RM Online - Expand your rental base with portable lighting

It has been said that the need for portable light towers exists anywhere it gets dark. Portable lighting has brought daylight to the nighttime, creating environments that are more safe, secure, friendly and conducive to meeting construction deadlines. A work day once may have consisted of eight or 10 hours; now the day can be extended to 24 hours.

Whether it be the shorter daylight hours in the fall and winter, a too-hot-to-work summer day, daytime highway congestion, an unsafe or unsecured nighttime parking lot, a nighttime emergency or special event or a project that must be completed in a short time frame, portable lighting offers a solution.

Portable light towers have become a necessity to rental customers. Many times their need for port-able lighting cannot be predicted - so they look to a rental center. Customers need cost-effective, efficient, quiet and dependable lighting to complete a project as required. They want portable lighting at the lowest rental rate and the lowest delivery and pickup costs. They need portable lighting that covers the largest area, to reduce the number of light towers required for the job. They need light towers that will not fail and shut down the entire job. (And the rental center may not be too pleased to have to make a night service call, either.) Failures or getting the wrong lights or too few of them can mean significant added and unnecessary expense to the user. The rental center must think in the customer's terms.

So what should you look for in a portable light tower? Some may say that lights are all the same - "All I need is 4,000 watts." But most rental centers - wisely - would not agree with classifying products this way.

So let's talk first about cost. This is important, as rental rates are very competitive. We all know that a good return is a must and that it is relative to acquisition cost, rental rate and utilization, as well as maintenance and repair costs and resale value.

Also, some costs can be associated with inherent designs of the product, such as the physical size of the unit. Most portable light tower manufacturers have realized that a heavy-duty light tower offers significant advantages over the older, more traditional wide-bodied light towers. Many manufacturers offer both.

But the most popular with the rental centers is the compact unit, for three primary reasons.

First, they sit side-by-side on a delivery truck, so freight costs are significantly reduced - both from the factory to the rental center and from the rental center to the customer.

Second, they take up less room on the rental center's yard.

Third, they take up less room on the job site. On a bridge deck or other tight areas, a compact unit could mean the difference between keeping traffic flowing and diverting it.

An efficient portable light tower provides maximum lighting. Compare light towers and you will see there is a significant difference. Traditionally, portable light towers have all used a commercial-grade, coaxial light fixture in which most of the light from the lamp is reflected off the fixture surface. Portable light tower manufacturers may claim that they are providing you 110,000 lumens per lamp, but this can be misleading. Yes, a 100-watt metal halide lamp has available 110,000 initial lumens if held in an upright position (not tilted towards the ground) and if the light is not reflected. Of course, that is not how a lamp is ever used in a portable light tower. An independent testing laboratory has proven that the most efficient portable lighting - that which provides the most usable lumens directly to the work site - is the most direct (that is, non-reflective). That lab also found that the most efficient fixture is one in which the lamp base does not have to be tilted below horizontal.

Quiet operation is a must in the majority of applications - check the decibel rating on any light tower you purchase. Generally speaking, relatively low-rpm, diesel-driven light towers will be quieter and have a longer life than higher-rpm engines.

A large fuel tank is important -you don't have to refuel as much. You can just about bet that if it runs out of fuel, it will happen at night, and shut the job down. Most manufacturers offer a 30-gallon fuel tank that should run for about 60 continuous hours.

Take a look at lamp breakage, which is probably one of the highest, if not the highest maintenance cost on a light tower. How is the lamp held in the fixture? You should be able to deliver your light towers to the job site, fixtures installed, without any worry. In fact, lamp breakage should be virtually non-existent under normal conditions.

Another area to look at is electrical. If you have problems with your electrical ballast, can a qualified person repair them easily and inexpensively? Quite often it is the inexpensive capacitor within the ballast that needs replacing. Make sure you can just replace the capacitors and don't have to replace the entire ballast.

Also look for a generator of at least 6 kW, with convenience outlets to increase the flexibility of your light tower. Many customers want to be able to power small tools, using the light tower's generator. Anything less than 6 kW can't handle that.

It is also important to keep your rental products looking good. Over the life of the light tower, sheet metal damage is a good probability. Look for products that use 10- and 12-gauge sheet metal. These units can withstand a lot of the pounding that is inherent in the rental market.

Portable lighting will continue to become an increasing need for your customers. Opportunities will in-crease for the rental center.

There are a number of excellent products on the market to choose from, so don't fall into the trap that a light tower is just a light tower. Check out the differences. Look at them closely. Put the units you're considering side by side. Kick the tires. Turn on the lights. The differences will surprise you.