«It is more difficult to modify than to do from scratch»

“It is more difficult to modify than to do from scratch” - This is the main difficulty of modernizing the existing outdoor lighting, and why lighting companies often refuse to integrate equipment into the existing system: the company Svet Expert has tried to clarify this issue.

Everything has its service life. And despite the fact that outdoor lighting, on average, has an operational period of 8-10 years, it quickly passes. Improper use, climatic features of the environment, the specifics of switching modes - all this can negatively affect the service life of equipment and cause the need for premature modernization of the lighting system. The advice of lighting specialists on the solution of such problems is unambiguous - to carry out dismantling works of the existing lighting and perform a complete renovation of all technological structures, starting from the cable route and ending with light sources. However, the Customer rarely agrees to such a scope of work, believing that partial improvement will save budget and time. In this article, we will try to figure out whether this is really the case.

“The leap in the implementation of architectural and outdoor lighting objects in Moscow occurred at the end of the 2000s,” says the General Director of Svet Expert. "And already in 2013, there were opportunities to use several scenarios and switching modes. Of course, most of the projects developed and implemented during that period today require updating and improvement. We receive requests for survey work, identifying the main light points requiring disposal, and implementing new light sources. But, as a rule, after conducting surveys, we offer customers to completely replace the outdated lighting system, and this is what it is connected with.

In most cases, the main problem lies in the use of the existing cable route and electrical equipment. Switching devices are always less durable and complex in terms of reliability. This vulnerable point can have an impact on the entire lighting system and significantly affect the service life of the outdoor lights. We strongly recommend that our Customers update the electrical energy elements of the circuit that directly affect the proper operation of the lamps and the safe warranty period of the equipment.

The second difficulty of the modernization issue is the combination of modern equipment with already installed and outdated equipment. If we are talking about lamp fixtures, then we are faced with difficulties in selecting power and opening angles. Speaking of LED luminaires, we see the problem of diode degradation. Light white diodes “age”, changing their spectral composition. In simple terms, during their operation, blue color begins to break through. The use of identical LED equipment of the same type, but different service life, is most noticeable in accent light: two identical architectural elements of the building facade will be illuminated by similar equipment in body shape, but only one element will be flooded with pure white light, while the other is illuminated by a stream of blue spectrum.

Under such circumstances, choosing between a partial replacement of lighting equipment and a full complex of reconstructive works on outdoor lighting, we always strive for a justified updating and renewal of the entire lighting system. Of course, there are exceptions where it is necessary to integrate into the existing lighting with the establishment and elimination of defects. Such requests are relevant mainly for historical sites, monuments of architecture and objects of cultural heritage of our country, where the question of the safety of the object and its facade is significant. We will talk about this in the next article."