How Many Lights Do I Need In My Warehouse?

Warehouses of all types and sizes are legally obliged to keep their operators safe at all times and having an effective lighting system in place, will go some way in complying with legislation, however, not many warehouse owners actually know how many lights they need.

In this guide, we outline how much light coverage you will get in a warehouse, the lumen output needed and a calculation of how spaced out your LED lights need to be.

How do I calculate how many lights are needed?

The quantity of lights required for the warehouse depends on the use, height and width of the storage facility area. When calculating the lights required to appropriately illuminate the warehouse, the following steps should be followed:

• Determine the desired brightness
• Determine the appropriate lumens per fixture
• Evenly space out the light fixtures

Recommended brightness (lux and footcandles)

One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to the brightness levels of a warehouse. Light levels need to be adjusted accordingly…

High-activity areas such as loading bays require the following:

• 400-500lux or 40-50fc

Low-activity areas such as storage rooms require the following:

• 100-200lux or 10-20fc

Lumens calculator

Lumens (often seen as lm) is a measure of the total amount of visible light from a light source. The higher the lumen rating, the brighter the lamp will appear.

To find out the lumens needed for your warehouse, follow the calculation below.

Lumens = Area (square metres) x Lux

Example: 250 x 40 = 10,000lm

As a general rule of thumb, the higher your warehouse ceiling, the higher your lumens.

Recommended spacing

The area covered by one lighting fixture is generally determined by the mounting height of the fixture and the number of lumens per fixture.

High-activity areas such as loading bays:

• 10lm per square foot

Low-activity areas such as storage rooms:

• 30lm per square foot

Warehouse aisles:

• 20lm per square foot

If this calculation isn’t viable or cannot be worked out, you can take the height at which your light fixtures are attached to the ceiling and take this height as the width in-between each fixture. (20ft high, 20ft wide).

Bespoke warehouse lighting

Whether you’re looking for a standard warehouse option or a specialist design, Oakway Storage has the lighting solutions and expertise to help you. We can offer fully adaptable warehouse ceiling lights that grow as you do. Our high-quality solutions meet all required quality and safety standards and are built to last. We make LED warehouse lights attainable for any warehouse or commercial building in the UK.

If you’re unsure as to the number of lights required for your warehouse, our experts can configure the number of fixtures required for your storage facility – get in touch to discuss your requirements.