000lmParking Lot20m x 40m200W25,000lmSquare and intersection30m x 30m300-400W40,000-50,000lmSmall sports fieldAs per lighting design>400W>50,000lmLarge docks, transit center, football pitch and other large sports fieldsAs per lighting designBest wattage for outdoor flood lightsApplication
When larger areas, such as driveways, stages, warehouses, parking lots, or any other areas should be illuminated, you can use LED light with a wide beam angle which is with broad beam width and even light coverage.
When specific points such as display objects, wall art, architectural details, or landscape features should be lighted, you can choose LED light with a small beam angle.
In our opinion when an area should be lighted, the LED light with a narrow beam angle (spotlight) or wide beam angle(floodlight) can be used together so this area can be lighted with good uniformity. For example, when doing lighting design for a football pitch, a stadium, or a port, we can use both LED flood light and LED spotlight (We call LED stadium light).
Flood lighting projectBelow is the summary table regarding the difference between floodlights and spotlights
LED Flood LightLED Spot LightBeam angle45-180°Less than 45°Beam widthBroadNarrowWattageNormally less than 20W10w to 1000W or even moreApplicationdriveways, stages, warehouses, parking lots, sports fieldWall artwork, architectural details, or landscape featuresWhich factors should be paid more attention to when we choose LED floodlight and spotlight?
Beam angle
In general, if you need to illuminate a large area, it is best to choose a larger beam angle. Instead, if you only need to illuminate a specific area, choose a narrow beam angle.
But in practical applications, we also need to pay attention to the distance between the light source and the illuminating surface. In the beam width section, we have already mentioned that the beam width is proportional to the installation distance. For the floodlight, its installation height directly determines its irradiation range. If we install a ZGSM Zoom series 200W floodlight (90°) on a tennis court with a pile height of 10 meters, its beam width (irradiation range) is 20 meters diameter circle. For a tennis court that is only 10.97 meters wide, this means that a lot of lights are outside the tennis court. So, our lighting design is a failure. Therefore, the beam angle should be determined according to the actual application. For this tennis court, we need Zoom with a 25° or 60° beam angle. If you want to know how to choose the beam angle for a tennis court or other sports field, please contact us.
Wattage
When introducing the difference between floodlight and spotlight, we mentioned that the spotlight generally has a lower wattage, while floodlight has a wider wattage. If we need to illuminate a stadium now, would you choose a spotlight? You may think that since the spotlight has a narrow beam angle, it should be able to illuminate the sports pitch. ZGSM has done a similar test. When a 20W spotlight is installed at a height of 10 meters, the average illuminance in the area of 5*5m below it is only 50lux, which is obviously not enough for stadium lighting. The reason is that the wattage of the spotlight is too low. Therefore, we need floodlights with high wattage. For example, ZGSM 100W Zoom floodlight with a 25° beam angle, its average illuminance (5*5m area below the floodlight) is 200lux, while for a 400W Zoom floodlight, its average illuminance is 800lux, which can meet the stadium lighting requirements. But if it is for landscape lighting (such as TV background wall, wall lighting), we think a 20W spotlight is ok.
CRI
Spotlight usually requires a high color rendering index, because the spotlight is usually applied to illuminate specific display objects, architectural details landscape features, so it is best to use CRI80 or above to better display the color of the object itself.
However, floodlights with CRI70 are enough for most applications. But sometimes, for sports field lighting or stadium lighting, we need high CRI to get a good visual effect. For example, in a tennis court field that has a TV broadcast, we normally need a higher CRI. Check tennis court lighting.
Other factors
Besides beam angle, wattage, and CRI, the luminous efficiency, heat dissipation, waterproof and dustproof, flickering issue, CCT, lighting uniformity, and warranty are also should be considered. We will discuss this for LED floodlights in our other articles.
Additional resources:The Best Projectors for 2024 | Reviews by Wirecutter
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Summary
The choice of floodlights or spotlights depends on your needs. Note that floodlights and spotlights sometimes cannot be used alone. The combination of floodlights and spotlights has its own advantages and disadvantages, which are more conducive to improving the lighting effect and increasing the visual effect. Each part of a lighting project has its own lighting requirements. For example, the halls and aisles of a gallery need to be flooded, uniform lighting to illuminate the space, but the artwork needs sharper lighting to differentiate it from the background. Therefore, understanding your lighting needs is very important to your choice. Figure out what lighting effects you really want, and then decide on the right fixture for your application.
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Applications
Bridge Night scape lighting, gas station and the parking lot lighting, landscape lighting, fountain lighting, stage lighting, billboards light, advertising board lighting, greenery landscape lighting, tunnel lighting; hotel, facilities a culture lamp lighting and other specialized facilities, lighting, bar, stage and other entertainment venues atmosphere lighting.
Energy efficient
In the same brightness, it can save 90% electricity compared with common filament lamp.
Long lifespan
Theoretically, the lifespan can reach more than 50000H while the lifespan of filament lamp is more than 3000H.
Healthy light
No (UV IR) radiation, no pollution and no radiation.
Green and environment protection
No Hg and other heavy metal in high power LED, recyclable, no pollution and electromagnetic interference.
Eyes protecting
It adopts the isolated low-voltage constant current driver, no flash while the common lamps all use DC driver which will inevitably strobe and do harm to the eyes.
High luminous efficiency
Small heat 90% electric energy of LED light can transfer into visible light while the common filament lamp only transfer 20% with 80% transferring to heat energy.
Highly secure
The voltage and current is small, small radiation , do not have potential safety hazard. It can be used in mine field and other danger places.
Wide application
Easy to install and low maintenance cost.
The price of a led floodlight is determined by its quality, which is determined by heat dissipation and the impact of LED Chips, power supply, and shell on heat dissipation.
Choosing constant current power supply
On the market, floodlight power supplies may be classified as constant current drive or linear drive. Constant current power supply is much more expensive than linear power supply.
Why choose constant current drive?
According to the V/A characteristic of the LED chip, a little change in the input voltage of the power supply would increase the current flowing through the LED chip, resulting in a temperature rise.
Constant current drive is the optimal approach for preventing the temperature increase produced by the power source. To maintain the current running through the LED constant, so as to guarantee the LED beads’ longevity and light degradation
Choosing high performance aluminum shell
Radiator, glass cover, reflector, and an aluminum substrate constitute the shell. The performance of the projection lamp’s heat dissipation will impact the lamp’s attenuation. The fundamental criteria for selecting shells are as follows: Die-casting using all-aluminum materials and specific treatment technologies should be used to create a surface that is resistant to humidity, heat, salt spray, acid-alkali corrosion, water resistance, and dust resistance. In addition, the optimal shell should be chosen based on the overall structure of the light source and the characteristics of heat dissipation.
The ambient temperature may contribute to an LED lamp’s premature demise before its specified lifetime. Insufficient heat dissipation might cause the LEDs in the light to overheat and fail if the surrounding temperature is very hot.
LED flood lights produce heat. However, compared to traditional incandescent or fluorescent lamps, LEDs generate less heat, which can better save energy and maintain ambient temperature. In addition, most LED flood lights are equipped with radiators, which can effectively dissipate heat and maintain the long-term stability of the lamps.
Author introduction
AuthorHello Customers,
My name is Taylor Gong, I’m the product manager of ZGSM Tech. I have been in the LED lights industry for more than 13 years. Good at lighting design, street light system configuration, and bidding technology support. Feel free to contact us. I’m happy to provide you with the best service and products.
Email: [email protected] | WhatsApp: +8615068758483
Applications of flood lights and their advantages
Flood lights literally flood an area with light! Know the applications of flood lights and their advantages.
There is no doubt that lighting plays a significant role in our lives and is often highly underrated until there is a power cut. The light bulb is genuinely one of the greatest inventions, and it has since then witnessed numerous innovations. With the rise in technology, the ecosystem of the lighting industry has changed and is continuously improving. Today, there are many fixtures available that serve a variety of purposes, and flood lights are one of them.
What are Flood Lights?
Flood lights are great lighting fixtures that emit a broad beam of light. As the name suggests, flood lights are used to flood an area with light. It is the best way to provide an enormous amount of non-natural light to an area.
LED floodlights are highly energy efficient and have a higher lumen per watt output than any other conventional lighting system. They are used for many purposes and also allow a range of lighting techniques.
Applications of Flood Lights
The broad beam of flood lights is used in a number of ways across many objects and areas.
Manufacturing Plants and Construction Sites
Industrial units require high-intensity lighting systems for various processes. Most of these units run 24x7 which raises the need for optimum lighting even more. LED floodlights are the preferred lighting solution in these areas because of their high lumen output.
Ports
Ports are another major area of application for flood lights. Such areas are open 24x7 which requires maximum illumination at night. LED flood lights are powerful lighting fixtures that are a natural choice for such applications.
Façade Lighting
Façade is among the most critical areas of a building. It is the front area of the building that faces the street. Different lighting techniques are incorporated using LED flood lights to highlight such areas. The primary purpose of this type of illumination using outdoor flood lights is to highlight principal façades such as the logo of a company.
Architectural Buildings and Monuments
Architectural buildings and monuments boost an area’s worth. Some of these structures are a mark of a country’s pride and culture. Flood lights are used to illuminate these structures at night while enhancing their architectural splendour. Lighting techniques like accenting and wall-washing are often used to highlight monuments. The precise broad beam emitted by LED flood lights achieve this aim and are an optimum fit for lighting such buildings.
Why Consider Flood Lights with LEDs?
There is no debate between LEDs and conventional lighting systems anymore. LEDs are by far the most innovative lighting solution and excel in every way. Below are some reasons why LED flood lights are the choice of the future.
Energy Efficient and Maintenance Free
One of the chief benefits of using LED fixtures is their energy efficiency. They are the most competent lighting solutions and have revolutionised the lighting industry. LED lights perform far better than any other conventional lighting solutions, have high efficacy and display superior performance. Due to their technological advantage, LEDs produce more light per wattage of power used. It results in superior illumination and less usage of power.
High Lumen Output
Lumen output is the measure of the brightness of any light source. The higher the lumen output, the brighter is the light source. LEDs have a high lumen output that makes them perfect for flood lights.
Excellent Thermal Management
LED lights are far cooler than any other commercial lighting source. The excellent thermal management system reduces the heat generated, which is an added advantage, especially in the areas such as manufacturing plants and ports. We at Wipro Lighting have continually innovated to provide the best in LED lighting solutions. Our flood lights come with high efficacy LEDs with an active thermal management system that reduces heat output significantly.
Environment-Friendly
In the wake of the environmental crisis, LED lights have proven to be highly effective. They are free from toxic elements and contain no lead, mercury or glass – typically found in conventional lighting solutions. They are safe for the workforce and the environment.
Flood lights have many applications and their use cases make them highly prevalent. These lighting fixtures serve some primary purposes but also some secondary ones such as safety, especially when working outside.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit flood light supplier.
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