16 - 1500 watt lights for tennis court

[Power Tech]

I got a question, are we talking about an HID installation, or are we talking about 1500 watt quartz fixtures?

If HID, in no way would I want to fire 24kw of HID lamps up all at once, the inrush, and start up current would bring even a 125 amp panel to it's knees.

also If they are MH, pulse start uses only half the current for start up, and less wattage can be used as they produce much more lumen's per watt then standard MH fixtures.

If 1500 watt quartz is the fixture, then I would try to talk them into using PS MH fixtures, as the wattage can be reduced to about a 10th of the power.

a 320 watt PS mh produces about 23k lumen's of light, which will exceed what a 1500 watt quartz fixture would produce.

How big is this tennis court?

If you have room for changes, you can offer the power savings of the HID over quartz. the only draw back is a PS MH has about a 2 minute re strike time, regular MH has up to a 5 minute re strike time.

But I have PS fixtures in service over 7 years and haven't had to replace one bulb, but a regular MH will last about 2 to 3 years. RUUD guarantees there bulbs for 5 years. This would be another advantage over quartz, as they are lucky to last a year.

Just some food for thought.

Ruud makes some really nice fixtures. Lamp life is a good point for MH vs quartz. If you have 1500W MH and a 1500W quartz would there be savings? Or were you thinking of reducing to 1000W MH.

 

[danickstr]

Thanks for the tip on Ruud. I didn't look at them. I am only considering quartz since MH takes too long to restart. I would get angry at the electrician if someone in the kitchen accidentally shut off the lights on my doubles match and then I had to wait 10 minutes to play again.

 

[220/221]

This is 2009.

Quartz lights are stupid as is anyone who would specify or install them.


Yeah....that was harsh but think of the resources that would be wasted using quartz lights, both power consumption and maintenance.


Again, it's 2009.

Accidental off? You tell the customer that the lights will take 5 or 10 minutes to come back on if they turn them off . They will only make that mistake once or twice and it won't be the end of the world.

On a commercial court it's a different story. We would install a timer on the court with time delay switch and warning light wired inso the players could reset the timer a few minutes before they would shut off

 

[Power Tech]

This is 2009.

Quartz lights are stupid as is anyone who would specify or install them.


Yeah....that was harsh but think of the resources that would be wasted using quartz lights, both power consumption and maintenance.


Again, it's 2009.

Accidental off? You tell the customer that the lights will take 5 or 10 minutes to come back on if they turn them off . They will only make that mistake once or twice and it won't be the end of the world.

On a commercial court it's a different story. We would install a timer on the court with time delay switch and warning light wired inso the players could reset the timer a few minutes before they would shut off

Quartz lights have there place. Cost is about 1/10 or less. Lamps are bright and will give them a very white light. Easier to hang. In a Tennis court the people will not be out there all night and probably not every night.

2000 hr lamp life may last them years depending on how much they play at night.

In a parking lot I would agree. A private tennis court I think the quartz are not a bad idea.

 

[220/221]

Cost is about 1/10 or less

Inital cost of the fixture is less.

Quartz lights have there place

Yeah....in 1960 :grin:



Do the math and plug in local utility and labor rates.


6000 watts VS 24,000 watts.


15,000 to 20,000 hour VS 2000 hour lamp life.


I'm no super scientist but even I can figure this one out in my head.:roll:

 

[Power Tech]

Inital cost of the fixture is less.




Yeah....in 1960 :grin:



Do the math and plug in local utility and labor rates.


6000 watts VS 24,000 watts.


15,000 to 20,000 hour VS 2000 hour lamp life.


I'm no super scientist but even I can figure this one out in my head.:roll:

Perhaps I do not understand.

Are you reducing the number of light fixtures the OP is putting in.

 

[hurk27]

Thanks for the tip on Ruud. I didn't look at them. I am only considering quartz since MH takes too long to restart. I would get angry at the electrician if someone in the kitchen accidentally shut off the lights on my doubles match and then I had to wait 10 minutes to play again.

Re strike on a Pulse Start Metal Halide, is down to 2 minutes, not to long to wait.

and the fact that a 320 watt PS MH will produce over 23,000 lumen's, verses about 11,000 for a 1500 watt quartz, right there is a double in light output for less then 1/5 the wattage or 1 in 8 reduction in energy usage.

careful placement of the switches, would overcome accidental turning off the lights, and or locating them by the court, why locate them in the house?

4 16' poles on each side of the court, with a 320 or 400 watt PS MH, would more then be enough to light the court like daylight, But I fear that the low hight poles will cause the light to glare in the players eyes, 20 to 25' poles with double heads, with 400 watt PS MH would be more above the eye line of sight, and using the shaded down style fixtures (cut off) from RUUD, would provide even more protection of having glare in the players eyes.
this would mean 4 25' poles each side of the court, with double head horns, and 8 320/400 pulse start MH cut off fixtures. for a total of 5120 watts, that flood the area with 368,000 lumen's of light, verses the 176,000 lumen's produced by the 24,000 watts of quartz. over double the light output, for less then a quarter of the power. the savings in a year itself would pay for the little extra in cost, pluse the saving in smaller circuit sizeing.

 

[Power Tech]

I see on #20 he changed it to 8.

If it is a really high end I would give them the best. Which would be the MH.

I still do not see the savings in $, 1000W quartz = 1000W MH.

 

[Power Tech]

Re strike on a Pulse Start Metal Halide, is down to 2 minutes, not to long to wait.

and the fact that a 320 watt PS MH will produce over 23,000 lumen's, verses about 11,000 for a 1500 watt quartz, right there is a double in light output for less then 1/5 the wattage or 1 in 8 reduction in energy usage.

careful placement of the switches, would overcome accidental turning off the lights, and or locating them by the court, why locate them in the house?

4 16' poles on each side of the court, with a 320 or 400 watt PS MH, would more then be enough to light the court like daylight, But I fear that the low hight poles will cause the light to glare in the players eyes, 20 to 25' poles with double heads, with 400 watt PS MH would be more above the eye line of sight, and using the shaded down style fixtures (cut off) from RUUD, would provide even more protection of having glare in the players eyes.
this would mean 4 25' poles each side of the court, with double head horns, and 8 320/400 pulse start MH cut off fixtures. for a total of 5120 watts, that flood the area with 368,000 lumen's of light, verses the 176,000 lumen's produced by the 24,000 watts of quartz. over double the light output, for less then a quarter of the power. the savings in a year itself would pay for the little extra in cost, pluse the saving in smaller circuit sizeing.

This sounds like a great design. Ruud even makes the deep baffle for the glare.

If money is not an issue.

 

[hurk27]

Ruud makes some really nice fixtures. Lamp life is a good point for MH vs quartz. If you have 1500W MH and a 1500W quartz would there be savings? Or were you thinking of reducing to 1000W MH.

errr with a 1500 watt MH producing about somewhere above 300,000 lumen's and a 1500 watt quartz only producing 11,000 lumen's, I don't think he would want the players wearing welding goggles to play tennis lol

even a 320 PS MH produces 23,000 lumen's over twice the output of the quartz. So yes by all means do not use 1500 watt MH.

 

[220/221]

Perhaps I do not understand.

Are you reducing the number of light fixtures the OP is putting in.

The OP said he needed 16, 1500 watt quartz fixtures to light a tennis court.

The standard here is six, 100 watt metal halide fixtures.

 

[hurk27]

as a side note:

The reason for eight poles is for lamp placement, the more spread out the light is, the less shadowing, and this can be a big factor in a tennis or any ball game.

Also the reason for more lamps, at less wattage is if a lamp burns out game is not affected that much, not much light loss, loose a 1kw bulb, with only 4 or 6 fixtures, and you have lost quite a bit of light output.

 

[Power Tech]

The OP said he needed 16, 1500 watt quartz fixtures to light a tennis court.

The standard here is six, 100 watt metal halide fixtures.

I agree, if he is installing on a mansion. As hurk recomed the square tube, bullhorns with high quality fixtures. I would go with the 1000W insted of the 100 watt though.

 

[hurk27]

I agree, if he is installing on a mansion. As hurk recomed the square tube, bullhorns with high quality fixtures. I would go with the 1000W insted of the 100 watt though.

yea but I bet your neighbors wont like ya too much.

the main reason for cut off fixtures, is to stop light pollution, which is regulated in many states, no more that 3% light spill over to adjacent properties

see my post #32 I added some more info on the reason I put more lower wattage fixtures in.

 

[220/221]

I would go with the 1000W insted of the 100 watt though.

Insted of huh?

 

[hurk27]

Insted of huh?

see your post #31, I think you ment 1,000 watt, not 100

 

[220/221]

I think you meant meant instead of ment and meant instead instead of insted :grin:

Get it?

I should have highlighted insted. It may have been more funny.

 

[hurk27]

I think you meant meant instead of ment and meant instead instead of insted :grin:

Get it?

now thats a tongue twister

naw it was much easier trying to figure out the 100 watt thingy

It must be past my bed time:roll:

 

[danickstr]

Quartz vs MH in my view: When there are guests over trying to find a light switch, they often make errors. The number of times these lights will be used will not tip the scales of the carbon balance. I am quite sure that since this is my job and I am responsible for the satisfaction of the customer, I will be using quartz. Would not even consider using MH. Just not idiot proof. And the idiot is always the last one you would expect. Or the first.

 

[weressl]

http://www.tennisuniversal.com/List/98/0/LowMount_Lighting_for_Outdoor_Courts.aspx