Category: Sports Lighting

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September 2021: Lighting the Locals – Feather Sound Country Club

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Arkon Power worked with a nearby country club to bring members top-ranked lighting.

Feather Sound Country Club in Clearwater, Florida, has been a premier tennis and golf destination for Pinellas County residents for almost 50 years. Located just down US 19 from Feather Sound in Tarpon Springs, Arkon Power is a premier LED lighting provider.

The two organizations made natural partners when the renowned club decided to update its tennis court lighting several months ago.

“They went to several LED companies for bids, but we were the most competitive,” Arkon’s Graham Brown said. “We also offered the best photometric lighting design for their criteria.”

Arkon has become an expert in tennis court lighting, a critical area for any country club. For Feather Sound, Arkon provided a flawless photometric design for nine tennis courts and eventually replaced the club’s 54 legacy 1,000-watt metal halide fixtures with 54 LED area lights at only 360 watts apiece. Welch Tennis, a court builder with which Arkon has become a consistent partner, redid Feather Sound’s tennis court surfaces after the lighting project was completed.

After the upgrades, Feather Sound expects to see 70% lower power bills and spend considerably less on lighting maintenance, all while having a brighter court at night. Arkon was able to reuse the club’s existing light poles, saving Feather Sound even more money than expected.

“We worked with their tennis pro to find the exact lighting levels they wanted and were able to achieve a more than 30 footcandle average,” Brown said. “Another advantage to LEDs is that they turn on right when you flip the switch, unlike Feather Sound’s old metal halide fixtures, which took several minutes to warm up to full brightness.”

Arkon has now completed many major court lighting projects, including for Valencia del Sol in Wimauma, Florida, Tampa Palms, a planned community in New Tampa just north of the University of South Florida, the City of Safety Harbor, Live Oaks Reserve in Oviedo, Eastwood Tennis Courts in Orlando, the Village of Woodland Hills in Palm Harbor, Bayport HOA in Hillsborough County, Freedom Park in Kissimmee, and Advenir Magnolia in Orlando.

Email info@arkonpower.com to learn more about this or any of Arkon Power’s other projects.

July 2021: Arkon Unveils Major Court Lighting Project

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Valencia del Sol wows homeowners with Arkon’s LED Court Lighting.

The executives at GL Homes know their residents take racket sports seriously.

A premier planned community builder, GL Homes operates nine communities up and down Florida’s coasts. And when it came time to build the tennis, pickleball and bocce courts at new construction project Valencia del Sol in Hillsborough County, the builder contracted with Arkon Power to deliver top notch LED court lighting fixtures.

“They were definitely keen on having high-end lighting,” said Arkon’s Graham Brown, who led the project. “We were able to submit a uniform lighting design that eliminated dark spots and outperformed the competition.” Arkon’s efficient lighting design, competitive pricing and reputation for court lighting were just a few factors making the company stand out, according to Brown.

To deliver spotless lighting over Valencia del Sol’s five tennis courts, eight pickleball courts and two bocce courts, Arkon performed a photometric analysis and designed a layout featuring (20) 750-watt, (12) 600-watt and (20) 450-watt LED area lights. The light fixtures were perched atop (36) 20-foot, round-tapered steel light poles, each with a custom built sport lighting bracket to push the fixtures further over the courts.

“Court and sport lighting in general is a very demanding application,” Brown said. “We’ve developed our custom strategies over years of doing these projects to exacting specifications.”

Valencia del Sol required a 50 foot-candle average throughout the courts’ primary playing area (PPA), giving them Class III lighting. Arkon was able to further dial in the illumination using high end optics and shielding on some of the fixtures. The result is minimal light pollution and ideal conditions for gorgeous groundstrokes.

“Arkon has worked with some of the biggest players in court building across the state of Florida and has now completed a large number of LED court lighting projects in the Tampa Bay Area and beyond,” Brown said. “We know exactly what customers are looking for when they request an LED lighting quote or photometric design.”

Arkon also worked closely with Welch Tennis, which built Valencia’s courts in Wimauma, Florida, and brought in a third party electrical contractor to complete the lighting installation. Brown and his team provided the contractor a detailed lighting map to ensure the fixtures went in flawlessly and the final result was optimized.

“This is a market that just keeps growing for us,” Brown said. “And we couldn’t be happier to play a part in providing folks the thrilling recreational opportunities they deserve.”

Email info@arkonpower.com to learn more about this or any of Arkon Power’s other projects.

Tennis Anyone?

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Arkon Power has seen a rapid increase in athletic court lighting installations.

Arkon Power’s Graham Brown predicted in October 2018 that sports court lighting would be a growth market for the Tampa Bay-area company. But even Brown has been surprised at how successful the sector—including tennis court lighting, pickleball court lighting, basketball court lighting and other courts—has been.

“LEDs are just ideal for the outdoor recreational sports setting,” Brown said. “Not only are they less expensive to operate and maintain, they reduce glare and improve playing conditions. They’re a winner all around.”

Since 2018, Arkon has installed LED lighting over a significant number of tennis courts, as well as several basketball courts across the state of Florida. Arkon is not alone. Countless universities across the country have turned to LEDs for their athletics facilities, and installation data indicates municipal and private sports court managers countrywide are turning to LEDs to save money on high-quality site lighting.

“LED tennis courts are becoming the preferred solution in areas with high energy costs,” said one tennis court lighting expert. “Beyond extreme energy efficiency, LED luminaires reduce light trespass and virtually eliminate maintenance.”

According to Brown, tennis courts thrive under LED fixtures, usually hung at 18 to 22 feet. Unique lenses, recessed LEDs and directional lighting reduce glare. And the lights’ optical systems are optimized to illuminate courts’ primary playing area (PPA). The PPA extends 10 feet behind each baseline and 6 feet beyond the sidelines.

The light levels inside the PPA are measured through photometric studies, which Arkon completes in-house for every court lighting project. The criteria measured through the photometric studies include the average maintained horizontal footcandles, minimum maintained footcandles and maximum uniformity ratio of footcandles. The measurements determine the specific class of lighting installed on the court. The classes are based on play level—for example, Class I is professional and Class II is collegiate.

Included in the sports complex jobs completed by Arkon are Tampa Palms, a planned community in New Tampa just north of the University of South Florida. Arkon provided Tampa Palms a photometric analysis showing eight 450-watt LED area lights could provide ideal lighting across the entire playing area. The LED replacement of Tampa Palms’ legacy metal halide fixtures fit on four new concrete lighting poles, also provided by Arkon.

“We are very happy with the end result of the product—we are very happy with what Arkon came up with,” Tampa Palms North Owner Association Manager Deborah Paul said. “On the older halide fixtures, every time the lights went out, we had to bring out the lift, and it was quite expensive.”

Arkon has also completed multiple court lighting projects throughout Florida for The Valencia Del Sol Development in Wimauma (south of Tampa), the City of Safety Harbor, Live Oaks Reserve in Oviedo, Eastwood Tennis Courts in Orlando, Village of Woodland Hills in Palm Harbor and Advenir Magnolia in Orlando. For Safety Harbor, Arkon replaced 16 1,000-watt metal halide bulbs over two Marshall Street Park tennis courts with LED fixtures. Arkon engineers determined they could produce the required amount of light with just eight 600-watt LED lights. On Safety Harbor’s Marshall Street racquetball courts, Arkon replaced eight 1,000-watt metal halides with eight 320-watt LED streetlights.

“LEDs are a no-brainer for so many market segments, but perhaps none more than court lighting,” Brown said. “I’ll say it again—we expect this market to keep growing. And we’ll be there for folks when they decide to make the move.”

Email info@arkonpower.com to learn more about this or any of Arkon Power’s other projects.

Tampa Bay Tennis Court Lighting

Tampa Palms Partners With Arkon for Tennis Court Lighting Winner

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(Click on images below to enlarge)

Tampa Palms just missed when it first installed LED lighting over its tennis courts using another lighting company. The planned community, situated in New Tampa just north of the University of South Florida, didn’t want to double fault.

“The first lighting was okay, but it just wasn’t great,” said Deby Paul, Tampa Palms North Owner Associations manager. “LEDs are supposed to provide much better lighting and huge savings on electricity, and we didn’t quite get that.”

Working alongside court surface provider Welch Tennis, Arkon was able to provide Paul and Tampa Palms exactly what they wanted.

Arkon’s Graham Brown and his team performed a photometric analysis of the Tampa Palms courts and determined they could provide high quality illumination over the entire surface using eight 450-watt LED area lights. The one-to-one replacement of Tampa Palms’ legacy metal halide fixtures would fit on four new concrete lighting poles, also provided by Arkon.

“We were able to cut their power use by more than half while giving them 50% more light,” Brown said.

Tampa Palms isn’t the only tennis court Arkon has upgraded. The LED provider has completed multiple court projects for the city of Safety Harbor and Advenir Magnolia in Orlando, and Arkon recently signed a contract on a large new construction project for LED lighting on tennis courts and pickleball courts in the Tampa Bay Area.

“Tennis court lighting is a huge industry, and we’ve mastered the necessary photometrics,” Brown said.

The new lighting at Tampa Palms, which reduced maintenance costs significantly compared to the metal halides

that preceded the community’s first set of LEDs, has been a hit with Tampa Palms residents, Paul said.

“We are very happy with what [Arkon] came up with—we’re very happy with the end result,” she said. “And our tennis players are much happier with the upgrades.”

Email Info@ArkonPower.com to learn more about this or any of Arkon Power’s other projects.

Arkon Aces Tennis Court Lighting Job for Safety Harbor

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Arkon Power helped the city of Safety Harbor upgrade its tennis and racquetball courts with new LED lighting.

The city of Safety Harbor has gone all-in on LED lighting upgrades, and Arkon Power served up a winner for a recent installation high above several local tennis and racquetball courts.

“The city has an initiative to try to use LED products as we go forward with projects,” said Dave Carrozza, Safety Harbor’s maintenance superintendent. “We were looking for a vendor that would be a turnkey operation, and that was one of the things Arkon came to the forefront on.”

Arkon has done several jobs for Safety Harbor since the city put its LED initiative in place. The latest involved replacing 16 1,000-watt metal halide bulbs over two tennis courts at Marshall Street Park with LED fixtures. Arkon engineers determined it could produce the required amount of light with just eight 600-watt LED area lights. Arkon was able to replace eight 1,000-watt metal halides on the Marshall Street racquetball courts with eight 320-watt LED streetlights.

Because the lighting would be used to illuminate a recreational area, glare was a primary concern. But Arkon worked with the city to ensure it wouldn’t be an issue, and Carrozza said local tennis and racquetball enthusiasts have been pleased with the results.

“We haven’t gotten a single complaint,” Carrozza said. “That was our biggest concern.”

Safety Harbor is committed to using LEDs because of their energy efficiency and reduced maintenance costs, according to Carrozza. In addition to offering the turnkey solution the city was looking for, handling the job from sourcing to installation, Arkon’s proposal stood out for cost savings and extended warranties. “It comes down to the money standpoint and efficiency,” Carrozza said.

Arkon Technical Manager Graham Brown said the project was particularly successful because his team was able to replace the existing metal halide lights with fewer LEDs using Safety Harbor’s legacy light poles.

The Safety Harbor project was Arkon’s fifth tennis court retrofit. “More and more customers are realizing LEDs are ideal for athletic settings, not only for the power and maintenance savings, but also for the improved lighting on the playing surface,” Brown said. “We anticipate this being a growth market.”

Email Info@ArkonPower.com to learn more about this or any of Arkon Power’s other projects.