Sport field lighting is a live luminaire that is usually used to illuminate large-scale sporting events or other large-scale outdoor events, such as concerts. Sport field lighting is usually installed on poles 40 to 100 feet high, with 1-12 lamps installed on each pole. This type of outdoor lighting is frequently used by schools, colleges and universities, municipalities, amateur sports clubs and professional sports franchises.
Most existing sport field lighting uses high intensity discharge (HID) lamps such as metal halide lamps, high pressure sodium lamps, and very old mercury vapor lamps.
What are the common problems with HID lamps used as sport field lighting?
All HID lamps have inherent characteristics that can cause problems for those managing exterior lighting applications.
- Energy Costs: Common (HID) lamp wattages for conventional sport field lighting equipment range from 400 watts to 2,000 watts. The higher the wattage, the higher the light output. The function of the illuminated area, combined with the number, spacing and installation height of the on-site luminaires, plays an important role in the existing wattage used. Some 1000w or 2000w metal halide sports lights (a very common wattage for existing outdoor sports lighting) can run up to $6,300 and $12,500 a year, respectively, on electricity bills alone.
- Maintenance costs: Maintenance costs are often a big concern for those who manage lighting in stadiums. In addition to potential bulb life issues, sports field fixtures can easily interfere with the daily activities of a team or employee when bulbs or ballasts are replaced. So how much do stadium lights cost to run? Over a three-year period, labor and material costs to maintain an exterior HID playground fixture can be as high as $2,000.
- Lighting performance: Depending on the type of HID lights your facility uses, the performance characteristics of your existing sport field lighting can vary widely. For example, if you use metal halide lamps, you may see whiter light, but these types of lamps tend to have accelerated lumen decay, which means the light output of the lamp drops off quickly after initial installation, resulting in overall usage Reduction in lifetime lights (we’ve all seen those outdoor fixtures with “pink” lights providing barely any lighting on the ground). If you use high pressure sodium lamps, you may see a longer “useful” life because these lamps have less lumen decay than metal halides, but their fuel structure produces very “orange” light with a very low color rendering index . So basically you can trade longer life for a lower quality lamp in terms of the visual perspective of the HPS.
What are the benefits of LED sport field lighting?
LED sport field lighting offers superior advantages for large areas or venues that require lighting due to the way it produces and distributes light. Instead of consuming a “fuel source” like HID lamps, light-emitting diodes generate light through semiconductors.
In terms of “distributing” light, LED sport field lighting typically uses a “multi-point” light source, which means the luminaire has multiple diodes with separate optics. When you compare this to the way most HID fixtures distribute light (with a single bulb and reflector inside the fixture), the result is that the light is “distributed” more evenly in a given area.
- Energy saving: The common wattage of LED sport field lighting is generally between 300 watts and 1200 watts, which usually results in a 50%-80% reduction in energy consumption. And can save up to $8,000 a year in electricity bills per light fixture.
- Reduced maintenance costs: Again, because of the way LEDs produce light, they progress very differently over their functional lifespan. Once the fuel source is significantly reduced, the light output produced by the LED does not degrade very slowly over time, rather than stop working properly. As a result, LED luminaires can last significantly longer (typically in excess of 100,000 hours) than HID lamps, greatly reducing the cost of maintaining external luminaires over longer periods of time.
- Lighting performance: Moving on to the way LED luminaires distribute light: Due to their multi-point design, LED sports field luminaires for field and large area applications typically provide a very uniform light distribution pattern. This means that the light level on a given surface will vary less as the distance from the pole or fixture changes. Compared to HID luminaires, which typically create a “bright spot” directly below the luminaire, light levels drop dramatically with increasing distance from the pole. As far as LEDs and HIDs are concerned, the result is a more uniform distribution of candlelight converted by LEDs. In addition to evenly distributing light, LEDs also offer a range of color temperatures and therefore a range of options to increase the visual perception of “brightness”.
How to improve your sport field lighting solution?
The first is talking to a manufacturer-neutral LED lighting solutions provider. Why use this method instead of the company you might have used in the past few years? Unless the company is focused on delivering LED solutions, they are unlikely to have the performance-focused mindset needed to get the results you need for your LED lighting project for your sport field lighting application.
A key step in any LED project is understanding that LED lighting is not a commodity.
For the past few decades, building facility managers and building owners have evaluated product options based purely on cost, assuming that all options considered are of the same quality. Not so with external LED lighting.
A solution-focused vendor should ask about your project goals:
Budget constraints?
ROI criteria?
Energy saving goals?
Lighting performance requirements?
The right partner will want to understand the results you want, not just what specific products they can sell you. Not all LED products are created equal. Different manufacturers offer different levels of value for different applications, and by partnering with a company with product expertise to recommend solutions that meet your project priorities, you will ultimately get the best results. We would love to learn more about your upcoming lighting project, please contact us and we will get in touch with you.
How to eliminate spill and glare for your sports field lighting?
Best experience: With the upsurge of night sports and more and more professional events taking place at night, people are eager to play the lights from the beginning, so now people pay more attention to the quality of lights, we believe that the glare generated by ordinary lamps can be eliminated. Satisfy athletes’ pursuit of sensory experience. But now, thanks to the development of BBier sport field lighting technology, our precise control and anti-glare lighting allow sports men and women to perform at their best and enjoy the best sports experience.
Damage caused by light pollution: There is growing concern about problems caused by unwanted light at night, such as light pollution and light trespass, leading to various types of complaints. Especially as awareness of various environmental issues continues to grow, lighting designers realize that it is important to control issues related to general topics such as “light pollution” and “light intrusion”. Therefore, we went to great lengths to develop a state-of-the-art optical technology to solve this problem.
What do we do for stadium lighting?
For most manufacturers, just focusing on lighting, for us this is the first step, we are more focused on how to put more light on your venue, reduce spill around, and reduce energy consumption and operating costs.
1. Precise light control
BBIER Precise Lighting Control – Custom optics direct light onto the field and minimise glare entering the athlete’s eyes. Players can track the ball’s flight path like never before.
2. Reduce light pollution and ULR (upward light ratio) 0%
Our precision-engineered polarized light optics direct light directly at the playing field, emitting evenly, and our precision-engineered polarized light optics direct light directly at the playing field, emitting light evenly and minimizing glare. Outdoor spaces benefit from spill control, no more skylight and no more complaints from neighbors.
3. From LED to field
We create controllable lights, not floodlights. Brings excellent light distribution to sports fields. Perfect control of wasted light spilling into surrounding areas. Asymmetric light management enhances the player’s ability to track the flight of the ball.
4. A better budget
We believe that protecting darkness is as important as creating light. For you, that means affordable LED sport field lighting can create a focused, exciting venue for athletes and spectators, and a welcome dark curtain for your neighbors, all while reducing energy consumption and operations cost. An integral light system with adjustable brackets can directly replace old lights on existing lighthouses.