Tennis Court Lighting Cost

The tennis club wants to install new lights… Obviously this is a big deal, and the other partners in the club have agreed. Very good, because the existing HPS lights on the court can no longer meet the club’s requirements.

However, what caught my attention is that updating the lighting fixtures of all eight stadiums in the club is definitely a difficult task. After installing the new LED lights recently, I am interested in learning more about tennis court lighting and the actual cost of installing the lights.

Strictly speaking, installing tennis court lights is not a big project, so how much does it cost?

The price of a single light pole and fixture is between US$1,200 and US$2,230. The total cost will depend on whether you are retrofitting old lamps or starting from scratch, what type of lamps are being used and how many lamps need to be installed.

A typical tennis court has 6 lights, so the average cost of lighting a court may be between 7,200-13,300 US dollars.

Of course, in addition to the cost of each lamp and pole, there are many factors. Let’s take a look at the installation, renovation, and maintenance costs of tennis court lights and where to obtain services.

LED and HPS Lights

In recent years, if you haven’t seen your local park or club refitting a new light, you may not know what it is. They may be older high-pressure sodium lamps. If it takes a while to light up after turning on the lights, you can tell that they are high-pressure sodium lamps.

Because the light-emitting principle of high-pressure sodium lamps is that electricity is used to heat the metal in the bulb until it evaporates. After heating for a few minutes, it will emit light and reflect the light in the fixture where the bulb is located.

HPS lamps require a lot of electricity to heat the filaments in them, generate high temperatures and then emit light, which is why high-pressure sodium lamps are much more expensive than LED lamps. Since HPS lights reflect from the bulb rather than direct light, a lot of light may be wasted due to scattered overflow.

When these lights are on, you may also hear a slight buzzing sound. Because this is an older technology, it has been the standard for tennis courts for decades. High-pressure sodium lamps lose some luminous flux every year.

LED light is the latest cutting-edge technology in the field of lighting, and it can also be applied to new TVs, smart phones and computer screens. Unlike the old high-pressure sodium lamps, you can turn their LED lights on and off immediately.

 

The initial cost of LED lights will be higher, but they save much more energy. You can easily direct the light to the space you need to cover on the court because the LED is a direct light source.

 

The energy cost savings of using LED lighting in a tennis club will be considerable, especially for such a club with 8 courts.

Replacement of Existing Tennis Court Lights

Many clubs upgrade their lighting systems every few years. In our own club, we ourselves do the same.

 

It took a few days for the construction staff to replace the lighting equipment and bulbs, and then all the stadiums were remodeled. This is much cheaper than starting from scratch or installing all new poles.

Most of the time they just replace the old high pressure sodium lamps with new LED lamps, but the fixtures where the HPS is located still remain. This is much cheaper than installing an entire new lighting system on a new stadium, but the price of each lamp can still be between 350-660 US dollars.

Maintenance Cost of Tennis Court Lights

LED can save up to 75% of the energy cost, so the cost of the LED lamp itself will be significantly saved during the entire life cycle of the tennis court lamp. This is a huge number.

 

There is really not much trouble in maintaining the lamp itself. Outdoor tennis court lights are durable and can withstand all kinds of weather including rain. Therefore, they can prevent rust and corrosion.

The fixture with the bulb is also very sturdy and does not require any maintenance unless you slam the tennis ball directly on the light fixture. Of course, all staff in our club hope to keep the bulb shell clean and free of dirt, so that the lamp can provide better lighting.

Taking into account the high power and the life of the lamp, the tennis court lamp can be continuously lit for several hours. Park LED lights are equipped with timers, mainly due to city regulations, they will be turned off during certain “curfews”, but in theory they can be on all the time.

Layout

If the light reaches at least 6 feet outside the sideline and 10 feet behind the bottom line, you can tell whether the lights on the tennis court cover enough area.

As we know, most stadiums will have 6 or 8 lights, and each light is installed along the edge of the court. The layout of the club’s venue may be different because the lighting may be shared. Nevertheless, you will still see double the lights on the adjacent court.

Different competition venues require different lighting conditions. The higher the level of the stadium, the better the lighting conditions required. If the angle is not correct, the lighting effect will not be optimal. If you often feel glare in front of you when you lift your hair ball, it is because the lighting has not been properly managed.

in Conclusion

Many athletes like to play tennis under the lights at night, but before 2008 most of the time they have not played under LED lights. The difference between the quality of LED lights and HPS lights is very obvious.

Look at the Wimbledon tennis courts, they are much brighter than before 2008, because HPS lights were still used on the courts until that year. Compared with our old lamps, LED lamps have almost no shadows and glare.

What is the service life of LED lamps and high-pressure sodium lamps? The service life of LED lights is extremely long, 80,000 hours! If you light the court for 8 hours a day, it will last about 25 years. This is a major difference when compared to high-pressure sodium bulbs with an average life span of about 10,000 hours.

Can LED lights be powered by solar energy? Solar tennis court lights do exist. Some engineering contractors provide solar panels that can be connected to tennis court lights, which can greatly save energy consumption, but there is not enough power to light the court alone. However, the option of adding solar panels allows you to have more choices. When the weather is clear, the solar panels will generate electricity and transfer the electricity to the battery. When the grid is cut off, the electricity in the battery can be used.