Protecting Lights in a Gymnasium

[pkooistra]

Our church meets in the Gym of a Boys and Girls Club and they are willing to let us install some lighting at our own risk. The trusts are pretty high... but I am still concerned about putting lights in a Gym. Has anyone found a way to protect lights in a Gym? We were thinking of putting up 2 trusts and attaching some kind of plexiglass shield to the bottom of it that would extend out far enough to protect the lights without blocking their beam.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

[RickR]

This thing is fairly pricey but VERY effective. http://www.ssrconline.com/spotlight_cage.pdf

Frankly most stage lights won't be terribly bothered by the occasional basketball at 25'. A traditional PAR fixture is just sheet metal that can be bent back if it get really banged up. Even better are the cast body PARs they could probably take anything that can reach them. A baseball in the lens is another story for either type. But even there safety screens can cover the end.

You might find that the focus gets knocked around if you don't tighten the clamps enough. So there is likely to be some annoyance factor on your part.

[pkooistra]

I saw that cage. They had no prices listed, but I figured they were not cheap. I was going to have a guy in our church look at possibly making something makeshift like it. Still waiting to hear back from him. It just seemed like the gate would cast a shadow, but apparently not.

[Gracetech]

The only protection i've ever put up was a bottom guard that hung from the batten. It was only about 2' wide and ran the length, albiet in sections, of the batten. The guard looked basically like the wire mesh on the bottom of a shopping cart, except in black. The sections actually swung loose so that when a ball hit them they would sway back and forth. This was done so that when you needed to focus them you could swing them out of the way. Although in this instance you could get at the back of the lights pretty well so it wasn't needed.

This setup didn't provide much defense against balls coming in from the extreme front or back but provided great defense from the bottom which is usually the way most balls attack.

crt

[rjwalker]

Whatever your solution, remember that (i) stuff breaks (especially when hit by flying balls), (ii) kids love a challenge and love target practice without being wired to think about consequences, and(iii) bolts loosen ...

And gravity never takes a vacation

[james tucker]

The carpenter guys at my church built these funny cages around the lights a long time ago... And yes.... any light outside of the cage is instantly "targeted" by the teens.

see attached....