If you have a tennis court at home that has lighting already installed, it might be using old lamps. After a while, they aren’t as efficient as they used to be and it’s time to replace them. But why replace the bulb when you can replace the light unit for LED lights instead. Retrofitting your current tennis court lamps isn’t such a hard choice, especially if you consider the advantages.
What is a retrofit?
Sports arenas are doing this regularly, and the upgrade is called a retrofit. Now it’s more common than ever that residential homeowners are fixing-up their old court with new LED lighting. It’s easier to manage and the visual difference is way better than expensive bulbs using metal halide and high-pressure sodium lights. Why does a retrofit make sense? With a new light upgrade, there are fewer replacements you’ll ever have to do.
But that’s not the only advantage since LED technology can do so much more than just light up your tennis court. Let’s find out why:
Why do we need to retrofit tennis court lighting to LED?
Here are just some of the basics of LED lighting that are making tennis court owners glad that they switched. Most of the benefits will be pretty obvious, but others are improving tennis gameplay in many ways.
The advantages over metal halide or HPS
These bulbs are sensitive to all sorts of weather conditions. They get very hot and often attract more insects that you don’t want in your backyard. Worse yet, they make enough noise that is irritating to your ears. Plus the replacement you’ve faced over the years is enough to wonder if it was worth the costs playing at night…
1. Better cost savings
LED lights simply have a higher lifespan over MH and HPS lights. As much as 15-20 years is the minimum amount of time that you can get. Compared to every couple of years, this is a cost-savings that is hard to beat. Plus, the factory warranty is often nearly as long as the lifespan estimate. Since LED uses much less electricity, your cost-savings simply add-up over time. This is double the savings just by switching to a lighting solution that really is worth it.
2. Better light coverage
LED lights aren’t coming from one solid beam of light, since it’s composed of several focused beams. The technology is incredible for getting more court coverage using LED light bars meant for tennis courts. This means you see every little detail and there’s less of an overhead shadow that the previous MH/HPS lights would cause.
See also: Beam angle of tennis court lights
3. Luminous efficiency
How much do you know about Lumens or CRI? Well if you don’t, you’ll be glad to know that luminous efficiency with LED lighting on your tennis court will. Problems such as light glare are improved giving you a GR rating of 55 that’s semi-professional tennis courts. It means you get more comfortable brightness of lighting with a corrected daylight Kelvin. These are two problems that metal halide and high-pressure sodium always failed to deliver.
4. Warm-up time
You might find this hard to believe but for LED lights there is no warm-up time needed. As soon as the lights go on, the light is available right away. Unlike the old bulbs, LED lights work when you need and never get hot or overheat.
5. Programmable
Did you ever want the option to dim your lights or have them set on a timer that turned on at sunset? Older systems may have had similar settings but warming-up just took forever. Now it’s easier with digital interfacing systems that can even be controlled from your smartphone!
6. Doesn’t attract insects
LED lights work from a different light spectrum since there’s no burning filament. Insects such as mosquitoes and moths don’t see these light waves so your tennis court will always be bug-free. Additionally, even with sunlight LED lights rated at 5000K, these lights don’t emit UV rays.
How to retrofit tennis court light bulbs?
1. Lumens of old light bulb should fit the current lamp settings
Your old lighting system probably required a lot of Watts to light up your tennis court. When replacing these old lamps, you only need to know what the Lumen output was for each tennis court lamp. In most cases, you can increase this output with better light coverage and still save on the output of Wattage.
2. Bulb size may be different- how to fix this problem
The original lamp post will likely have housing that was meant for filament lamps. These will need to be removed to make room for new LED court lights. When it comes time to select a LED lamp, it should fit the type of lamp post you have installed already. The style should be a deciding factor, but something that looks fitting to your tennis court.
3. Mounting a new LED lamp head
Old light housings are easy to remove but you do need to have proper access to them for a proper change. Use a step ladder that gets you as close to the light source as possible. Be sure to have all the proper tools ready and an assistant that can hold extra part if needed.
4. Add a lighting control app unit
Thanks to new technology, the newer LED sports lights that are perfect for tennis courts may also come with interactive features. Light controls that include mobile apps are the best since they allow you to control settings, plan on/off schedules, control dimming functions, and even color temperature. All of this can be done right from your smartphone or tablet.
5. Search for a qualified tennis court installer
For some of us who are just not electrically savvy, calling a tennis court lighting contractor or electrician is needed. Installing tennis court lights needs someone who knows how to help focus and direct them over your court. If you’ve chosen a system that has many features, you’ll want to call qualified contractors who’re familiar with tennis lighting.
Safety precautions when retrofitting old light bulbs
1. Make sure that all the electricity is turned off
Getting an electrical shock is dangerous, so safety first is advised for any lamp replacement and retrofit job. The amount of electricity that your old lights used won’t be a concern if that power source is turned off. When new LED lights are finally installed, they can operate from the same line power but with less Wattage used.
2. Be careful removing old bulbs and handling MH/HPS bulbs
Old bulbs that have been sitting for a while tend to be more of a hazard to remove. If you don’t have to remove these old bulbs, the entire unit should come down first. A cracked metal halide or high sodium pressure lamp has dangerous stuff inside them. Having one of these lights fall on your tennis court floor and explode is messy work to clean up.
