Gymnasium Lighting Guide

From high schools and colleges to public and private athletic centers, proper gym lighting is a must. For too long, gyms and other sports centers have relied on old, outdated technology to illuminate their areas. Now, better solutions are available.

Learn how AEON LED Luminaires can provide cost and energy-efficient solutions to your gymnasium’s illumination needs.

The Problem With Traditional Gym Lighting

Traditionally, gymnasiums and indoor sports recreation centers have customarily used some form of metal halide, fluorescent, or high-pressure sodium lights. Were they the best choice?

Perhaps at one time, but since the advent of LED technology, old forms of lighting simply aren’t giving gymnasium owners, managers, and users an ideal performance. Broken down, here are some of the most significant issues people have with traditional gym lighting today:

• Fluorescent and metal halide lights tend to flicker and buzz.
• Fluorescent lights can produce excessively harsh, bright lights, often resulting in distractions and occasional discomfort for those exercising or playing a sport.
• Metal halide lights need to be warmed up before reaching their optimal lighting level. Therefore, opening times and event schedules often need to be adjusted to accommodate for this lost time.
• Metal halide and high-pressure sodium lights use more energy than necessary and need replacing more often.
• Some fluorescent tube lights can be awkward to remove and replace—particularly at high altitudes. In addition, should one fall while being serviced, they shatter in tiny, sharp pieces, making it more challenging to clean up safely.
• A gym that is not adequately lit looks uninviting and unsafe. Customers notice and may move their time and business elsewhere.

Gym Lighting Solutions

Gyms, indoor arenas, and other athletic facilities need reliable, durable lighting solutions to serve the variety of sports and events they host adequately. Unfortunately, even a high ceiling won’t guarantee a light won’t get hit by a high-flying ball. Even a tennis ball struck the wrong way has the potential to hit a light fixture.

LED lighting tends to be considerably more robust and more resilient, making such incidents less of a concern as many LED lights will be able to withstand a direct hit.

Similarly, because gymnasiums and indoor sports centers tend to have high ceilings, proper illumination can be challenging. You want the area to be bright enough to light up any activity, but you also don’t want to add unnecessary glare or add to a room’s ambient temperature.

LED lights offer consistent, natural lighting with high lumens that can reach every corner of a room with even, steady illumination. And because LEDs don’t give off much heat while operating, they don’t contribute to the gym’s overall temperature, thus bringing air conditioning costs down.

Gymnasiums and other athletic facilities have unique challenges. LED lighting is perfectly positioned to solve them.

Why Are LED Lights the Best Solution?

Whether it’s a high school or college gymnasium, civic, recreational sports center, or private sports center, LED lights solve many problems. Here are some of the top advantages LED lights have over traditional lighting:

1. LED gym lights tend to be considerably brighter than conventional lighting sources, so fewer fixtures are necessary. As a result, gyms can save up to 70% on their energy costs alone between that and the lower energy needs.
2. Maintenance tends to be more straightforward. Most LED lights plug directly into rigging fixtures, and they don’t need to be replaced as often as traditional lights. This saves money on not only replacement costs but also labor. The lower need for replacements also means fewer chances of accidents while changing high-ceiling mounted LED lights. LED gym lights outperform other lighting setups in terms of quality and longevity.
3. Most LED lighting setups offer users the ability to adjust brightness levels to fit current needs. Controls could even be managed remotely via mobile device apps.
4. LED gym lighting is consistent and gives off less random glare than other forms of lighting.
5. LED lights are more eco-friendly and contain less harmful waste products than other forms of lighting.
6. LED lights give off about 5% of the heat other lighting options put out. This allows them to last longer and contribute less to a room’s ambient heat.

AEON LED Luminaries Are the Best Lighting Option for You

It’s no surprise that LED lighting is leading the way in lighting solutions for gyms and other athletic facilities. The advantages over more traditional lights are unmistakable. They are more efficient, more effective, and come with considerable cost savings and reduced environmental impact.

There’s a reason LED lighting has been supplanting traditional lighting nearly everywhere you look, from Broadway stages to public parks and city billboards.

AEON LED Luminaires are the right choice for gymnasiums, sports centers, and many different styles of sports recreation facilities. They spread light evenly across the indoor field and provide plentiful illumination with the look of natural light.

Browse the Luminaires at AEON to find your LED gymnasium lighting solution today.