We were contracted by an ESCO company from the Texas area. They asked us to create a light for the Dallas Texas Chamber of Commerce facility. They had let it be known to the lighting Industry that they were looking for someone to provide a new light to replace the existing 1000 watt, 16” downlights. We learning they produce TV shows in the commerce building thus, bright, clean light was required. The demand was as follows:
The 1000w lights need to be replaced with lights not more than 300w.
They wanted greater foot-candles to be higher than 32 foot-candles at floor level with a 42' ceiling height.
The lights need to be dimmable using either 0-10/1- 10 or resistive wall dimmers.
They requested 4000k of neutral white light, and over 70 CRI.
All custom brackets must be built and offered for all lights utilized for the project.
After a week of calls back and forth and creating renderings explaining our recommendations, we found there was a serious communication issue. We could not get them to comprehend cross-over lighting patterns, the degree of spread required at a 42’ height, and to understand point of light and spread of light lumens measurement. I politely explained it may be better for them if we were to remove ourselves from this project and allow the Dallas group to look at competitors who may be better able to communicate their suggestions.
Three Years passed and, we received a call. They let us know that no-one could meet the requirements and therefore, they requested that we again offer our suggestions and product offerings. They agreed to hear us out. We made them a proposition for the same fixture quoted 3 years earlier. If they would just purchase 7 of our High Bay fixtures and install and evaluate them, we would buy them back if they do not perform as we stated. They immediately placed the order.
We received a call a few weeks later. It was 4:00 am Texas time, 6:00 am in NC. We were told that they stayed up all night and installed the fixtures and, they were now testing the lights. They wanted me to hear something. David, the project manager yelled to his associate asking what the foot-candles were at ground level. I could hear a faint, ‘I’m getting 36 foot-candles!!’ They were elated they finally had a solution.
Of course after the evaluation, it was decided to buy our product. In the end, we lowered their power per light, from 1000w to 200w. We increased the foot-candles from 31 to 36. As well, with our product incorporating our patented watt control system, they were able to lower the watts incrementally in conjunction with the seating, where the ceiling height was reduced in stages, from 42 foot to 28 foot towards the room’s rear section. With this ability, the power saving was over 83%!
After a very rocky beginning, the end result was the perfect solution to their complex lighting project!
Fixtures used in this project: