How to Choose an LED Wall Pack

Wall packs are the most over specified fixture in commercial lighting. People buy on wattage, hang a 120 watt fixture twelve feet up a wall, and then wonder why the neighbours are complaining and half the light is landing on the roof of the next building. Here is how to actually pick one.

Start with the cutoff, not the wattage

Cutoff describes how much light the fixture throws above horizontal. It is the single biggest decision, because it determines where the light goes and whether the fixture is legal in the jurisdiction.

Type	What it does	Use it
Full cutoff	Nothing above horizontal. All output pushed down and out.	Anywhere with a dark sky ordinance, near residential, or where you want maximum light on the ground for the wattage.
Semi cutoff	Small controlled amount above horizontal.	When you want the wall itself lit as well as the ground, or the building facade is part of the look.
Traditional or forward throw	Classic prismatic lens, light in most directions.	Matching existing fixtures on a partial replacement, or where the glow itself is wanted.
Slim or architectural	Low profile, usually full cutoff, minimal projection from the wall.	Entries, walkways, anywhere the fixture is going to be looked at.

Sizing the wattage

The useful variable is mounting height, not building size. A wall pack is a point source on a wall, and its reach is a function of how high it is.

Mounting height	Typical wattage	Rough coverage
8 to 12 ft	20 to 40W	Doorways, service entries, short walkways
12 to 16 ft	40 to 80W	Loading doors, small yards, building perimeter
16 to 20 ft	80 to 120W	Loading docks, larger yards, perimeter security
20 ft and up	120W and up	Consider an area light on a pole instead

Above about twenty feet a wall pack is usually the wrong tool. You are trying to light a large flat area from one edge of it, which is exactly what a pole mounted area light does properly and a wall pack does badly.

Spacing along a wall

Sixteen feet up, put them 32 to 48 feet apart. Closer than that is wasted overlap. Wider and you get the dark patches between pools that make a lot look worse lit than it measures.

Photocell, sensor, or both

Option	What it does	Worth it when
Integral photocell	On at dusk, off at dawn, no external control needed	Almost always. It is the cheapest control there is and it removes the timer that nobody ever resets after a power cut.
Photocell ready	Twist lock receptacle for a separate photocell	You want to standardise the control across a site, or replace the cell without the fixture
Motion sensor	Dims to a low level, jumps to full on detection	Service areas, back of house, anywhere nobody is present most of the night
Bi-level	Photocell plus motion together	The best energy answer for a perimeter. Low all night, full when something moves.
Emergency battery	Holds output for 90 minutes on loss of power	Egress paths, and check whether code requires it before deciding

Bi-level is the option most people skip and most often should not. On a perimeter that runs twelve hours a night with nobody there, running at 20 percent until something moves cuts the energy dramatically and puts the light at full when it actually matters for a camera.

The housing decides how long it lasts

Wet location, not damp

Exterior wall mounted means wet location rated. Damp location is for covered areas like soffits and canopies. Check the label, because a damp rated fixture on an exposed wall will let water in and the failure is not covered.

IP rating

IP65 is the practical minimum outdoors, which means dust tight and protected against water jets. IP66 is better where the fixture will get hit by pressure washing or driven rain. Both are common on what we stock.

Coastal and corrosive

This is the one that bites. Within a few miles of salt water, a standard die cast aluminium housing with a thin powder coat will chalk, pit and eventually fail at the gasket. Ask for salt spray test data, not just an IP number, and look for marine grade finishes on anything within sight of the water. The same applies near pools, wastewater treatment and some food processing.

Colour temperature outdoors

CCT	Reads as	Use for
3000K	Warm white	Hospitality, residential adjacent, and jurisdictions that cap CCT outdoors
4000K	Neutral white	The safe default. Clean without looking clinical.
5000K	Cool white	Industrial, security, anywhere apparent brightness beats appearance

Most of our wall packs are field selectable across three CCTs and three wattages on DIP switches, which means one part number covers the whole building and you can set it after you have seen it lit.

Before you order

• Check the existing mounting. Wall packs mount to a junction box, and the new fixture's back plate has to cover the old one's footprint or you are patching and painting.
• Check the conduit entry. Back entry versus bottom entry decides whether you can reuse the existing penetration.
• Confirm the voltage. Most commercial units are 120 to 277 multi volt, but 347 and 480 exist and are not interchangeable.
• Look at what the light hits. A full cutoff fixture aimed at a neighbouring property line is still a complaint waiting to happen. Shields are available.
• Confirm the DLC listing if a rebate is in play. The listing has to be current on the day the fixture is installed.