Indoor and Outdoor LED Basketball Court Lights Manufacturer in China

Are you looking for a great way to spruce up an old basketball court? Naturally, refurbishing will be required, but do you know what can make your court a showstopper? Proper lighting, that’s what!

Understandably, you will be confused over which ones to choose with the various amounts of basketball lights available. It is recommended, though, that you take your time when it comes to buying the proper lights for your basketball court.

What Are LED Basketball Court Lights?

LED Basketball court lights are essential to illuminate sports grounds and courts; without them, indoor games will be impossible and outdoor ones can only happen in the mornings. Games tend to take place in large courts, and thus each area needs to be adequately illuminated.

It is recommended that you take your time choosing LED Basketball court lights to optimize the court lights as needed. You must be aware that different situations require different types of lighting; for example, LED Basketball lights for indoor stadiums will significantly differ from outdoor ones.

Why Are LED Basketball Court Lights Popular?

Professional events would require specific types of LED basketball court lights as compared to school events. Additionally, these lights can be used to illuminate more than just basketball courts. LED lights are a fantastic invention suitable for concerts, parking spaces, parks, malls, and other living spaces.

The factor that makes LED lights popular for basketball courts is that they are an excellent alternative for metal halide, fluorescent, halogen, mercury vapor, and HPS lamps. You can easily replace a 400W halogen bulb with a 150W LED.

LED basketball court lights can also be used as a substitute for floodlights and outdoor wall lights.

Why Do You Need LED Basketball Court Lights?

Before we jump into the detail of choosing the right LED basketball court lights, it is essential to determine why you need to choose LED lights. There are different reasons why you ought to select the proper LED lights.

Furthermore, FIBA has certain sport lighting classes that they have outlines for Basketball games, divided into:

• Class I
• Class II
• Class III

Class I refers to professional, international games and requires high-quality lighting to keep up with the filming and cameras. Additionally, the lighting also needs to be versatile and vigorous to light up the entire court, stands, and provide the required emphasis on critical parts of the game.

Class II, on the other hand, is less demanding. It is mainly referred to regional games, which are less often televised. The lighting required is not as high-scale as the one in Class I but still needs to be versatile for the games that need to be played.

Class III is for recreational and practice games; thus requires some essential lightings. Once again, versatility is recommended to meet any demands posed by the game managers.

LED lights are functional and versatile, plus they are budget-friendly as well.

Other factors that add to the reason you need LED basketball court lights are as follows:

· Games can be conducted at any time of the day

A significant factor to be noted is the playability of the game. Morning games are blessed with natural light, but what about the games conducted at night? Be it indoors or outdoors. LED lights can be powerful enough to provide the same lighting to rival the sun.

Furthermore, scheduling becomes tons easier when you have more slots available to hold games than to restrict the matches to morning only.

· No Flickering Lights

Some lights tend to flicker when screened but not high-powered LED lights! Designed in such a way to tackle even the most powerful cameras.

Choose lights that support 6000 fps video shooting. The flicker rate should be less than 0.3% for televised basketball lights to seamless video streaming.

· Perfect for Televised Recording

LED Basketball court lights opt to maximize the lighting in the court; therefore, high-quality television recordings are possible. A well-lit area always results in proper filming, which can prove beneficial for the filming crew.

What Are The Benefits Of LED Basketball Court Lights?

LED lighting provides modernized technology mixed with a radical design. Higher technology mainly refers to these lights being brighter, long-lasting, and energy-saving than traditional lighting.

They are ecologically sound.

In contrast to other lamps such as fluorescent lighting, which uses mercury, LEDs are made entirely from non-toxic materials and are considered “green” or organic. This proves good for the ecosystem since LEDs act as an alternative for fluorescent lamps in basketball courts.

They are efficient

LED Basketball court lights have an efficiency of 140 lm/W. With an increase in efficiency, the lights use up lesser energy. Accordingly, LED lights are 50-80% efficient than traditional halogen lights. Hence, they are suitable for saving energy, especially for basketball courts that require several lights.

They have a long lifespan.

LEDs are sustainable and classy, with an 80,000-100,000 hour lifespan when properly installed. They can last up to 25+ years. This plays in favor of professional basketball games, which require high-class, long-lasting lights and zero maintenance costs.

In comparison, a metal halide bulb will last no more than 5-6 years/10,000 hours.

They are light in weight.

LED lights are very lightweight and are easily manageable. In courts, hundreds are required, and the less bulk allows them to be fitted seamlessly into the structure without causing any distress.

Heat sink system

LED lights are known to produce less heat as compared to their counterparts. Basketball courts are filled with hundreds of people, and it is a given that they will be hot. LEDs add only a slight amount to the heat, where other lights would add ten-folds!

Furthermore, low production of heat also makes the lights less prone to bursting. This will also allow the basketball players to focus on the game and reduce the risks of overheating.

They have excellent durability.

LEDs are classified as solid express lighting devices that are designed to handle all sorts of stress and duress. Fixed with a reliable and sturdy protective layer and material such as die-cast aluminum, you are ensured that no LED light will break if hit.

Additionally, the high durability also allows you to keep low reserves which saves costs. You can choose from a range of wattage, i.e., 70W-2200W. Depending on your expenditure and requirement, choose the best wattages.

They have an adjustable light frequency.

With an instant turn-on time, LEDs are highly resourceful. They do not have the wait time most other lights have. You need to flip the switch to illuminate the field within seconds. Their alternate choice, metal halide lamps, reportedly take 30 minutes or so to reach maximum brightness.

LEDs also boast a nifty trick of adjustable lighting. This makes them highly versatile as preferred by basketball courts; for example, Class I lighting can be used as Class II and Class III games by dimming the lights according to the requirement.

How To Choose the Best LED Basketball Court Lights?

Now that you know all the information listed above, you must be wondering: “How do you choose the best-LED Basketball court lights?” The following features are what you need to consider:

Consider the purpose

Your first step to choosing LED lights should be to think about what you want to achieve with them. Do you want them so people can see the area clearly, whether for entertainment or safety? What type of space will you install them in?

For a basketball court, all the above questions ring a resounding ‘yes. Hence, with the primary purpose of the lights decided, it lets you cut out any unrequired costs. Moreover, having a plan at hand will always help you in the long run, as you will already have a backup or work-around for any issues that pop up.

Number of Lighting Fixtures

The number depends on the height of the poles and the total space of the court. A basketball court is ~4700 sq. feet. According to international standards, you will need eight fixtures at 20 feet height with 45000 lumens each for good lighting. For a tennis court, six fixtures of 30000 lumens at a lowered height of 18 ft is the best quantity.

It is better to install several lighting fixtures of fewer lumens rather than a few with high lumens to create a homogeneous lighting effect.

Wattage and Brightness

The lights in Basketball courts are often measured by lumens, with a few guidebooks recording that at least 90000 lumens on average are required to light up a standard basketball court.

The basketball recreational/backyard court requires 200 lux, and the professional court (FIFA/NBA) requires 2000 lux for proper illumination, which is a total of 84000 and 840000 lumens, respectively.

The ratio of maximum lux and minimum lux in the court should not be less than 0.7.

Referring to an expert is recommended to optimize the LED lights you purchase for any basketball court. Plus, it can never hurt to have a professional’s opinion.

Table 1 Avg. lux for different cases

Color temperature and CRI

Moreover, the color temperature between the range 5500K-6000K must be chosen. Keep the CRI of LEDs at least 80. Outdoor basketball court lighting must mimic natural sunlight that is equivalent to 6000K white light color temperature. This range is under basketball lighting design experience and is perfect for creating a solar light experience inside the closed court.

Lighting Position and Height

Another factor to note is that the position of the light should not cause any glares towards any filming camera. This is an absolute must for Class I games which are always televised.

This is avoided by placing fixtures at a certain height and on both ends of the stadium. Note that lighting position is different for outdoor and indoor courts.

• Outdoor: The court’s standard dimension is 28m length and 15m width. There should be nothing at about 7m of height above the ground, so the fixtures must be greater than 7m at about 10-12 m. The outdoor arrangement usually uses 4, 6, or 8 poles of lighting fixtures.
• Indoor: In indoor games, symmetrical lights are placed in groups directly above the ground to throw a perpendicular beam of light on the court. In other cases, lights are fixed on both ends of the court, and the beam is not perpendicular, rather at a beam angle of 65° with a vertical pole. Sometimes a mix of both these arrangements is used.

The standard ceiling height of the gyms and court is 25 ft, so it is recommended to hang the lights 2–3 feet from the ceiling at approx. 21-23 ft above the court.

The lights should be at a 1meter distance from the site. The beam angle should never be less than 25°. Look for wide angles and strong glare diffusers.

Weatherproof and IP rating

Outdoor courts would require quality lights that can endure harsh weather. For an outdoor basketball game, IP rating must be equal to or greater than IP65.

Take special notice of the surge protection feature as you do not want sudden electricity surge to damage your lights. You need to ensure the lightings you choose is highly optimized and qualitative. Go for fixtures with built-in 10KV surge and high-quality drivers, LED chips, and glare diffusers.

Sensors and Controls

Sensors and controls are primarily dependent on personal preference or the requirements posed by the game. Perhaps you prefer automatic lights that can turn on or off on their own? Or would you like automated outdoor lights that turn on automatically at night? You can always choose solar LEDs to save money and improve efficiency.

The options are endless; hence it is recommended you choose the LED lighting which contains the sensors you want for your basketball court.

Estimated Monthly Cost Of LED Basketball Court Lights

As mentioned earlier, a professional televised basketball game requires 2000 lux for proper illumination, which means you need 6000 watts LED lights. The approximate measurements are carried out as follows:

For an hour: 6000 x $0.02/1000= $0.72

If you run the lights for 8 hours a day, the cost will be 8x$0.72=$5.76 per day and $172.8 per month. The same hours will cost you ten-folds for a traditional halogen bulb. Although LEDs demand a greater investment cost, they will save you a lot of electricity in the long run.

Conclusion

LED Basketball court lights are an absolute must in basketball games to ensure that games are being played correctly. Proper illumination would allow the camera to catch all parts of the game.

Moreover, proper lighting will provide a worthwhile experience for both the players and spectators, allowing basketball players to play correctly and the latter to enjoy the athletic game in the best lighting.

RC Lighting is always here to help in whatever way you prefer. From lighting stadiums with stadium floodlights to indoor or outdoor LED basketball court lights, even to underwater water-proof pool lights. RC Lighting has it all. Contact us and get a quote now!