Tennis Court with Pickleball Lines and Proper Lighting

Tennis and Pickleball

It is also possible to illuminate all three courts properly. For club level lighting, a tennis court needs to have over 30 footcandles (fc) and a max/min ratio below 3.0. The max/min ratio is the measure of how even the lighting is on the court. It is the maximum light on the court divided by the minimum light on the court. The lower the max/min ratio, the more even the lighting is. USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) standards are 3ofc and a max/min ratio below 2.0. The max/min ratio is lower as the ball is smaller and thus more difficult to see when moving. 

Tennis and Pickleball Court Lighting 

The photometric study for these courts models the performance of the lighting. The tennis court is club level, average 34fc with an extremely low max/min ratio of 1.73. The lights would satisfy a country club and the low max/min ratio means the light is flawlessly even. 

The pickleball court lighting exceeds USAPA standards, with an average of 31fc and 1.68 max/min ratio. Again, that means it exceed the light level requirement and the light is extraordinarily even. 

Dark Sky Compliant Tennis and Pickleball Lighting 

From an environmental standard, the design of the lighting is dark sky compliant. The Kelvin specified in the photometric study is 3000K. 3000K  or below is the current maximum Kelvin permitted for dark sky compliance. Higher Kelvin is available if that is not a concern and whiter light is preferred. With a higher Kelvin, the lighting will still be dark sky style being full cutoff, but it will not be dark sky compliant. 

Tennis and Pickleball Court Light Fixtures

The sports luminaire used for these courts is an APTI-S 750. APTIs are IP67 rated which means they are submersible. APTIs are EXTREME LIFE rated L70 @ 200,000 hours of life. They are quite durable too, as APTIs do not have glass lenses. There is nothing to shatter. If anything ever damaged an APTI, such as a flying piece of debris during a hurricane, in the unlikely case that one light module was destroyed, the remainder would stay on and APTIs are field repairable. 

APTIs come with custom optics so they are purpose built to meet the lighting requirements of the application. APTIs also have inexpensive options that enhance the performance. Recommended options for the APTI 750s are as follows:

   Backlight Shields – These stop the light from being emitted behind the poles. For a minimal cost it stops light pollution.

   Bird Spikes – This stops birds from nesting on the top of the APTIs and reduces bird dropping on the courts. It also stops the nest from insulating the fixture and causing the fixture to retain heat. 

   Marine Grade Finish – This is a must for locations by the ocean. It increases the protection of the metal on the fixture.

   Surge Protection – This protects the driver from surges in the power grid. Surge protection protects the light fixtures in locations such as islands with unstable voltage and older industrial locations with voltage spikes. 

Tennis Court and Pickleball Court Poles

This lighting package uses (4) 25’ poles. Poles can be made of steel, aluminum or fiberglass, and are available in a different colors. Many poles need to be designed to withstand local conditions including wind speed and salt water. For example a court in the Florida Keys has salt water come up and over the court during hurricanes. The poles had to be built to bolt down to existing bolts and withstand salt water. We manufactured fiberglass poles with bolt down stainless steel bases to meet the requirements. Courts in the Cayman Islands required poles that would not degrade in salt air, could only be bolted down to attach to solid rock terrain, and had to withstand 180mph winds. Again the solution was fiberglass poles. 

What are your lighting requirements? Let us know. Speak with an Access Fixtures Lighting Specialist.