The latest project: arena lights!
Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 2:52 am
Ever since I had my outdoor sand ring put in, which was about 4 years ago, I've wanted arena lights. But they are a costly item, so I kept putting it off ... until this year. I finally bit the bullet and made arrangements to have them installed.
I researched the heck out of it first, but still wondered if my light selection was going to work out. I tried online simulators, read about lumens and color scales and different types of lights, and ended up talking to a couple of salespeople to help me decide.
Here's the schematic I used for planning purposes:
Here's the arrangement I ended up with ... four posts (the one at the front left is just outside of the photo) in total:
My ring is 200' x 100' and I decided to have two LED flood lights installed per pole. The flood lights are mounted on a 4' long 4x4 which is lag-bolted to the top of the 8x8 post. The top of each post is approximately 17' from the ground. Each flood light is 80w and 8,000 lumens. I really thought I'd need a higher-wattage LED flood light with all the research I did, and was worrying that I had overestimated how much light an 80w LED light would give off. But, I need not have worried.
Here is how they look at nighttime. This picture was actually taken when it was still dusk so the sky wasn't black yet.
The picture makes it look like there are really bright spots and really dark spots, but from the arena it is very nice to ride in. There are some faint shadows here and there, and some dimmer areas, but it's all more than adequate for flat work and even for some low grid/cavaletti work.
See the next post for pictures when it's darker out (I can only attach 3 photos per post) ...
I researched the heck out of it first, but still wondered if my light selection was going to work out. I tried online simulators, read about lumens and color scales and different types of lights, and ended up talking to a couple of salespeople to help me decide.
Here's the schematic I used for planning purposes:
Here's the arrangement I ended up with ... four posts (the one at the front left is just outside of the photo) in total:
My ring is 200' x 100' and I decided to have two LED flood lights installed per pole. The flood lights are mounted on a 4' long 4x4 which is lag-bolted to the top of the 8x8 post. The top of each post is approximately 17' from the ground. Each flood light is 80w and 8,000 lumens. I really thought I'd need a higher-wattage LED flood light with all the research I did, and was worrying that I had overestimated how much light an 80w LED light would give off. But, I need not have worried.
Here is how they look at nighttime. This picture was actually taken when it was still dusk so the sky wasn't black yet.
The picture makes it look like there are really bright spots and really dark spots, but from the arena it is very nice to ride in. There are some faint shadows here and there, and some dimmer areas, but it's all more than adequate for flat work and even for some low grid/cavaletti work.
See the next post for pictures when it's darker out (I can only attach 3 photos per post) ...