Dover City Park switches to Current LED Sports Lighting for Ball Fields

When the City of Dover, Ohio converted their aging HID lighting infrastructure to new LED lighting on six of their community baseball fields, the improvement was striking.

The City’s Electric and Parks departments decided to replace the 179 existing 1500-watt Metal Halide fixtures with the 720-watt Evolve ESPL LED Sports Lighter from Current. The primary drivers for the conversion to LED were the reduced operating and maintenance expense, lower power consumption, instant on functionality and the reduced light trespass onto the adjacent properties.

Lighting from the existing 1500-Watt Metal Halide fixtures had illuminated areas well beyond the boundaries of the playing fields and, in some instances, lit up the back yards of residents that lived along the park perimeter. The Evolve ESPL LED Sports Lighter, focused a much higher percentage of light on the ballfields rather than on the residential back yards.

(left) Fields lit with old 1500 W Metal Halide, (right) Fields lit with ESPL Sports Lighter. Notice the better light cutoff on the right.

Dover Parks Superintendent Jeff Matthews expressed how impressed he was. “The differences in how the fields are lit up is incredible,” Matthews said. “There has only been positive feedback.” He added that the lights don’t just look good in the dark. “The lights look amazing when lit and unlit compared to the old HID,” he said.

The Evolve ESPL LED Sports Lighter from Current is ideal for municipal sports fields and recreational areas, area lighting, and other applications requiring high light levels. Delivering up to 113,000 lumens, it was the perfect choice to replace the 1500-watt Metal Halide fixtures that had previously lit the Dover Park ballfields.

Jared Bassett, ELUS Company Sales Engineer, was visiting the Dover Electric Field Division and listened while their crews complained about the on-going maintenance of the HID Lighting on the ballfields. He astutely shared the benefits of LED Sports Lighting and provided budget 

pricing. “As a longtime trusted advisor to the City of Dover for LED Street lighting,”  Bassett said, “Current was the natural choice to partner with on the Sports Lighting conversion.” 

Initial lighting designs to meet IES RP-6-22 (Recommended Practice for Lighting Sports and Recreational Areas) were performed by Current beginning in May of 2022. The Dover Electric Field Division installed the Evolve ESPL LED Sports Lighter on six fields in three phases over the past year. 

Dover Electric Superintendent Charlie Stull commented, “The installation went easier than expected.”

In addition to ease of installation, the long life of LED lighting leads to lower maintenance costs. “We are looking forward to the maintenance savings of not having to roll a truck out to change lamps, ballasts, or lights,” Stull said.

Another advantage of LED over HID is the instant on feature. After a brief power outage, there’s no more waiting for the lamps to cool down, and warm back up to full brightness again, virtually eliminating delays to the game. 

Additionally, LED Lighting enhances the overall experience for both the fans and the players. “There’s a better night game atmosphere than before”, Stull remarked.