I have two basement car parks, one above the other, with existing 5' LED vapor proof fittings throughout.
These lighting circuits are currently on a timeclock (So all circuits have a switched supply back to a set of contactors - which is useful - this timeclock, however has been left on for the last 15 years or so, so that these lights are permanently on as this is a 24/7 commercial office building)
These have all recently been changed from florries to LED. These lights run in suspended 2" lighting trunking from a concrete roof, with the lid on the underside of the trunking and the light fittings hold the lid in place, so to access the trunking, the fitting needs to be removed.
There are 3 rows of lights running down the length of a long, narrow, L shaped car park, circa 100m long in total length the center row has the emergency lights on it.
Now with some additional energy saving ideas in mind, the client would like to keep the center row on permanently, but switch the outer two rows of lights.
- I could change every light for lights with an integral PIR in them - this is too expensive and what a waste of a recent change over to LED.
- do you get retro fit PIRS that can be fitted into the light fittings? You must be able to. Can anyone recommend or post a link for this?
- I could add surface mount 360 degree PIRs controlling 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 lights at time, (There'll be limitations on each PIRs ability to switch the LED load) being careful of course to not mix up circuits or neutrals between circuits, but this will likely mean removal and re-ensatement of quite a few fittings. This is probably going to be my best cheap option.
- In seeking other ideas:
Microwave sensors are an option - two control circuits run to micro wave sensors - covering each length of the L shape. I'm concerned about the micro wave sensitivity though as, in this car park, there is a lot of air movement from the main air handling units and silly things like spider webs. Micro wave sensors might be too sensitive.
- Do they do PIR beam detectors? Can anyone recommend a company that might do this. All the doors into and out of the car park are in one part of the L shape, so that may be the only part of the car park that needs detection.
- how do most car parks handle this?
- My favorite solution, had I all the money in the world, would be something like the lighting we have been installing on the railway platforms, (Column lights) that dim when no one is around, and get brighter when movement is detected. We're certainly not getting the idoor version of those though...........too expensive.
