Baseball Field Light Wiring - Lengths, Wire Sizes, and Voltage Drop

[tlmartin84]

I've gotten pretty heavily involved with rehabbing a local baseball field for the boys.

Money is limited, so we are trying to what we can as funds are available.

Having said that, I have managed to scavenge some older 1500W metal halide field lights. The plan is to install 4 of these on 4 poles around the field with the intentions of upgrading to LED's when the next batch of funding is available.

So for now we are installing a new service, new poles, conduit, wire, and old lights.

I am trying to put together an estimate for this work and have 2 options:

Option 1:

Install service on the press box (370' from nearest transformer) with breaker panel. Power company will require 400 amp meter base to reduce voltage drop using larger wire size. Service will still be a 200 amp service. I am responsible for underground conduit and meterbase.

Then run 250' from the farthest pole back to meter base. At 1500W x 4 ea. / 240v x 1.25, that is roughly 32 amps. Is No. 6 THHN sufficient for this?


Option 2:

Place service on Light Pole nearest transformer with breaker panel. (170' away) Can use 200 amp meter base. Then run circuits, 150', 250', 400' to the other 3 poles. Again is No. 6 THHN sufficient for these runs?



I like option 2 the best for cost reduction of conduit, BUT if the wire size needs to increase, it may offset any savings.


Any suggestions?

 

[Almost Retired]

I've gotten pretty heavily involved with rehabbing a local baseball field for the boys.

Money is limited, so we are trying to what we can as funds are available.

Having said that, I have managed to scavenge some older 1500W metal halide field lights. The plan is to install 4 of these on 4 poles around the field with the intentions of upgrading to LED's when the next batch of funding is available.

So for now we are installing a new service, new poles, conduit, wire, and old lights.

I am trying to put together an estimate for this work and have 2 options:

Option 1:

Install service on the press box (370' from nearest transformer) with breaker panel. Power company will require 400 amp meter base to reduce voltage drop using larger wire size. Service will still be a 200 amp service. I am responsible for underground conduit and meterbase.

Then run 250' from the farthest pole back to meter base. At 1500W x 4 ea. / 240v x 1.25, that is roughly 32 amps. Is No. 6 THHN sufficient for this?


Option 2:

Place service on Light Pole nearest transformer with breaker panel. (170' away) Can use 200 amp meter base. Then run circuits, 150', 250', 400' to the other 3 poles. Again is No. 6 THHN sufficient for these runs?



I like option 2 the best for cost reduction of conduit, BUT if the wire size needs to increase, it may offset any savings.


Any suggestions?

if you do the math, i think you may find the increased cost of the wire may be more than the cost of new led lights

southwire has a dandy little app for your phone that figures wire size based on distance, volts, and amps
i am an electrician and use mine often, it is free by the way

dont crowd the wire inside the conduit, as in make it one size larger than recommended if it is close to fill
all those little ups and downs in the pipe that result from an uneven ditch will add up on your pull for extra bends

buy a quart bottle wire pulling soap and preload the pipe, then slather it on as the wire goes in, extremely improved pulling and less likely to damage the wire

buy a bucket of jet line and use a vacuum cleaner to pull it in, there is over a mile in the bucket and you will be extremely glad you bought it.
it is so cheap that i dont even re-use it, i just throw it away

 

[tlmartin84]

From a practicality standpoint, do you like having the panel on the pole and feeding around the field, or at the press box shortening the runs?

The issue with the pressbox, is I cannot find a 400 amp meter base in stock...anywhere. I was told I'm looking at a year to get one...

The LED's are about 20k....

 

[tlmartin84]

Another question, when calculating voltage drop, when you input the voltage do you use 120V or 240V?

The lights are 240V, but each leg should only carry 120V?

 

[Bert_]

I've done baseball field lights once before. Lighting contactor at the meter feeding a run of aluminum URD that was spliced at each pole. Put a fused disconnect on each pole so each pole was protected individually.

I see no reason to run clear to the press box then back out to all the poles. Lots of extra wire

200 amp meter is plenty for your situation.

Voltage drop is based on 240v. Your lights do not use the neutral.

Nothing wrong with metal halide for this. Not enough use to ever pay for LEDs.

 

[Bert_]

Might want to see if you can get a transformer set closer to where you need it

 

[wyliesdiesels]

dont forget proper bonding of poles, fences, anything metal... gotta really pay attention to this otherwise you could have an electrocution incident.... it has happened before on ball fields

 

[ycgoat]

Have you considered getting a 480v feed from the power company and a small step down transformer for the 120v circuits? I may be dating myself here, but I have seen 1500W MH stadium lights with capacitors containing PCBs. It may be worth while to open a light up if you have not already, depending on the age of the lights.

 

[BonzoHansen]

Someone at the league should check with Musco for grants. and little league if they are LL affiliated.

 

[sparky 1971]

To answer the original question, the 250' run could use #8 copper or #6 aluminum, 400' would require #6 copper or #4 aluminum. Either way would keep voltage drop at less than 4%. Just go with the 200 amp service on the pole. And use aluminum URD or USE wire.

 

[AntonLargiader]

if you do the math, i think you may find the increased cost of the wire may be more than the cost of new led lights

He'll probably want that bigger wire. Looking at lighting plans a bit, the minimum for rec/elementary ball seems to be 20 fc for the outfield and 20-30 for the infield, and those plans have 6-8 1500W HID lights per infield pole plus more outfield poles, with the total being 40-50 lights. He has 16. When the LED upgrade happens he'll want to up the number of lights. In fact, looking at numbers that I see, he may want bigger wire for the future. HID looks like 100 Lumens/Watt and LED is 150? Rough numbers? Doubling his light, which he may want to do, will need more current with LED than what he will need for this scenario.

Maybe my numbers are way wrong but in any case he should know what his future electrical needs are before he buys and buries wire.

Baseball Design Guides

Baseball Design Guides

lithonia.acuitybrands.com

LED Baseball Field Lights | High Power LED Baseball Fixtures | LED Lighting Supply

Discover how our LED Baseball Field Lights can reduce overhead, improve visibility, and reduce costs. Easily replace your lights and get more light! Free lighting plans.

www.ledlightingsupply.com

As a parent and a photographer, good lights are really, really nice.

 

[tlmartin84]

He'll probably want that bigger wire. Looking at lighting plans a bit, the minimum for rec/elementary ball seems to be 20 fc for the outfield and 20-30 for the infield, and those plans have 6-8 1500W HID lights per infield pole plus more outfield poles, with the total being 40-50 lights. He has 16. When the LED upgrade happens he'll want to up the number of lights. In fact, looking at numbers that I see, he may want bigger wire for the future. HID looks like 100 Lumens/Watt and LED is 150? Rough numbers? Doubling his light, which he may want to do, will need more current with LED than what he will need for this scenario.

Maybe my numbers are way wrong but in any case he should know what his future electrical needs are before he buys and buries wire.

Baseball Design Guides

Baseball Design Guides

lithonia.acuitybrands.com

LED Baseball Field Lights | High Power LED Baseball Fixtures | LED Lighting Supply

Discover how our LED Baseball Field Lights can reduce overhead, improve visibility, and reduce costs. Easily replace your lights and get more light! Free lighting plans.

www.ledlightingsupply.com

As a parent and a photographer, good lights are really, really nice.

I'm trying to setup for 50 amps per pole.

This allows for 8 - 1200 Watt LEDs at (170k Lumens). OR up to 6 170k Lumen, 1500W HID's.

 

[tlmartin84]

dont forget proper bonding of poles, fences, anything metal... gotta really pay attention to this otherwise you could have an electrocution incident.... it has happened before on ball fields

IF we were to run 1/0 to 100 amp sub panels on the poles (wooden), are those sub panels required to have a seperate ground rod? Treated as a detached structure?

I'm thinking 1/0 Aluminum to sub panel on first pole, the two 50 amp breakers feeding a run of 6-2 up the pole, and then to the second pole.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Grounding electrodes are for lightning suppression among other things

The bonding i was talking about was to prevent electricity from energizing metallic pathways that should not be energized, such as the light poles, conduit, fences, bleachers, etc

 

[tlmartin84]

Grounding electrodes are for lightning suppression among other things

The bonding i was talking about was to prevent electricity from energizing metallic pathways that should not be energized, such as the light poles, conduit, fences, bleachers, etc

Any idea what type of box I can use at the top of the poles to terminate the SOW cord from the individual lights into?

It would be nice to have something with three bars in it.

 

[cybrdyke]

I'm trying to setup for 50 amps per pole.

This allows for 8 - 1200 Watt LEDs at (170k Lumens). OR up to 6 170k Lumen, 1500W HID's.

You only need about 500 watts (not 1200) of LED to equate to the 1500 watt Metal Halide.
CD

 

[AntonLargiader]

I just got that from Lithonia claiming 150,000 Lumens for their 1500W HID lamps, and 67,000 Lumens for their 500W LEDs (200,000 for the same 1500W). Looks like the OP as working off a similar ratio.

Open to other ways of looking at it, though.