Floodlights for Tennis Court

[dealtn]

6 per court at a height of 6m. All aimed at the centre of the net.

Genuine question.

Why that focus at the centre of the net? I appreciate tennis courts are smaller than a football pitch, but that wouldn't be allowed in football where a more even spread (and necessary test certificate of Lux distribution) would be mandated.

[csearle]

6 per court at a height of 6m. All aimed at the centre of the net.

Genuine question.

Why that focus at the centre of the net? I appreciate tennis courts are smaller than a football pitch, but that wouldn't be allowed in football where a more even spread (and necessary test certificate of Lux distribution) would be mandated.

That is what the client explicitly stipulated. They were a very fussy lot so my mate just went along with it. The wash was wide enough and the courts small enough that I don't think it would have made a huge difference anyway.

Chris

[Hallucigenia]

Why that focus at the centre of the net? I appreciate tennis courts are smaller than a football pitch, but that wouldn't be allowed in football where a more even spread (and necessary test certificate of Lux distribution) would be mandated.

I'd imagine it's a combination of -

Tennis courts are small enough for the simplifying assumption to be made without having to complicate things.
The nature of the game is that the ball covers the full length of the court every time, which means it will be within 5.49m of the centre point of the net every single stroke (and ?80% of strokes are within 2m of it?) whereas in football there can be prolonged passages of play in a small corner of the field and it would be a problem if that small corner was badly lit.
A minor factor, but tennis courts generally have open sides so overspill is maybe a bit more of an issue whereas the kind of football grounds that are big enough to have lights also tend to have stands, changing rooms etc blocking some of it.

[dealtn]

A minor factor, but tennis courts generally have open sides so overspill is maybe a bit more of an issue whereas the kind of football grounds that are big enough to have lights also tend to have stands, changing rooms etc blocking some of it.

Almost the opposite actually. The lights used by such football clubs have close to zero Lux "overspill". They are very concentrated and installed using lasers for precision. When we installed our latest lights we had to install multiple others outside the pitch area for lighting the now dark spectator and peripheral aspects. We even had (jocular) complaints from residential neighbours they now needed to install extra "intruder" lighting in the back of their properties. The new lights were a factor of 98% better in reducing "overspill".