Have you ever wondered how to play bocce ball at night? Maybe you have a bocce ball court but you’ve lamented not being able to play after dark with friends and you’re thinking of lighting your court. Perhaps you have a lit bocce court already but you’ve received complaints of light trespass from your neighbors! What if you were able to light your bocce ball court with long-lasting and eco-friendly LED fixtures without keeping your neighbors awake? For a customer in California, Access Fixtures recently did just that.
Bocce Court Lighting Standards & Lighting Challenges
Bocce ball courts traditionally are constructed in three different sizes depending on the use and function. We have attached a chart indicating those three standard sizes to the right. Our customer was looking for residential bocce court lighting, so we based our solutions off a 60′ x 10′ residential court. There are several important factors in deciding how to light a bocce ball court. One of them is even lighting over the entire court surface. The standard minimum number of footcandles to light a bocce ball court is 10. Many light fixtures struggle to evenly light a bocce court simply due to the elongated shape of the court. Bocce ball is a sport that relies heavily on exact measures, and doing this is next to impossible on a bocce court with uneven lighting or shadowy areas. Another important factor in lighting a bocce court is color rendering index. In bocce ball, different colored balls represent different players or teams. Being able to differentiate these teams by color is crucial to effective gameplay and many lighting systems offer shoddy CRI. Last, a major concern for many residential bocce players is finding a way to light the court without creating light trespass problems for the neighbors. Having an overly-bright backyard court has the potential to disrupt other residences. These problems were all concerns for our customer, so we quickly got to work to find an appropriate solution that would address all of these issues.
Our Bocce Ball Lighting Solutions
For our customer in California, we designed two possible solutions to light his home bocce ball court. The first solution includes the use of two 40w APTA luminaires and the second includes the use of two 80w APTA luminaires. These two luminaires placed about ten feet from the end of the court were able to provide the minimum 10 footcandles of even lighting across the bocce ball court. The 40w and 80w APTA fixtures were fitted with Type 1 optics, which projects as a long, rectangular beam of light perfect for the shape of a bocce ball court. Both solutions that we proposed to the customer also included 16′ decorative poles to complement our customer’s garden decor. We have several pole options available but decided on the decorative pole due to the fact that these fixtures were going to be placed in a residential area. Read below to find out why we chose APTA luminaires to light this California bocce ball court.
APTA Luminaires
Access Fixtures’ APTA luminaires are the perfect choice for lighting a bocce ball court and any type of sports venu for that matter. These powerful LED fixtures boast the following features:
- Energy efficient emitting 125+ luminaire lumens per watt
- LM70 at >200,000 hours means these luminaires will last for many, many maintenance-free years
- Choice of five different optics means that light goes where it’s needed most without additional light trespass
- IP67 Rating makes these completely sealed fixtures submersible, dustproof, and weatherproof
- Heavy-duty die-cast aluminum housing protects the fixture from salt spray and corrosion
- No-glass design means no breakage, ever
- High-CRI renders colors true to life. CRI of over 70 is standard but 80+ and 90+ CRI available at minimal cost
- Modular construction for easy repairs if necessary
- Low EPA reduces stress on poles
APTA luminaires are the natural choice for sports lighting due to their incredible durability, energy output, choice of optics, and efficiency.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Access Fixtures was able to solve our customer’s lighting challenge using APTA state-of-the art LED lighting fixtures. We were able to provide the desired amount of footcandles for a residential bocce court without creating a light trespass problem for the neighbors. Our customer’s fixtures will last for many maintenance-free years, and now they will be able to play bocce at night with ease!
