Lighting Options for Hitting Area

[Pat S.]

I'm curious to hear what others are using for lighting the hitting area when using Skytrak.

I know Skytrak isn't too picky on lighting and I know lighting matters more with other types of simulators. I'm not necessarily having trouble with lighting, just looking for options.

I'm in my garage and my Skytrak works fine with my overhead garage lights on but that's not ideal (too bright). Obviously the screen looks better in the dark and I can hit balls with no lighting other than the light from the projector on the screen but it's not quite bright enough to be able to see the ball well. I can turn on just my garage door opener light but it spills onto the screen a little more than I would like.

What kind of lighting do you use? Thanks!

[wbond]

In the same situation. I think I'm going to try to look for a spot light to light up just the hitting area.

[weakhead]

I am going to be ordering these.

• ($37) Spotlights – to make it easier to see the ball and keyboard without compromising the picture quality. From this thread.

[Amoore67]

How do you like these now that you have them and how far down do they hang if pointed straight down?

[jaus]

I started out with spotlights when I set up my hitting bay, but I decided to try floods due to price and availability. I used aluminum foil attached to the shroud on the hanging fixture to block the light from hitting the screen, and now I prefer the floods as the lighting appears more uniform and less harsh on the mat. I also think my no-read rate has dropped.

[weakhead]

Are they hardwired floodlights? My sim is in the garage with a dry walled ceiling and I'd have to wire in new lights.

[frodaddy00]

I personally found SkyTrak is pretty picky with lighting and shadows. Before I just had my regular overhead garage lights but I ended up with shadows over the red dot or SkyTrak itself and I would get a lot of misreads..

My solution was that I installed a single recessed light right over my hitting mat and it has been much more consistent.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F3TSGRW

[mdniBruce]

I'm using an old aquarium light I built with Cree XM-L LED's. Regardless of what it does for the performance of the ST, it's just so nice to gave a nice well lit hitting area...

https://imgur.com/a/tJj4R

FWIW, I can modulate that bar down to 10%.

[JJ62]

3 stall garage w/bulb over each stall. Took out the bulb over the mat - the other 2 bulbs provide enough light but still dark in hitting area for video. Lighting doesn't seem to affect my unit - but objects (cars/clubs/etc) behind the hitter do.

[sittnndukk66]

I ended up trying several different things, bunch of cords running around needing plugged in to be able to test without having to hardwire them in so I picked up one of these from Home Depot. I actually could pretty easily get rid of just about everything else I tried and go with two of these for much less $.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Defiant-6-ft-6-Outlet-Cord-Metal-Power-Station-with-LED-Lights-and-USB-Ports-YLPT-105/301035736

[Adkins]

Has anyone tried making a snoot? It help to keep the light focused.

[Pat S.]

Just to follow up here, I ended up ordering these battery operated spotlights several people have mentioned:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They work just ok, not great. I am not super happy with them, but they are working fine. I am using 2 of them, one mounted directly over my hitting area and one directly over a little table where I keep my keyboard, tees, drink, etc. It works great to add a little light to the keyboard table. They are not as bright as I would want directly over the hitting area. I like that they are magnetically attached.

Once the lights are more than 4 or 5 feet away from whatever you are trying to light up, they get pretty dim. In other words, they probably work well for the use they were actually designed for.

I like that they are battery operated and the remote is handy since they are both mounted about 9 feet up. I'm going to keep it as is for now. A hardwired spotlight on a dimmer directly over the hitting area would probably work better. My two cents.

[weakhead]

Thanks for the followup. Good to know.

[Pat S.]

One additional comment on this subject. One of the lights seemed particularly dim (they come 3 to a pack) and I changed the batteries and it works much better now. I'm not sure how quick these will go through batteries, but it seems like at least some of the batteries that came with the lights in the package were bad.

[tomcho]

I ordered and just "installed" this light from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It works pretty well. 3 light settings and a remote control. Lights up my hitting area while keeping the projector screen dark