Lighting Glossary
It's totally normal to feel as if people are speaking a completely different language when navigating the world of lighting, I mean, what's a retrofit? An outfit from the 90's? And what about other words like lux or lumen or bollard? What do they mean? To help you out, we've provided a glossary of terms commonly used in the sports lighting sphere.
Ballast: Any device designed to provide auxiliary support to the lighting fixture in starting up and operating the electrical charge.
Bollard: A short post with a light at the top. Often used outdoors.
Boring: Making a hole in something by digging or using a tool. In sports lighting, underground boring is often done for wiring.
Efficacy: The ratio of light from a lamp, fixture or luminaire to the electrical power (watts) consumed. Usually expressed in lumens per watt.
Efficiency: A measurement of how effective the light source is in converting electrical power into visible light.
Floodlight: A light fixture that produces a wide beam of light. Often used in sporting venues.
Fluorescence: The ability to absorb short wave light in order to emit longer waves of light.
Glare Rating: A numerical value on a scale of 0 to 100, determined in a specified manner, representing the degree of glare from a lighting system for given observer positions and viewing directions.
HAWKeye: The LED lighting technology provided by Next Generation designed and manufactured for sports lighting. Learn more about HAWKeye.
HID: High-intensity discharge lighting, including mercury vapour, high-presure sodium and metal halide light sources.
Illuminance: Measured in Lux, the perceived brightness of the light falling on a surface illuminated by the lamp.
Incandescent Lamp: A light source that produces light via a filament wire heated to white heat by an electrical charge passing through it
LED (Light Emitting Diode): A semiconductor device that emits visible light when electrical voltage is passed along it.
Lighting Distribution: A classification for luminaires describing the manner in which they control or distribute the luminous flux.
Lumens (lm): Measurement of the amount of light emitted and radiated in a beam.
Luminaire: Technical term for a complete electrical light fixture.
Luminance: The intensity of light emitted from a surface per unit area in a given direction.
Metal Halide Lamp: A high intensity discharge lamp with high efficiency and good colour rendition. These lamps are used in stadiums, warehouses and industrial settings.
Mounting Height: The vertical distance between the luminaire and the surface to be lighted. It includes both the pole length and the base above grade to which the pole is mounted.
Principal Playing Area: All portions of all surfaces which the ball or participants may touch and be considered in play in accordance with the rules.
Retrofit: Add a component or accessory to something that did not have it when manufactured. In the context of LED lighting, retrofitting refers to the process of replacing older lamps with newer LED lights. Learn more about retrofitting here.
Spill light: Also known as obtrusive lighting or light trespass, spill light is light that falls outside the area intended for lighting.
Uniformity Ratios: Describes the uniformity, or similarity, of light levels across an area.
Voltage: Measurement of the force of an electrical item.
Wattage: Measurement of electrical power and usage.
Wavelength: Measured in nanometres. Visible light is just a small part of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation that includes radio waves, heat, light, microwaves etc. Each type of radiation covers a range of wavelengths that are measured in nanometres (one millionth of a millimetre). The wavelengths perceptible by human vision are between 400nm (violet) and 700nm (red).