Ceilings Required New LED Light Fixtures to Be Identical to Existing Fixtures

Dartmouth College initiated a campus-wide project to improve efficiency and upgrading existing lighting fixtures to cut energy use was one facet.

When Hanover, N.H.-based Dartmouth College initiated a campus-wide project to improve efficiency and make university operations more eco-friendly, one of the main focuses was installing green lighting and upgrading existing fixtures to cut energy use. The Baker-Berry Library was one of the buildings targeted for a lighting upgrade. However, maintenance staff faced a challenge. The ceiling in the library is perforated metal in some areas and solid sheet rock in others so installing new light fixtures would require locating a fixture that would identically match the current openings cut into the ceiling. Ideally, Dartmouth needed a solution that would allow the college to leave the current fixtures in place and retrofit them to be more efficient.

During its investigation of lighting options, Dartmouth discovered there aren’t 8-inch LED can light fixtures on the market, only 6 inch. Immediately, the search turned from new fixtures to LED retrofit kits. In the end, Dartmouth chose TERRALUX’s Linear LED Retrofit Kits for the project.

The ceiling is perforated metal in some areas and solid sheet rock in others, so installing new light fixtures would require locating a fixture that would identically match the current openings cut into the ceiling.

“We selected TERRALUX for the LED retrofit project in Baker-Berry Library because its products could be installed so easily from below without needing access from above in the ceiling,” said Sam Zucker, electrical engineering designer at Dartmouth College. “Once the old bulbs and ballasts were removed, we simply screwed the TERRALUX units in, twisted together a few wires and the installation was complete, each fixture only took a few minutes.”

Zucker and his staff began the retrofit by removing the fluorescent bulbs and the ballast. Before the switch to LEDs, two 26 watt pin-based CFLs powered each can light in the library. These were replaced with TERRALUX’s DLH7 4-inch, 16-watt dual units. Some of the lights were also retrofit for dimming capabilities.

Dartmouth chose TERRALUX’s Linear LED Retrofit Kits for the project.

More importantly, the improved lighting quality and output from the TERRALUX Linear LED Engine enabled Dartmouth to eliminate 100 fixtures. Removing fixtures and the improved efficiency of the TERRALUX LED engines has resulted in a two-third energy savings.

Product: Line Voltage Linear Engine
Sizing: 4-inch dimmable and non-dimmable 16-watt dual units
Output: 50 lumens/watt with a mere 8-watt power consumption per driver
Color Temperature: 2700K
Certifications: UL listed fixture, UL Recognized Component and UL 1598C Classified Retrofit Kit certified