Sport Field wireless lighting control and monitoring system
DimOnOff - Sport fields and parks light management solutions
Have you ever wonder as to why the municipal parks and sport fields are all lit even when unoccupied because of bad weather or simply by the lack of users. The reason is very simple; most of them are controlled by a timer or a photocell that turns ON all lights at sunset for either a predetermined time or worse until daybreak. A typical installation uses thousands of watts; thus it represents a very interesting source of economy.
Upgrading the light control system to reduce energy consumption, extend lamp life and reduce light pollution is now simplified. DimOnOff provides managers of external or internal sport fields (Baseball, Soccer, Football, etc.) management solutions for lighting of these surfaces.
We believe it is important to provide services to citizens paying taxes but we also strongly believe in reducing waste, so it is with this premise in mind that we developed a control system that offers flexibility to players wishing to use the equipment by allowing them to turn ON the lights to practice their favorite sport when and for as long as they want or for periods established by managers. On the other hand, the system will not automatically turn ON lighting when no one is present. It is also possible to optionally turn ON some lights in order to maintain safety even when the facilities are not in use.
The solutions proposed by DimOnOff maximize the use of various technologies which ensure that their implementation will generally require no or very little new wiring or modifications to existing system. Installation is simplified allowing for cost and installation time to be significantly reduced.
In this picture you can see at least 7 fully lit sports fields nearby. On a flight to Toronto in November, I was able to count around 20 below our flight path over Montreal, but all were desert since it was 3°C outside with a mist.
DimOnOff's main controller composed of an astronomical clock, a multi-I/O PLC wireless communication interface, a feedback light and an activation push button.
Loads can be controlled by existing contactors or with additional wireless RF or PLC communicating relays either by circuits or individually.
Note that DimOnOff also offers options to receive monitoring reports if the lamps are defective without an attendant being required to patrol parks at night. DimOnOff also offers a system for preventing wire theft, a sad scenario which seems to have regained in popularity lately.
HOW IT WORKS
1- The astronomical clock only enable the activation button during its preset periods "allowed period", normally related to sunset and a pre-determined hour of the night.
2- If the current time is within an "allowed period", a relay provides energy to a small indicator light showing to the eventual users that they can press the activation button in order to turn the fiend lights ON.
3- When the Activation button is pressed, it immediately turns the field lights ON and starts a timer for a pre defined length of time "playtime" and turns the indicator light off.
4- 5 minutes before the expiration of the "playtime" period, the indicator light (or optionally a buzzer) will start to blink indicating that if more play time is required the users should press the activation button again before the field lights turn off. Pressing the activation button again will provide light for an additional playtime cycle, unless outside of an "allowed period".
5- If the activation is not pressed within the 5 minutes warning period, the field lights will turn off at expiration and if still within an allowed period, the small indicator light will turn back on.
6- If the button is pressed once again and that we are still in an allowed period, the cycle will start once again, otherwise if not within an allowed period nothing will happen.
2025 Lavoisier, suite 135, Québec City, Québec G1N 4L6, Canada