floodlights

[whatsthescore]

how ya, local club are trying to get floodlights installed but are tryin to find out the best measures for the funds available.we are a hurling team so height would need to be different as for football ones. any answers welcome to the following-

recommended height
the floodlight make
amount of floodlights per pole
cost of poles
etc

thanks

[mylestheslasher]

Don't know if you are in the north or south but there is a company going around giving free installation of floodlights on pitches if you allow them to attach a mobile phone mast to the top of one of them. They are obviously looking for suitable grounds but the deal looks pretty good if you are in a suitable place..

Same crowd that agreed this with the FAI...

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0703/1224273904648.html

[illdecide]

how ya, local club are trying to get floodlights installed but are tryin to find out the best measures for the funds available.we are a hurling team so height would need to be different as for football ones. any answers welcome to the following-

recommended height
the floodlight make
amount of floodlights per pole
cost of poles
etc

thanks

For the small ball a Lux level of 350 would be ideal (for games) but if it was just for training I'm sure you could drop that to about 200Lux, as for poles and lamps on them it depends on the pitch and room for them. the poles should be about 18m high and an ideal location is usually 4 columns down each side of the pitch (total of eight). however, you could get three down both side with extra lamps on them. I'll assume the one big mast at each corner of the pitch is out of your league...

Lamp specification...you won't go wrong with Philips or Abacus, try and stay away from those cheap makes(Musco) as you think you're getting a good deal but the running cost is twice of the above and quality and life span is pish...

You can PM me if you need further info

[LeppinMick]

Had a 300lux Musco installation done a few years back, very competitive andhave done nealry all major GAA grounds. No complaints whatsoever about quality or evenness of lighting.

Things to look out for:

the poles: the poles needs massive wind resistance. A lot of companies achieve this through thickness in the steel. Musco use a tensioned cable down the centre of the pole. This gives a sleek pole design along with superb strength. The nuber of poles is irrelevant its the lux coverage that is the important thing. we have a flawless 300 lux system off 4 poles.

The running cost: Consumption is not the problem for us. Running cost is c. €12 per hour with ESB. However we have a standing charge with the ESB which we cannot change. Consider a 3 phase generator.

The lux reading. This is the important bit, to ensure consistency check the height levels that the reading was taken at, i.e. one taken at 1M will have an advantage over one taken at pitch level.

good luck with it!   

[clareman]

Our club got 350 lux in last year - great job..If moneu is no object though go for the 500 lux!! PM if you need more details...

[bailestil]

Just out of curiosity how much does it cost to floodlight a pitch to decent standard?

[Larry Duff]

Not sure of the cost of civil works, but the electrical installation could be done for £50-55K, giving an average of over 300lux at pitch level.

[sawel]

I was heavily involved in erecting the lights in our club to 300 lux.
All the work was gone voluntarily.
For 8 colum's the can cost from circ £1,200 upwards depending on the spec
Foundations can take between 6 or 8 m2 of concrete -- a lorry load -- depending on the ground conditions for each light.
3 phase connection costs are subject to the nearest grid point but you could also consider a generator
Bulbs and their casing are in the region of £500 each

[6th sam]

I was heavily involved in erecting the lights in our club to 300 lux.
All the work was gone voluntarily.
For 8 colum's the can cost from circ £1,200 upwards depending on the spec
Foundations can take between 6 or 8 m2 of concrete -- a lorry load -- depending on the ground conditions for each light.
3 phase connection costs are subject to the nearest grid point but you could also consider a generator
Bulbs and their casing are in the region of £500 each

Our club wont be able to afford full floodlighting in short term.Have any of u experience of cost effective lower grade lighting for training matches etc.

[Larry Duff]

I was heavily involved in erecting the lights in our club to 300 lux.
All the work was gone voluntarily.
For 8 colum's the can cost from circ £1,200 upwards depending on the spec
Foundations can take between 6 or 8 m2 of concrete -- a lorry load -- depending on the ground conditions for each light.
3 phase connection costs are subject to the nearest grid point but you could also consider a generator
Bulbs and their casing are in the region of £500 each

Our club wont be able to afford full floodlighting in short term.Have any of u experience of cost effective lower grade lighting for training matches etc.

If it is your plan to upgrade to a full system in the future then there would not be a massive saving in installing a lower grade system.  You would still need cable sizes, electrical supply, column heights and strengths to be capable of supporting the higher spec project.  The only saving would be in the number of light fittings used.  You could install only half of the total requirement and save about £9k,

[sawel]

For training you can go down the basic route of erecting of used street lamps of around 10m and fixing a number of large domestic external lights on top.

[HiMucker]

We done that Sawel, only one side of the pitch is finished though.  Handy for training all the same.

[illdecide]

You just can't tell someone what size of a base to put in from your PC FFS you need to know the ground bearing pressure and then the self weight and a few other factors before you state the base size, some bases are used as just a mass concrete block (basically a weight) and other have reinforced steel and not as much 35N...

Philips and Abacus are the best in the market and their quality is second to none...Musco would not be my cup of tea but if you have them installed and they're doing the job for you and you're happy with them then first class but i know they use a lamp thats about 20 year old and their data is misleading that fools you into thinking that after say 2500hrs usage that they're still hitting the Lux levels but they will have dropped megga (but you prob didn't notice them dimming over a long period) the other makes design theirs well above what Lux levels you're looking and so after 2500hrs you still have your required lighting level.