When choosing floodlights for your sports pitch, did you know that there are different types of lighting poles available for your floodlights to be mounted on? Having the right type of pole is vital for ensuring that your floodlights are safe and meet the requirements of your project.
These stadium lighting pole requirements might be:
Common stadium Lighting Pole Types
Raise and lower
These are the most-commonly used poles for projects undertaken by Halliday Lighting.
The poles we use are uniquely manufactured for Halliday Lighting and are available in different gauges and heights. This allows us to recommend them for a broad-range of sports pitches and other exterior facilities.
Halliday Lighting raise and lower poles are base-hinged which means they can be easily and safely operated by trained personnel using a hydraulic mechanism during installation or when maintenance, cleaning or other work needs to be carried out.
Other raise and lower poles may be mid-hinged and different lowering mechanisms, such as a winch, are also available.
Raise and lower poles eliminate the need to work at height on floodlights and therefore also remove the need for access plant such as a cherry picker or crane. This can save time and money and provides more flexibility when arranging site access. These poles can be particularly beneficial to remote regional projects where cranes are not readily available and costs can be excessive to bring one in from the nearest city.
Telescopic
For projects with aesthetic requirements, either due to planning or the preference of the client, then telescopic poles can be the ideal solution.
They are raised and lowered using pneumatic air pressure for a smooth and quiet operation that takes just a few minutes. As they can be lowered easily and quickly, the visual impact of having a floodlit facility is limited to when the lights are extended for use.
Static
As a basic lighting pole solution, static poles require access plant when the floodlights are installed or when they need to be maintained. Unit costs are marginally less than other pole options but when you consider the additional plant requirements needed for install and maintenance, the cost-saving then tends to be negated.
Other factors to consider
Stadium Lighting Pole height
The correct pole height ensures optimum aiming elevation of the floodlights to give consistent light levels across your pitch. A proposed pole height takes into consideration the pitch size, required light level as per standard AS 2560, obtrusive light compliance as per standard AS 4282 and distance of the poles from the field.
Carrying capability
Depending on the number of floodlights and their associated weight and wind-area, different poles will be able to safely accommodate a certain number of light fittings. The terrain category and wind region for the project location is taken into account when producing the structural calculation for the poles.
Number of poles
A sports pitch will usually have 4, 6 or 8 masts dependent on lighting design, pitch size and site requirements.
Whilst we hope that this article gives you an overview of what’s available when it comes to lighting poles, don’t let the detail bog you down when selecting lights for your sports pitches or courts.
Our experienced design team are available to help guide you through the process of choosing the right products for your facility. They have worked on thousands of projects ensuring that the correct system is designed and installed for the facility.
To send us a sports lighting enquiry for your project, click here.
