How Can You Plan the Lighting of a Tennis Court?

How Can You Plan the Lighting of a Tennis Court?

Tennis court lighting, like most things in life, varies considerably depending on the type of use and personal preferences. The most important thing to keep in mind is that doing something right the first time is always cheaper than doing it again 2 years later. You should work with a professional and competent company for pole mounting and selection of suitable fixtures to illuminate your tennis court.

In principle, the tennis ball is small and moves fast. This requires a higher level of illumination than, for example, a soccer ball. You can read our article for direct mounting and lighting application options for tennis courts.

Lighting Levels

This woulad be a first consideration as everything else will depend on the total amount of light per unit area required i.e. lux levels. Having enough light to see the base game and just the ball requires a minimum of 100 lux. This would be fine for a fun late night game, but if you're doing the sport at more serious levels and using the field for training, you should really go up to 250 lux. For example, the Australian standard for recreational tennis courts is 250 lux. This will give you enough light for higher game speeds and will give you access to where some clubs bring their lighting levels. In the next stage, the competition continues at 350 lux. These luxury levels allow for high speed play and will be suitable for any class of professional gamer. Any light level can be achieved, it just depends on the budget you set and where you see your playstyle. In the illumination of the designated area, to increase from 100 lux to 500 lux, the poles and light fixtures must be approximately 2.5 times higher.

Apart from the overall level of illumination, the uniformity or evenness of the light spread is equally important. It is not enough for a designer to specify an average level of lux, as this can range from 500 lux to 100 lux directly under the fixtures. Average may be 250 but light will be blocked sometimes due to uneven availability of light. So you need to make sure that the horizontal uniformities are 0.6 and 0.3 (250 lux) and 0.6 and 0.4 (350 lux).

Lighting Control

To ensure you stay friendly with your neighbors, we making our lighting plans to make sure there are no light leaks at ground levels. We recommend our customers mount the lights horizontally. This will tend to illuminate more customized areas as many of the cheaper modules will be mounted at an angle. But while these angled units are less expensive, the glare of these lights can be seen from miles away, so it can disturb the environment.

Pole Mast Height

It's usually best to keep the mast height as low as possible to minimize glare and excess light. Depending on the luminaire used and the lighting levels required, a height of 6m to 8m is usually possible. For public spaces, poles up to 20 m are used, especially when lighting a series of courts with a limited number of poles. This height facilitates homogeneity as the light diffuses naturally when more distance is given.

It is often necessary to use more poles to compensate for the lower poles. For example, if 10-15m poles are used, 4 poles will be sufficient to achieve 250 lux and good coverage. If 6-8m is ideal, 6 posts may be needed to achieve the same results, or 8-10 posts to achieve competitive luxury levels.

The main problem with metal halides is that when bulbs need to be replaced, the higher the polarity, the greater the difficulty in replacing. With LEDs now reassuring in terms of reliability and longevity, keeping the mast height low to facilitate service is no longer an issue.

Note that although these posts are galvanized to resist rust, they can be powder coated or painted to suit your environment. Black or white colors are common for the posts but other options are usually available on request.

Pole Mounting

We design and assemble our poles in accordance with the relevant regulations and standards, with hot galvanizing application and for which we can provide drawings and specifications to assist in a business presentation, according to the area that needs lighting. Poles are often assembled with a complete installation kit that includes a frame structure that is concreted into the ground. This, along with installation instructions, makes it safe and functional for us to assemble the posts for any project.

Electrical Requirements

Typical current draw for a tennis court will be from 2.4kW (less than a kettle to boil water) to 6kW to achieve 100+ lux, which will provide 10-pole level lighting. The modules are typically provided with an LED driver that can be mounted at the base of the pole or integrated into the lamp's design. Although wiring and installation are simple, you should ensure that a qualified electrician installs them and that the modules comply with local regulations.

In conclusion

This planning work will enable you to do sports safely on your tennis court, which is a private or common area for you for many years. It would be a good idea to use this guide to check what you've been told by companies. Sometimes things that are simpler, easier, and cheaper for them may not be the best for you in the long run. Contact us about pole mounting and lighting fixtures for professional tennis court lighting systems. Let's choose the best for your sport together.