How to choose LED high bays for a warehouse or distribution centre
Choosing the right LED high bay is the single biggest decision in a warehouse lighting upgrade. Get it right and you get brighter aisles, lower energy bills and lights that switch off when nobody is there. Get it wrong and you end up with dark racking faces, glare and fittings that never pay back. Here is how we approach it on every survey.
1. Start with the building, not the catalogue
Before picking a fitting, measure:
- Mounting height of the fittings (underside of the roof or the existing trunking).
- Layout: open floor, narrow racking aisles, picking areas, loading bays.
- Racking height and aisle width, because these decide the optic.
- Existing lighting: type, wattage, number of fittings and burning hours.
- Who works there and when: shift patterns and which zones are empty for long periods.
This is what our site survey records, and it is the basis for the lux design.
2. Pick the shape: UFO or linear
UFO (round) high bays suit open floor areas, production halls and loading areas. Our core fitting, PS-UFO-MAX, lets you set 100, 150 or 200 W on site with a DIP switch, giving 20,000, 30,000 or 40,000 lumens. One product code covers different mounting heights, so you hold fewer spares.
Linear high bays suit racking aisles. PS-CURVE has a 30 x 90° aisle optic that puts light onto the racking faces and floor between racks, rather than onto the top of the racking. A 60 x 110° optic suits logistics floors and 90 x 110° suits open workshops. Outputs are 100, 150, 200 and 240 W, up to 43,200 lumens.
Where people look up a lot, for example in workshops or sports halls, a low glare fitting such as PS-MILD (UGR below 19) is worth considering.
3. Compare efficacy (lumens per watt), not watts
Watts tell you what a fitting uses; lumens tell you how much light it gives. The ratio, lumens per watt (lm/W), is the best single measure of efficiency. PS-UFO-MAX runs at 200 lm/W. When you compare quotes, ask for the lumen output and lm/W of the fitting itself, not just of the LED chip.
4. Add sensors where zones are empty
In most warehouses some aisles and zones are empty for much of the shift. A plug-in PIR and daylight sensor on PS-UFO-MAX, or the microwave sensor on PS-BATTEN for loading bays and offices, dims or switches lights when an area is unoccupied and when daylight is enough. This is often where the largest extra saving comes from.
5. Check the build quality and ratings
For warehouses look for:
- IP65 for dust and moisture (PS-UFO-MAX is IP65 and IK08).
- A wide operating temperature range if the site includes cold stores (PS-UFO-MAX: -40°C to +60°C).
- Stated lifetime to a recognised method (PS-UFO-MAX: L80B10 >50,000 h, TM-21).
- Surge and driver protection.
6. Insist on a real warranty
Every Polaris fitting carries a 5-year warranty, and we survey, supply and install, so there is one team responsible from design to aftercare.
What results look like
Results from our published warehouse projects:
| Project | Fitting | Energy saving | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|
| XPO Logistics | PS-UFO-MAX (120 W), 100 to 250 lux | 79% | 1.1 years |
| Bibby Distribution | PS-UFO-MAX (160 W) with motion sensors | 74% | 1.1 years |
| Farm Foods DC | PS-UFO-MAX (160 W) with motion and daylight sensors | 82% | 1.0 years |
Savings depend on the existing lighting, hours of use and energy prices on each site.
Next step
Send us your drawings or book a site survey, and we will come back with a lux design, fitting selection and energy savings per zone.