Outdoor and security lighting

Outdoor and security lighting in Edmonton for homes and businesses: wall packs, pole lights, motion and photocell control, built for cold winters and long nights.

Why outdoor lighting matters here

In December, Edmonton gets dark well before most people leave work. Parking lots, loading docks, walkways and back alleys spend more hours in darkness than daylight. Good outdoor lighting makes these places safer to walk, harder to break into and easier to watch on camera.

We plan and install exterior lighting for homes, businesses and industrial yards, with fixtures and controls built to handle the cold, the snow and the long nights.

Planning the layout

We often walk a site after dark, because that is when dark spots and glare show up. A good plan covers:

We also ask about how the property is used. A restaurant with staff leaving at midnight, an industrial yard with night shifts, and a family home all need different coverage and different control settings.

• Entrances, doors and walkways people use at night.
• Parking areas and drive lanes.
• Loading docks and storage yards.
• Blind corners, side yards and alleys.
• Camera fields of view, so footage is usable.

Even light is better than a few very bright spots. Very bright floods create deep shadows next to them and glare that can actually make it harder to see, and harder for cameras to capture faces.

Being a good neighbour

Light that spills into a neighbour's bedroom window or up into the sky is wasted, and it causes complaints. Shielded, full cutoff fixtures put light on the ground where it is useful.

Some municipalities and developments have rules on exterior lighting. Requirements vary, so we check them for your location.

Controls and cold weather

Most outdoor lighting should run itself. Photocells turn lights on at dusk; astronomical timers follow the changing day length through the year; motion sensors bring lights to full brightness when someone approaches. Combining a dim base level with motion boost works well for many businesses.

Fixtures need to be rated for wet locations and low temperatures. We seal penetrations through the building envelope, use weatherproof boxes and covers, and mount sensors where snow and ice will not block them.

Cost

Cost depends on the number and type of fixtures, mounting heights, whether new circuits are needed, trenching and pole bases for parking lots, and the controls you choose. Replacing existing fixtures with LED on existing wiring is usually the simplest. New pole lights in a paved lot involve the most work. See also LED retrofits and video surveillance.

For businesses, exterior lighting is also part of how your property looks to customers after hours. A well-lit storefront and parking lot signals that you are open and cared for. For homes, a few well-placed fixtures at doors and the garage often do more than one big floodlight.

When lighting is installed alongside security cameras, we coordinate fixture placement with the camera locations so faces and plates are lit without glare into the lens.

Questions we hear