One Day, 32 Fixtures, Zero Downtime: Jony Pony Equestrian Club's Shanghai Retrofit
On an outdoor arena in Qingpu District, Shanghai, CHZ Lighting swapped 32 aging 400W floods for 32 FL27B-400W LED heads across 8 high-mast towers - finished in a single working day, with the arena back online before the next morning's lesson.
01Why Equestrian Lighting Is Harder Than It Looks
On the outdoor riding arena at the Jony Pony Equestrian Club in Qingpu District, Shanghai, the conversation always turns to the lights. Not how bright they are - that is a spec-sheet question. But how evenly they fall across the riding surface, and whether the color holds steady from the first jump to the last. Three problems had been building at this private club, which runs a busy schedule of dressage, show jumping, and pony training for Shanghai's equestrian community:
The club had tried upgrading bulbs. It had tried adding fixtures. The problem was not wattage - it was consistency: the previous 400W flood lighting had been in service for over a decade, with typical lamp life of 3,000-8,000 hours, requiring frequent high-mast swaps. The aging lamps had shifted color as they wore in, and light output dropped noticeably in Shanghai's summer humidity. The maintenance cost of running 32 high-mast luminaires at an estimated 12 meters off the ground, one bucket-truck visit at a time, was the daily reality of the club's prior system.
02A Configuration That Maps the Venue, Not a Catalog
CHZ engaged as a lighting solution partner. Working from the arena's geometry, the engineering team assigned each coverage zone a power tier and beam angle from a single product family - the CHZ FL27B LED floodlight, with a 400W high-power variant for the main arena and the same family also covering 30W, 50W, 100W, 150W, 200W, 250W, 300W, and 500W for lower-output zones, all on one shared die-cast aluminum and tempered-glass housing, one SOSEN driver platform, and 0-10V dimming across the line.
The main arena drew the top of the range: FL27B-400W units, system efficacy above 150 lm/W, mounted on 8 high masts at an estimated 12 meters, with 4 luminaires per mast for a total of 32 FL27B-400W units. The configuration paired an estimated 25 deg beam for long-throw coverage with an estimated 45 deg beam for mid-distance fill - eliminating the dark ring between poles that had spooked horses for years. No seam, no glare trap, no hot spot.
Around the perimeter - the same family at lower tiers
Around the perimeter, the same product family at lower tiers did the rest: FL27B-100W units in the warm-up rings, FL27B-100W on parking aprons, and FL27B-50W on access roads. One bracket, one driver, one commissioning workflow across the whole site.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Main arena - high-mast zone | 32 x FL27B-400W, 8 masts x 4 luminaires, ~12 m mounting |
| Beam configuration | 25 deg (long throw) + 45 deg (mid-distance fill), per arena geometry (est.) |
| System efficacy | Above 150 lm/W |
| Warm-up rings | FL27B-100W units, shared die-cast housing |
| Parking aprons | FL27B-100W units |
| Access roads | FL27B-50W units |
| Driver platform | SOSEN, shared across the family |
| Dimming | 0-10V across the line |
The reliability stack closed the loop: IP66 for sand, rain, and Shanghai's coastal humidity; a 6KV surge protection device as standard (with a 10KV upgrade for the most exposed poles); a 100-277V wide-voltage driver on a CLASS I electrical platform; power factor above 0.95; and CRI >80 so horse coat colors and ground obstacles read true under the lights. An optional emergency backup module (10W | 3H) was specified for the competition nights when a single grid event cannot be allowed to black out the arena.
The photometric simulation run against the proposed layout estimates an on-surface illuminance of approximately 330 lux (estimated) across the main riding surface - a working plane that the club's prior system, with its aging lamps and uneven coverage, could no longer deliver. The configuration was finalized against that number before a single fixture went up.
03One Working Day, Zero Surprises
The full retrofit - 32 old 400W flood lights down, 32 FL27B-400W units up, aimed, and commissioned - was completed in a single working day. The installation team arrived before sunrise, worked through midday with full daylight overhead (optimal conditions for high-mast alignment, wiring, and torque checks at 12 meters), and had the arena back online before second day's training session. Zero arena downtime beyond the agreed installation window.
The team's careful, methodical approach mattered as much as the speed: pre-staged fixtures, pre-cut brackets, on-site torque verification, and a final aim-and-test pass before handover. No rework, no surprises, and full client sign-off the same day.
04What Changed (at the Same 400W Power Level)
The retrofit was not about cutting wattage - the new system runs at the same 400W per fixture. The gains came from how that wattage is now being used (estimates; based on best-effort comparison with the prior system):
- Brighter, more uniform illumination at the same 400W power level. Same wattage, more usable light. The new FL27B-400W system delivers an even ~330 lux working plane (estimated), replacing the uneven coverage of the previous 400W system with tight beam control that eliminates the dark patches the old floods had developed over a decade of service.
- >50,000-hour LED lifespan vs. the prior system's 3,000-8,000-hour lamp life - a roughly 6x to 16x lifetime extension at the same power level, with no color shift and no output drop as the fixture ages.
- 5-year warranty on a modern LED fixture vs. the limited or no warranty that came with the previous system's lamps and ballasts. The CHZ FL27B-400W is rated for a full 5 years of coverage.
- Drastically reduced maintenance - no more high-mast lamp swaps every few months, no more bucket-truck rentals, no more arena closures for routine relamping. The new system is designed to run for years without significant service intervention.
- Flicker-free instant-on with stable color - no warm-up delay, no color drift over time, and no flicker that could unsettle horses. The previous 400W flood system shifted color as its lamps aged and required minutes to reach full output on cold start.
05All-Weather Reliability
The FL27B-400W is built for exposed outdoor use. Its ultra-thin integrated die-cast aluminum housing with a tempered-glass cover keeps wind load low on the high masts while running a large LED light-emitting area that dissipates heat quickly and produces soft, uniform, low-glare output across the riding surface. With a lifetime above 50,000 hours and >50% energy savings versus traditional fixtures (per the manufacturer's series description), the fixture is rated for a 5-year warranty and backed by:
- IP66 ingress protection against Shanghai's coastal rain, sand, and arena dust.
- 6KV SPD as standard, with a 10KV SPD upgrade path for the most exposed poles.
- 100-277V wide-voltage input on a CLASS I electrical platform, ready for global mains.
- Power factor above 0.95 for clean, efficient operation.
- 0-10V dimming as the standard control interface across the family.
- SMD2835 LED package with OSRAM chip for proven, long-life performance.
- SOSEN driver platform shared across all FL27B power tiers.
- Optional 10W | 3H emergency backup for competition nights and grid-event resilience.
06One Product Family, Many Venues
The same FL27B platform that now lights the Jony Pony arena in Shanghai is also specified at the family scale: a 400W flagship, with the same family covering 30W through 500W in nine tiers for lower-output zones - ready for logistics yards, container terminals, and industrial park perimeters where the same combination of high output, low glare, and long-life reliability closes the same set of operational problems. One product family, one commissioning workflow, one warranty line.
07Project Specifications
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Site | Jony Pony Equestrian Club, Qingpu District, Shanghai |
| Scope | 32 high-mast LED floodlights across the main arena and perimeter zones |
| Main arena | 32 x FL27B-400W, on 8 masts with 4 luminaires per mast, mounted at an estimated 12 m |
| Beam configuration | 25 deg (long throw) + 45 deg (mid-distance fill), estimated per arena geometry |
| Perimeter - warm-up rings | FL27B-100W units |
| Perimeter - parking aprons | FL27B-100W units |
| Perimeter - access roads | FL27B-50W units |
| System efficacy | Above 150 lm/W |
| Color rendering | CRI >80 |
| Dimming | 0-10V dimming across the family |
| LED package | SMD2835 with OSRAM chip |
| Driver | SOSEN, shared across the family |
| Beam angle options | Standard 120 deg; optional 30 / 45 / 60 / 90 deg (symmetric flood) and T2M / T3M (asymmetric) - 7 total configurations |
| Color temperature | 3000K - 6500K |
| Power factor | >0.95 |
| Input voltage | 100-277V |
| Electrical class | CLASS I |
| Surge protection | 6KV SPD standard; 10KV SPD optional |
| Emergency backup | 10W | 3H (optional) |
| Housing | Ultra-thin integrated die-cast aluminum + tempered glass cover (low wind load, fast heat dissipation, soft uniform low-glare output) |
| Ingress protection | IP66 |
| Lifespan | >50,000 hours |
| Warranty | 5 years |
| Operating temperature | -30 deg C to +50 deg C, suitable for Shanghai's coastal climate (per FL27B series datasheet, typical range) |
| Finish | Standard CHZ outdoor powder coat, dark gray (per manufacturer's series description) |
All performance and configuration figures are estimated; based on typical CHZ equestrian retrofit projects. Actual site results vary with arena geometry, mounting height tolerance, and operating schedule.
08Closing: Lighting Doesn't Win Ribbons - But Bad Lighting Can Lose Them
At the Jony Pony Equestrian Club, the new FL27B-400W system delivers what the previous 400W flood lighting system was supposed to but could not: a safer arena, calmer horses, and reliable training windows, every single night of the year. The 32-luminaires-down / 32-luminaires-up swap was finished in a single working day, the photometric layout was finalized before a single fixture went up, and the same FL27B platform scales from 30W pathway accent to 400W stadium-grade flagship across the broader B2B portfolio.
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