How to Replace Metal Halide or Halogen Stadium Lights with LED Stadium Lights (1000W to 2000W)

Are you planning to replace 1000W, 2000W, or even higher wattage metal halide or halogen stadium lights? There are many advantages to do so. For instance, you can save the running cost and maintenance cost of stadium lighting because LED is more energy-efficient and durable. Let’s take a look at how to replace the MH and halogen bulbs with LED stadium lights.

Why should we replace metal halide stadium lights?

1. UV emission

Due to the characteristic working principle of metal halide, not only visible light but also UV light is generated. This is because the electron excitation process is not selective – we can’t control it to emit visible light only. The excessive amount of UV light may be harmful to the skin, so we should avoid metal halide in the sports stadium. Especially we are using 1000W or even higher wattage of metal halide lights, the UV light intensity will be very high.

To improve this, we can make use of LED stadium lights. This is because LED lighting has a completely different mechanism – using a semi-conductor to give out visible light only. Therefore, we can see LED lights for the stadium is more advanced, and it is worthwhile to replace the metal halide light bulbs with LED stadium lights.

2. Mercury leakage

Do you know the metal halide lamp contains a certain amount of mercury vapor? Mercury is needed because we make use of the vaporized mixture to generate an electric arc, which is the fundamental working principle of metal halide lighting.

Right, if the luminaires are accidentally broken with the fast-moving football or baseball, chances are that the toxic mercury leaks to the stadium audience seats that causes disastrous consequence.

By upgrading the stadium lights to LEDs, we can eliminate this risk because LED lights won’t contain such toxic substances.

3. Less energy saving

Why should we convert metal halide stadium lights to LED? Another major incentive is to save energy costs. Since LED lights have higher luminous efficacy than metal halide lights, LED can generate brighter lights if LED and MH lights have the same power rating. Especially when we are going to light up the gigantic stadium, we can save around 50 to 75% energy consumption after replacing the 1000W to 2000W metal halide stadium lights with LED. You will see the dramatic difference in the electricity bill after the replacement.

Metal halide LED equivalent
1000W 300W to 600W
2000W 500W to 1200W
Actual value depends on the luminous efficacy of metal halide lamps

4. Limited range of color temperature

To fulfill the FIFA international standard of football stadium lighting, we may need to use the specific color temperature in various circumstances. The color temperature of our LED lights can be customized from 2700 to 6500K which perfectly suits your need, which is better than metal halides that have a limited color temperature range.

Why should we replace halogen bulbs for sports stadiums?

1. Excessive heat given out

Halogen bulbs can easily heat up the stadium, so the football players and the audience may feel discomfort particularly in summer. To light up the halogen bulb, the filament inside the bulb is needed to be heated up to thousands of degrees to generate visible light. However, LED doesn’t require this heating up process, so we can keep the stadium cool after the halogen replacement.

2. Short life span

If you are using halogen bulbs in the stadium, you may find it is fairly painful to replace the bulbs from time to time. You will need to do so because each halogen bulb lasts for only 1000 to 3000 hours, which is quite similar to an incandescent bulb. Apart from wasting money to buy the new 1000W or 2000W halogen bulbs, we also need to spend much on installation. Nevertheless, using LED lights can greatly improve this.

LED stadium light has a much longer life span of 80,000 to 100,000 hours. Replacing the halogen lights with LED can definitely save your subsequent installation cost, so you can allocate many resources in other parts of the stadium.

3. Easy to break

Most halogen bulbs consist of glass and other delicate parts, the fast-moving football, cricket, or tennis balls may easily break the halogen bulbs. We can say the halogen bulb is less resistant to shatter, particularly when we are using the lamps in the stadium. Having durable lights can also improve stadium security.

On the contrary, LED is more durable and resistant to break as the LED chips are covered by the sturdy polycarbonate lens or other transparent material. These lighting fixtures, and thus, can even resist the strong impact inside the stadium.

Tips on How to Replace Stadium Lighting (Metal halide to LED or Halogen to LED)

1. Wattage & lumen of LED stadium lighting replacement

The first and foremost thing we need to consider is the power of the LED lights for replacing the metal halide or halogen lights. The simplest way is to look at the lumen of the existing metal halide or halogen lights. For instance, if each 2000W MH lights have 70,000 lumens, we can use the LED lights having a similar lumen output to replace it. As our LED lights have 140 lumens per watt, we can use 500W LED to replace 2000W this MH lamps. However, it is not the same in other cases because we have to look at the actual lumen output of the luminaires and compare it with the new ones.

The most important fact is that the lumen indicates the brightness of the lamps, while the wattage just represents power consumption. Different light types (LED, halogen, metal halide) have different luminous efficacy, so we should ask the sports lighting contractors before buying. Even for the same lights source says LED, they would have different models having different lighting efficiencies within the company. Remember, never just look at the power consumption of the lights.

2. Weight limitation on light poles or roof

After selecting the right LED lumen to replace the MH stadium lights, we have to deal with the weight of the luminaires. Some companies may offer you extremely heavy LED lights. If the weight of the lamps exceeds the safety standard, it may be quite dangerous as they may fall during football of baseball matches. Especially we are using the 2000W, 4000W or even 5000W LED lights in the football field or cricket stadium.

Thus, if you are going to retrofitting or upgrading the stadium lights, we need to ask the sports lighting company and compare the weight of the old and new lamps. The safest approach is to use the light-weight luminaires on the light poles or the stadium roof.

3. Beam angle of stadium lighting

Another important aspect of stadium lighting replacement is the beam angle, which greatly affects the lighting uniformity of the football field. If the stadium floodlights have a large beam angle, the light beam will be spread and more diverged. However, if the beam angle is too large, the lights cannot travel in a long-distance, so the majority of the light beam will be scattered before reaching the ground. Thus, we need to have the careful and precise arrangement of each lighting. 1000W and 2000W LED lights having 10 to 25 degrees are the common beam angles for the sports field. Contact us to get the free lighting design today.

4. Light color

A way to describe the light color is by using the color temperature. Normally we will use 5000K to 6000K lighting in the baseball stadium, cricket stadium, football stadium, etc. The 5000K lighting can provide a natural daylight feel which is better for sports players. However, if the color temperature is too high, the blue light intensity will increase.

5. Lighting control system

DMX and DALI are the mainstream stadium lighting control system. The general is that we can connect dozens of luminaires together and manipulate the brightness, on/off in an integrated control panel. Sometimes we can use both DMX and DALI in the same venue to achieve the best lighting outcome.

6. Price

Price is always a big concern when replacing the stadium lights. If you happen to ask different sports lighting contractors, you may find that the price of LED light is higher than metal halide or halogen bulbs. However, aside from the initial cost (the lamp cost), we also need to consider the future running & maintenance costs.

If you have a really tight budget, we can even try to get the used stadium lights as the price is usually cheaper. However, we need to check the remaining life span of the lights. And we can’t get the customized lights for the stadium as each venue is unique. If you want to get the best lighting, it is advised to get the new lamps because we can have customized wattage, lumen, beam angle, color temperature, & weight.

If you have any questions about LED stadium lighting, welcome to contact us directly.