The benefit of having a large property lies in the fact that you can do whatever you want with it. You have the privilege of fully customizing it, improving upon it in any way that you see fit, as well as introducing its projects that increase its resale value.
Instead of depending on public courts, as a passionate tennis player with a property, you can make a domestic court. This means that you can play whenever you want, however you want. You see, not everything is about winning trophies and plaques. You should never underestimate the recreational aspect of tennis.
Now, to be able to use this domestic court even during the evening hours, it might be a good idea to plan out its lighting in advance. With that in mind and without further ado, here’s how you can plan lighting for a domestic tennis court.
Pole Installation
Before you even start thinking about the bulbs and the electric installations, you need to consider the poles on which you’ll hang the lighting fixtures. You see, pole installation, on its own, is going to require professionals. Finding the right installers, however, is not that hard, seeing as how the majority of pole sellers also do the installation.
The height of these poles needs to be right to minimize the glare and overspilling of light. The average height is 6 to 8 meters for domestic tennis courts. Now, to explain why this is low, a light for a public tennis court can be as high as 10 to 15 meters.
The thing you need to understand is that the height of the pole determines the amount of light. So, if you’re going for shorter poles, you might want to consider installing more of them. With 15 meters of poles, even 4 would be enough. When going for lower, however, you might need to increase the number.
Always Go With LED
LED lights are always a superior option when it comes to illumination. They produce the same intensity of light with 4 to 8 times less power.
Moreover, they’re quite long-lasting. On average, an LED bulb will outlast its incandescent counterpart by 25 to 50 times. You see, it’s not just the installation that you have to worry about, it’s also a potential replacement. When the light dies, it has to be replaced, which means climbing up there to change it. If you can postpone this replacement by buying LED, why wouldn’t you do it?
The last thing you need to understand is that LED produces less heat. This means that the fire hazard on your property is drastically reduced, even though you should still trim and prune all the branches and foliage around it.
Light Pollution
One of the biggest problems with making an outdoor tennis pool lies in the concept of light pollution. You see, both your neighbors and surrounding wildlife will be affected by light that’s too intense. This is not just common courtesy, there are laws and regulations about light pollution.
So, to avoid worrying too much about this ahead of time, as well as skip the stage of speculative work, just read about regulations for LED tennis court lights in Australia. Here, you have everything you need to make your plans, but just knowing what you need doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to execute it all. This is why a project as complex as a domestic tennis court is not supposed to be done DIY.
Electrical Requirements
Probably the most important thing when it comes to a domestic tennis court is the actual electrical requirement of these lights. Sure, LED uses less power but we’re talking about massive fixtures here, providing illumination for the entire court from a 6–7-meter distance. Now, if you go for LED, the power spending still won’t be that high, however, it’s nothing to be underestimated and your safest course of action would be to find a skilled electrician.
It all comes down to the number of poles (which makes the grid a bit more complex) and the level of illumination that you need. At max, for achieving 100+ lux, you will need at least 6kW. Now, keep in mind that this is an extreme case. Chances are that your real power requirements won’t come near this figure.
In conclusion
In the end, keep in mind to plan out the layout of the court first, check how it fits into your property and then consider lighting. Even a soft LED floodlight will be problematic if it’s pointing straight at one of your windows, not to mention physical obstacles on your property that you may have to deal with. Still, it’s a question that you’ll have to tackle at some point. When this moment comes, it’s crucial that you consider everything. With the help of the information we’ve listed above, this really shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
