QUALITY
So that fixture really an equal to Sportlite?

LAMP LIFE
Is it true that 400-watt metal halide lamps have a longer lamp life than triple tube compact fluorescent?
If you say that compact fluorescent lamps will have a life of 10,000 to 20,000 hours (depending on lamp type) why do I have burnouts at 10,000 hours?

COMPUTER ANALYSIS
Can I get a computer analysis done on my facility so i will know how many foot-candles to expect when using sportlite fixtures?

MAINTENANCE
Isn't the Sportlite fixture going to be a maintenance nightmare with 8 lamps and 4 ballasts?
Won't the replacement of 8 lamps be expensive compared to just one HID?

ENERGY PAYBACK
Do Sportlite fixtures offer a good energy payback when compared to lesser expensive metal halide?

REPLACING 400-WATT HID
If the lumen package of the sportlite is not the same as that of a 400 watt HID, how can you do a "one-for-one" change out?

NEW TECHNOLOGY
Since Sportlite uses new technology, how can I be sure that it will work and last as long as HID?

COLD OPERATION
How do Sportlite fixtures work under cold conditions?

MOUNTING HEIGHT
I can't believe that you can mount your compact fluorescent fixture as high as a 400-watt metal halide. How can you get the light to the ground when no one else has been able to do it?

NOISE
Do Sportlite fixtures generate noise like HID fixtures?

GLARE
Don't Sportlite fixtures have more glare compared to HID?

VERTICAL FOOT-CANDLES
High vertical foot-candles are very important for some applications, don't I need high horizontal foot-candles to achieve this?

DIMMING
What do you mean by "stepped dimming"?
I can get "bi-level" dimming with HID, why would I want Sportlite?

PULSEBLOC®
Is the PulseBloc® system UL rated?

Is it true that 400-watt metal halide lamps have a longer lamp life than triple tube compact fluorescent?
Metal halide lamps (400 watt) have a rated life of 20,000 hours based upon 10 hours per start. The Sportlite system incorporates compact fluorescent lamps rated at 10,000 hours based upon 3 hours per start. It is known that lamp lumen output and lamp life are adversely affected by the frequency of starts within a given period of time. When comparing metal halide with compact fluorescent, we find that metal halide lamps are tested with an "on" time in excess of 3 times that of compact fluorescent. This will indicate at least on paper, that they have longer life. But this is not necessarily the case. As indicated by one lamp manufacturer, "at a burn cycle of 2.5 hours per start, the approximate life of a metal halide lamp is reduced to 50% of rated life" or approximately 10,000 hours. If compact fluorescent lamps with a 10,000 hour rated life were tested using the same "start" criteria as metal halide, their life rating would be closer to 14,000 hours. (See previous question regarding Sportlite's 15,000 hour lamp life.)
The above lamp life rating, however, is not the most significant determinant to be considered when comparing the cost/maintenance factors between metal halide and compact fluorescent. The major element that influences lamp life is lumen depreciation. This figure indicates the percentage of light that is lost through normal operation of the lamp. Metal halide will lose 40% to 52% of its rated lumens (light output) within the first 10,000 hours of operation. Compact fluorescent on the other hand, will lose only 10% to 15% over the life of the lamp. It is for this reason that even though metal halide lamps have a "rated life" of 20,000 hours, most lamp manufacturers recommend replacing the lamp at 10,000 hours due to excessive lumen depreciation. This lumen depreciation indicates the difference between "economic life" and "rated life" of metal halide lamps.

Can I get a computer analysis done on my facility so i will know how many foot-candles to expect when using sportlite fixtures?
Yes, Sportlite will do photometrics for you at no charge, simply contact us by phone or email.
You may also download IES Files from this website for your own calculations.

Isn't the Sportlite fixture going to be a maintenance nightmare with 8 lamps and 4 ballasts?
Actually the opposite is true. As you may be aware, Sportlite fixtures work on a lumen contribution principle where as many as 9 to 12 fixtures may be contributing to a specific light level at any given point in the facility. Now incorporate this with the fact that we have as many as 8 lamps per fixture, and you can readily see that at any given point we may have as many as 72 to 96 lamps contributing to a specific foot-candle reading. If 1, 2, 3 or even 10 lamps fail, it affects only a small percentage of the overall light level. In most cases it is not even noticeable unless you look up at the fixture. This means that you can schedule maintenance when it is convenient and less costly, say, at the end of the week, at the end of the game, or when the production schedule is finished, etc.
On the other hand, if you are using an HID light source and a lamp fails, you usually have a somewhat darker area under that particular fixture. If you have numerous lamps out it becomes very noticeable and imperative that they be replaced immediately. This may cause a production line to be shut down or a basketball game to be halted until the lamp or lamps are replaced. Since this is not scheduled maintenance it is much more costly.
With Sportlite, lamp and ballast maintenance can be conveniently scheduled for the long term, thereby having no adverse affects on the facility.

Won't the replacement of 8 lamps be expensive compared to just one HID?
It is true that if you do group re-lamping, the price to replace 6 or 8 lamps in a Sportlite fixture will be a little higher than a single 400watt HID. Replacement lamps for Sportlite fixtures can be purchased for around $8.00 each while the average price for a quality 400 watt metal halide is around $30.00 However, we know that most customers do not group re-lamp. We also know that the lumen maintenance of the compact fluorescent lamp is 85%-90% and that there is no color shift. Because of these two factors, you can replace a defective lamp in a Sportlite fixture with no noticeable difference in light output or color from the new lamp to the older lamps. This means that group re-lamping is not as important with Sportlite as it is with HID.

Do Sportlite fixtures offer a good energy payback when compared to lesser expensive metal halide?
There are occasions that, even with their higher wattage, HID or metal halide fixtures will show a shorter payback than Sportlite. This may be do in part to energy costs, hours of operation and fixture cost. However, it is a rare case when a customer buys Sportlite based on payback analysis only. Customers interested in Sportlite, in most cases, are considering our features and benefits for their particular installation. Some of these features include instant on, stepped dimming, a variety of lamp colors to choose from, higher lamp CRI, much lower wattage, less heat, no ballast hum, etc. If the particular facility has short operating hours and low energy rates it may not show a short payback period compared to metal halide. Even though the payback period may be longer than desired, Sportlite will always save energy over HID or metal halide.

If the lumen package of the sportlite is not the same as that of a 400 watt HID, how can you do a "one-for-one" change out?
It is true that in most installations Sportlite can replace 400-watt metal halide on a one for one basis. One factor for this is that there is a considerable difference in lumen maintenance factors between metal halide and compact fluorescents. While most lighting manufacturers state in their selling literature that 400 watt metal halide lamps will have average (not maintained) lumens of 75%-80% of initial lumens their engineering data shows a different picture. In reality most 400-watt metal halide lamps will lose 40%-52% of their initial lumens by half life or 10,000 hours. According to the Venture Lighting Catalog, you will have average lumens of 73% of initial if the fixtures are group re-lamped at 6,000 hours. On the other hand, compact fluorescent will maintain 85%-90% of their initial lumens throughout the life of the lamp.
Considering these two factors we must remember that when we provide a lighting analysis, it is based upon maintained lumens (actually the reading will be in foot-candles) and not initial lumens. The day the fixtures are installed the metal halide will usually generate a higher foot-candle level, however in the long run, Sportlite will maintain a higher and much more even light distribution throughout the life of the project.
A second consideration concerns the light distribution pattern of our product. Sportlite provides an overlapping light pattern that actually adds lumens from a number of fixtures. This provides higher lumens in the working plane than would be achieved by one fixture alone. Because of this, Sportlite product should be considered as a system concept with groups of 9 to 12 fixtures contributing to the overall foot-candle level in a given area.
There are times however when we may have to add 5% to 10% more fixtures than metal halide in order to provide the desired maintained foot-candles. This may vary based upon the parameters of the particular installation. These parameters may be such items as fixture spacing, reflectance, etc. But, even with the added fixtures, we will save the customer energy dollars and provide all the benefits of a Sportlite installation.

Since Sportlite uses new technology, how can I be sure that it will work and last as long as HID?
While Sportlite fixtures incorporated the latest technological advances in high bay lighting, they are not "new" as it relates to the length of time installations have been in place. Sportlite engineered, designed and patented this product over nine years ago and has had product in the market since that time. Our long term, high profile installations are a testament to our longevity.

How do Sportlite fixtures work under cold conditions?
We have had our AL, SLL and SLC series tested at -25° F. After being at that temperature for 12 hours, the power was applied and all lamps struck immediately. From that temperature it takes a few minutes for the lamps to heat up to normal operating temperature and produce full light output. If a warm up time for maximum output of 15 minutes is too long, you can switch off several lamps and leave one to two burning. This will maintain the fixture at a normal operating temperature. When the remaining lamps are switched on they will come up to full lumen output more rapidly.
We utilize a ballast in our LX800 series that will "strike" the lamps down to a temperature of -30° C. Since this is an indoor fixture, this is colder than most installations would require.

I can't believe that you can mount your compact fluorescent fixture as high as a 400-watt metal halide. How can you get the light to the ground when no one else has been able to do it?
It is true that we do have installations at very high mounting heights. We actually have one installation where the fixtures are mounted at 85' while producing 44 foot-candles on the floor and 48 foot-candles at 15 feet above the floor (documentation available). Part of our ability to do this lies in the fixture design and construction, and part is due to the installed fixture spacing. Because of our overlapping lumen principle we can increase working plane foot-candles dramatically by decreasing the spacing between fixtures.

Do Sportlite fixtures generate noise like HID fixtures?
In short, the answer is no. Metal halide or HID magnetic ballasts generate noise as the ballast gets older. The plates in the ballast tend to loosen and vibrate, thereby generating noise. That is the "hum" that you hear when you enter a room that is illuminated with HID type lighting. The compact fluorescent technology that Sportlite uses incorporates electronic ballasts. Electronic ballasts are completely solid-state, which allows no parts to vibrate - therefore, no noise is generated. Sportlite fixtures are known to be "noiseless".

Don't Sportlite fixtures have more glare compared to HID?
Actually the opposite is true. Consider the two types of light sources. A 400 watt HID lamp has 36,000 lumens being emitted from a single lamp or point source. With a Sportlite fixture you have 25,600 lumens being emitted from 8 lamps or point sources. The lumens are spread over a larger area thus reducing glare.

High vertical foot-candles are very important for some applications, don't I need high horizontal foot-candles to achieve this?
It is true that in some applications, like a basketball court for instance, we get asked to provide a very high level of horizontal foot-candles to insure a high level of vertical foot-candles. In most cases, what is really needed, is equal vertical foot-candles. The usual way to achieve this with HID is to add fixtures (more point sources) to raise the level of horizontal and vertical foot-candles thus reducing most of the shadowing and providing equal light. Most of the time this is done because they wish to do some type of filming or televising, and shadowing makes these procedures very difficult. It is the added point sources, not necessarily the added foot-candle level with HID, that reduces the shadowing.
Now, if we compare a Sportlite high bay (LX800) to an HID high bay, we notice that with Sportlite, we have eight lamps (8 point sources) and with HID we have only one lamp (1 point source). Because we know that it is the number of point sources and not the foot-candle level that reduces shadowing we can see that the Sportlite fixtures with eight point sources will provide a more equal foot-candle level than the same number of HID fixtures with just one point source each. Computer analysis indicates that because of our multiple point sources we can supply equal vertical foot-candles similar to a 200 horizontal foot-candle HID installation with just 90 to 100 horizontal foot-candles. As an illustration, we have provided installations with an average foot-candle level of 44 on the floor and 48 at 15' above the floor. That's only a 9% change in 15 feet. A similar installation with HID might have a variance of as much as 50% to 75%.

What do you mean by "stepped dimming"?
Since Sportlite luminaries contain multiple ballasts, we can switch off one ballast at a time effectively dimming the fixture in steps. The LX800 for example, has four ballasts, each controlling 2 lamps. For each ballast we switch off we are dimming the fixture by 25%. Fixtures may be selectively dimmed for lower power consumption during times when full light levels are not necessary. This "stepped" dimming with instant "full re-strike" is not available with HID.

I can get "bi-level" dimming with HID, why would I want Sportlite?
Bi-level dimming with HID is quite different than the stepped dimming used with Sportlite. A 400 watt HID fixture at full power will consume approximately 460 watts when you take into consideration the ballast loss. When this fixture is switched to the lower power level it will be consuming approximately half of its full power in watts but producing approximately 1/3 of full power light levels. The decrease in light is not linear to the decrease in power. Also, when you switch the lamp back to full power, it will come to full power immediately but it will take time for the lamp to reach full lumen output.
With Sportlite, when you switch off half the lamps, you decrease the power consumption by 50% and the light level by 50%. This is accomplished by switching off the power to 2 of the ballasts which control 4 lamps. Power consumption and light levels have a linear relationship. When switched back to full power you also get full light output immediately.
With HID you have two levels of light. With Sportlite you can choose between one to four levels of light.

Is the PulseBloc® system UL rated?
Yes, the PulseBloc® System is rated with UL under file number E227839 as Energy Management Equipment.