How to choose and buy the correct LED high-bay or low-bay lighting

This guide is designed to help you quickly determine which LED lighting is best suited to your specific needs and make an instant purchase.

In this guide you will find out:

• the difference between high-bay, low-bay and multi-bay LED lighting
• where to use high bay and low bay LED lighting
• specifications of popular LED high-bay, low-bay and multi-bay luminaires
• specifications of emergency high-bay, low-bay and multi-bay luminaires
• why LED luminaires are a good alternative to traditional high and low bay lighting

What is the difference between high-bay and low-bay LED lighting?

High-bay and low-bay lighting is used to illuminate large areas such as warehouses or retail spaces. The height of the ceiling of the space you want to illuminate will determine whether you need high-bay or low-bay lighting.

You need:

• high-bay lighting where the ceiling is higher than 15–20 feet
• low-bay lighting where the ceiling is lower than 20 feet

High-bay lighting features a deep reflector used to direct the light down from a high ceiling. High-bay fixtures also produce a diffused light, which helps to reduce glare.

Low-bay lighting has a shallower reflector plus a lens, which diffuses the light outwards from a lower ceiling.

You will see that the high-bay products we sell can be adapted to suit spaces in which both high-bay and low‑bay lights are needed. These are often referred to as multi-bay luminaires.

Where are high-bay and low-bay LED fixtures used?

LED high-bay lighting is powerful and commonly used to illuminate large, very spacious areas.

LED low-bay lighting can also illuminate large areas, though its diffuser enables the lighting to be used on lower ceilings.

High-bay and low-bay lighting are commonly used in the following locations:

• Warehouses
• Retail spaces, such as department stores
• Manufacturing facilities
• Indoor car parks
• Sports halls and gymnasiums
• Community centres

High-bay and low-bay luminaires can be fixed directly to the ceiling or suspended from the ceiling by hooks, pendants or chains.

Product specifications

 

Popular standard multi-bay lighting

 

BRITE SOURCE 100W LED HIGH-BAY 5,000K DIMMABLE IP65

BRITE SOURCE 150W LED HIGH-BAY 5,000K DIMMABLE IP65

BRITE SOURCE 200W HIGH-BAY 5,000K DIMMABLE IP65

Style/colour

Best sellers

BEST SELLER

★

BEST SELLER

★

BEST SELLER

★

Wattage

100W *

150W *

200W*

Lumen output

12,000

18,000

24,750

Dimensions

300mm x 181mm

300mm x 181mm

350mm x 198mm

Replaces

MH/SON 200W

MH/SON 200W

MH/SON 400W

High-bay, low-bay or multi-bay?

Multi bay—suitable for high-bay and low-bay use

Beam angle

60°/90°/120°

Fixtures

Hanging bolt eye, hanging chain and safety cable

Warranty

5 years

Average life

50,000 hours

Energy rating

A*

Economy

Up to £168 savings over 5 years

PRICE

£99.08

Buy now

£119.99

Buy now

£163.99

Buy now

 

Emergency multi-bay lighting

 

BRITE SOURCE EMERGENCY 100W LED HIGH-BAY 5,000K DIMMABLE IP65

BRITE SOURCE EMERGENCY 150W LED HIGH-BAY 5,000K DIMMABLE IP65

BRITE SOURCE EMERGENCY 200W HIGH-BAY 5,000K DIMMABLE IP65

Style/colour

Wattage

100W *

150W *

200W*

Lumen output

12,000

18,000

24,750

Dimensions

300mm x 181mm

300mm x 181mm

350mm x 198mm

Replaces

MH/SON 200W

MH/SON 200W

MH/SON 400W

High-bay, low-bay or multi-bay?

Multi bay—suitable for high-bay and low-bay use

Beam angle

60°/90°/120°

Emergency features

3-hour rated duration

Battery and emergency LED indicator

Fixtures

Hanging bolt eye, hanging chain and safety cable

Warranty

5 years

Average life

50,000 hours

Energy rating

A*

Economy

Up to £168 savings over 5 years

PRICE

£147.08

Buy now

£167.99

Buy now

£211.99

Buy now

LED

ALTERNATIVE FOR

Metal halide/SON

100W

150W

150W

250W

200W

400W

Reviews

Our verified customers gave multi-bay lighting 5/5 in their feedback—read the full product reviews here.

(3 Reviews)

Joel Spalding Good product. Not sure on how long they will last, but they seem well made and run pretty cold initially.

Dale Gatherings Very nice high bay and well priced. Totally transformed the loading bay area of our warehouse.

Guest excellent service and product thanks

Why LED multi-bay lighting is a good alternative to traditional high-bay and low-bay lighting

LED multi-bay lighting provides an excellent cost-effective and energy efficient alternative to traditional fluorescent lighting.

Many large industrial spaces historically used metal halide (MH), high-pressure or low‑pressure sodium (HPS/LPS or SON) or fluorescent lighting technology. Industrial LED lighting, however, significantly outperforms these lighting methods in several ways, as this comparison table highlights:

 

LED

Metal halide

High-pressure/ low-pressure sodium (SON)

Fluorescent

Cost

• Relatively high upfront cost
• Long lifespan makes it cost‑effective

• Quite expensive to buy
• Very expensive to maintain

• Cheap to buy
• Cheap to operate

• Cheap initial costs.
• Needs specialist disposal, which means extra costs

Lifespan

• Lasts 4–40 times longer than most alternatives

• Needs replacing frequently
• Bulbs will flicker and need replacing before the end of their lifetime

• Long lifespan

• Shorter lifespan (when repeatedly switched on and off)

Maintenance

• Fewer parts means there is less to go wrong
• Long lifespan means less maintenance

• Short lifespan involves regular maintenance

• Long lifespan reduces maintenance
• Toxic elements require specialist handling and disposal

• Long lifespan reduces maintenance
• Bulbs may need changing before they fail due to flickering or change in colour

Lighting quality

• Scores higher than other bulbs in terms of CRI*, CCT** and foot candles***

• One of the best sources of high-CRI white light on the market

• Worst CRI on the market—produces a dark yellow glow

• Relatively good CRI

Energy
efficiency

• Requires less energy to provide the same output as other bulbs
• Directional light output (120° or less) as opposed to other bulbs’ standard 360° output prevents light being wasted in unnecessary areas

• Significant amount of energy produced is wasted as heat
• Lights take time to warm up and so cannot be switched on and off on demand
• Wasted light due to omnidirectional (360°) output

• Generally very energy efficient, although the omnidirectional output does waste light

• Fairly energy efficient, hindered only by their omnidirectional output

Warm-up time

• Takes no time to warm up or cool down

• Can take up to 15–30 minutes to warm up

• Takes up to 10 minutes to warm up

• Short delay when switching on
• Older models can take a lot of time to warm up, while new rapid-start models are near instant

Reliability

• Steady light with no flickering

• Prone to flickering on and off

• Will flicker and/or cycle on and off as bulb reaches the end of its life

• Faulty ballasts can give off an audible buzzing noise
• Flickering and cycling are common

Dimmable

• Easily dimmable with compatible LED dimmer switches

• Can be dimmed via an electric or magnetic ballast, but this can change the quality of light and reduce efficiency

• Can be manually dimmed but will change the quality of light and may cause the lamp to prematurely expire

• Newer fluorescent bulbs can be effectively dimmed
• A ballast rated for dimming is required

Safety

• LEDs are resistant to damage by physical shock
• Failing involves gradually dimming over time

• Some risk of exploding when bulbs fail
• Contains mercury and requires specialist handling and disposal
• Fragile, so needs to be handled carefully

• Contains toxic mercury, which requires specialist handling and disposal
• Can start fires if the lamp is broken and sodium metal is exposed

• Contains toxic mercury
• Broken bulbs contain mercury within the glass but a small amount is released as a gas
• Requires specialist handling and disposal

*CRI (Colour Rendering Index) measures the ability of a light source to reveal colours in comparison with a natural light source.

**CCT (Correlated Colour Temperature) indicates what hue and tone of white you can expect from a bulb or light fixture.

***Foot candle describes the amount of light that reaches a specified surface area (instead of simply the amount of light that comes directly from a source).