When you think of outfitting your construction and heavy-duty vehicle fleets with lights you probably think of exterior solutions like minibars, beacons and/or perimeter lighting. But what about the inside of your vehicle?

Equipping your work vehicle with appropriate interior lighting is just as important as installing exterior warning lights. Not only does it help ensure jobs are completed at the highest standard, but it creates a work area that is safe for employees.

In today’s blog, we’ll discuss why interior lights are a vital component in the safety of your commercial vehicle and how SWS can provide you with the most durable and reliable interior lighting on the market. 

Lighting and your Commercial Vehicle 

Most vehicles are equipped with basic interior lighting like overhead dome lights and reading lights. While this may be sufficient for the average passenger vehicle, your construction and heavy-duty vehicle fleets will likely require additional lighting to improve interior visibility.

Visibility in work vehicles is hard to come by – even during the daytime. Other than the rear windshield, heavy-duty vehicles are often designed without additional windows, warranting poor interior lightening even when the sun’s at its brightest.

Improve Visibility with Interior Lighting

Interior lighting is designed to provide the right amount of illumination when your fleet needs it the most.

There are a variety of interior lights on the market that can be installed to help improve visibility, including light strips. These low-in-profile light fixtures can be installed in several places throughout your work vehicle, including the underside of shelves, above work benches, and inside drawers.

Another type of interior light that may benefit your fleet is dome lights. Although your vehicle comes with pre-installed dome lights in the front and rear section, for enhanced visibility you may want to consider swapping them out with LED flat panel lights. These interior lights are brighter, longer-lasting and demonstrate a much whiter colour than the dome lights that come factory-installed. 

Benefits of Interior Lighting for Commercial Vehicles

Interior lights are an essential part of any commercial fleet management strategy and outfitting your vehicles with the appropriate interior lighting has several benefits. Let’s take a look at some of the most notable advantages: 

Increases Productivity

The interior lighting in your commercial vehicle can have a huge impact on the productivity of your team.

In the past, many workers were forced to organize their day’s work around the hours of the day. But thanks to today’s lighting advancements, projects are able to take place long after the sun goes down.

By installing dependable interior lighting, your team can work longer and more flexible hours, increasing their overall productivity and your company’s bottom line. 

Improves Safety 

Your employees’ safety is a top priority. Having a well-lit interior helps ensure that your team stays safe and productive while on the road.

By improving overall visibility, interior lights minimize hazards, lower the risk of injuries like slips and falls - both of which can lead valuable team members to take time off work - and increase confidence regarding safety.

In fact, according to a study published by SAGE Publications UK, a vehicle’s lighting system is directly correlated to overall feelings of safety. The study questioned drivers on space perception, perceived interior quality and attractiveness, perceived safety, functionality, and alertness. Researchers concluded that the driver’s overall perception of the car is improved through the use of ambient lighting. The lighting was found to intensify their space perception, enhance the perceived quality of materials and design, help them find controls and make them feel safer. 

Reduce Costs 

In addition to improving workplace productivity and safety, interior lighting can save your business money – and in more ways than one!

Improving visibility in commercial vehicles can help reduce the risk of accidents, which means fewer repair costs and less downtime for your business. Another example of how interior lighting can reduce overhead costs is by making it easier for employees to find what they need in a timely manner. If all inventory and tools are visible at all hours of the day, team members will be able to handle requests efficiently, thereby increasing customer loyalty and satisfaction.

An effective interior lighting system can also reduce the risk of inventory becoming damaged. When drivers have difficulty seeing inside their vehicles, they run the risk of damaging valuable cargo by dropping or bumping into things while they’re loading or unloading items. Interior lighting mitigates these costly inventory damages, saving you money and improving efficiency. 

What’s the best: Halogen or LED interior lights?

For many years, halogens were the gold standard, but the establishment of LED lights in vehicle interior lighting quickly began to change this.

Today, you can find interior lighting for commercial vehicles available in both halogen and LED. To help you decide which technology is better suited for your fleet, let’s spend some time exploring each. 

What is a Halogen Light? 

Halogen lights are a type of incandescent lighting technology that utilizes a halogen gas to increase light output and the bulb’s life.

Similar to incandescent light, the electrical current enters the socket and travels up to the tungsten filament, bringing the filament to a high temperature. The resulting glow reflects back into the glass and produces light.

Although halogens demonstrate a low initial cost, they exhibit a short life span. The standard 60-watt halogen light averages about 2,000 hours, which translates to a lifespan of about 6 months. Not only is changing your commercial vehicle’s interior lights every 6 months time-consuming, but it’s also costly for your business.

Halogen bulbs also produce a lot more heat than other lighting technologies. This can cause issues like premature burnout or damage to nearby objects. And since they produce light through heat, about 90 percent of the energy used is lost to generate heat.

What are LEDs? 

LEDs work much differently than traditional halogen technology.

Simply put, a light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when an electric current passes through. Once the particles that carry the current (electrons and holes) combine together within the semiconductor material, light is produced.

Six Benefits of Opting for LEDs

From their impressive lifespan and incredible energy efficiency to their exceptional brightness, there are a whole host of reasons why LEDs have become the preferred choice for vehicle interior lights:

Incredibly Energy Efficient 

LEDs demonstrate exceptional energy efficiency. They produce light up to 90 percent more efficiently than incandescent bulbs. This means that up to 90 percent of its electrical energy is converted to light, with only 10 percent lost as heat. An incandescent lamp, on the other hand, only converts 20 percent of its electrical energy to light and the remaining 80 percent is lost to heat. 

Demonstrate a Long-Life Span 

Although LEDs are more expensive initially, they’re likely to last longer than low-cost lighting technologies, making them a wise investment. The average lifespan of an LED is 50,000 hours. However, depending on how it’s used, it may go on to last as long as 100,000 hours. This translates to an average lifespan of six to 12 years, which is 40 times longer than the lifecycle of an incandescent light.

LEDs also don’t burn out the same way that other bulbs do. Unlike incandescent lighting where the filament weakens over time, the amount of light a LED produces gradually decreases in what is known as “lumen depreciation”. The lifetime of an LED light is based on how long it takes for the lumen output of the bulb to decrease to 30 percent, so if you don’t mind or fail to notice the decreased illumination, it will likely last you longer than projected. 

Less Heat Generation 

As mentioned earlier, traditional lighting technologies like halogen lamps produce a lot of heat, which makes them quite hazardous. LED lights, alternatively, produce very little heat, making them a much safer choice.

The little heat that LEDs do generate is absorbed by special heat sinks and dispersed into the surrounding environment. This keeps the bulb from overheating and burning out. 

Flexible Design and Durable Quality 

Actual LEDs are very small. In fact, their original use was serving as an indicator light in a circuit board. To make up the LED lights we use today, it takes several LEDs. This design flexibility allows them to be used in almost any application, from brightening up the inside of your commercial vehicle to lighting up a football field.

LEDs also represent an incredibly durable and reliable form of lighting. Since they have no filaments or fragile parts, they can safely operate in cold temperatures and withstand more impact and vibration than other light technologies. 

Ecologically Friendly Technology

LED lighting is an environmentally friendly technology. Unlike most conventional lighting, which contains a multitude of materials that are dangerous for the environment, LEDs are manufactured without the use of toxic chemicals.

Since LEDs are free of toxic materials like mercury, they are 100 percent recyclable. This means that when they reach the end of their lifespans you can dispose of them without any special handling. 

Excellent Light Quality 

To achieve their incomparable energy efficiency, LEDs must sacrifice some of their brightness, right? Wrong! LEDs are capable of producing an extremely high level of brightness. The light emitted from LEDs is brighter and whiter than the light produced by halogens. Despite their bright output though, LEDs are still able to demonstrate lower power requirements and do not require separate lighting circuits or expensive electrical wiring.

Another advantage that comes with choosing LED lights is their immediate illumination. As soon as they are powered on, they will reach their full brightness. LEDs can also be switched on and off several times without it affecting their life expectancy. Traditional lighting, however, takes several seconds to reach maximum light output and frequent on-and-off switching drastically reduces its lifespan.

LEDs are also “directional” light sources, which means they emit light in a specific direction, compared to incandescent lights which emit light and heat in all directions. This means LEDs are able to use light and energy more efficiently in a multitude of applications.

Interior Lighting Solutions Offered by SWS

At SWS Warning Lights, we provide a variety of interior lighting solutions. Each one is handcrafted with superior components in our onsite shop by skilled engineers fully committed to creating the most reliable, durable products on the market. Get to know a bit about each of them below:

LED Flat Panel Light 

You can count on our LED Flat Panel lights to provide improved visibility inside your construction and heavy-duty vehicle all year round.

The low-profile interior white light was constructed using the most durable materials and demonstrates a high lumen with a low current draw to provide your fleet with extended use.

Ideal for mobile interior lighting applications, the panel light is easy to mount, install and wire. It can also be used in recreational applications like tent trailers and mobile homes.

Learn more about our LED White Panel here.

Linear White Light

Light up work benches, drawers, and shelves inside your commercial vehicle with our selection of Linear White Lights.

Each of our Linear White Lights features a low-profile design to allow for multiple applications. The polycarbonate outer case demonstrates an IP66 rating, which means it’s able to sufficiently prevent moisture and dust from seeping through.

Available in two different surface mounting options, you can choose to make your Linear White Light permanent or detachable.

Learn more about our selection of Linear White Lights here.

The Premiere Choice for Interior and Exterior Lighting Solutions 

Whether you’re in need of interior lighting solutions or LED warning lights, SWS Warning Lights is the premiere choice.

Each of our professional-grade products is Canadian-designed and Canadian-made with incomparable attention to detail. We always use rugged, durable components and materials in our products to ensure maximum performance for your construction and heavy-duty vehicle fleets.

Contact us today with your requirements to get started.