Re: How do *you* light your pit?
 

Generally we just get a good amount of intelligent students to stay in the pits at all time.

Re: How do *you* light your pit?
 

Meow! :rolleyes:

You should also festoon your pit with bags of catnip, backed by muffin fans to waft the aroma around -- makes us more suggestible. And offer us liver snacks. Also, try massaging the backs of our heads, up around the ears.

Just don't rub your inspector the wrong way.

Re: How do *you* light your pit?
 

I usually just stand in a good spot for the venue lights to reflect off of my head. Then we usually need sunglasses, not more lights. Ever have that problem Billfred? :cool:

Re: How do *you* light your pit?
 

As others have suggested, having an open pit ceiling is a good idea, as well as having open sides and probably fixtures that aren't completely opaque.

But tinted glasses aren't allowed in the pits...

Re: How do *you* light your pit?
 

To echo what Wil said (did I just type that?), I think you'll find most Indiana gymnasiums and fieldhouses are more Taj Mahal-ian than the dank dungeons you are used to in the land of roosters. There will be a good mix of natural and artificial light, to spotlight the sacred beauty that is Indiana High School Basketball.
I understand your only taste of Indiana robotics this year was from B^3. That's not a district host site. Think more LNHS, host of IRI. 'Round these parts, the Lawrence North gym is considered on the middling size.

Re: How do *you* light your pit?
 

we are in the process of replacing all of our lights with gas lamps in order to achieve the full steam works aesthetic.

Re: How do *you* light your pit?
 

Lately when I need more light to see something, I just ask a student to get out a phone and light up the area of interest. The students don't seem to need more light...only us old mentors, with failing eyesight.

Re: How do *you* light your pit?
 

I highly recommend 4' shop light fixtures with T8 LED bulbs that run around $7 in local stores. The LEDs are in durable plastic tubes and offer great lighting in the pit area with low wattage use. First few years we had a yard tent structure with florescent bulbs in the fixtures. We accidentally broke a tube and do not recommend their use. We now have 1 fixture mounted to each side of the pit structure with 2 LED bulbs each. No shadows! No hot bulbs. The bright lights makes work easier and safer in the pit. It also draws attention to your team. You just never know who will stop by your pit....

Re: How do *you* light your pit?
 

I bought one of these 4' LED shop lights for my shop recently and I love it. Because it's a dedicated LED fixture it is super lightweight and could easily be attached to a structure with zipties. There is also no glass to break and it's super bright.

When I joined my team we had dark navy blue curtains surrounding 3 sides of our pit and it made things impossible to work in. Even though the top was uncovered it cut out a huge amount of light and made the space feel much more cramped than necessary. I strongly recommend open minimalist pit structures as they are not only easier to work in but create a more inviting presence for other teams.

Re: How do *you* light your pit?
 

343 uses position-able small spot lights that are hung from the shelf that goes up to about the 10 ft height over our table space and we have been very pleased for many years with those. I do not know when they were put on there, but I have never heard anyone complain about not having enough light. The only real complaint we have had with them over the years is that, because of how we load the pit into our trailer, if the bulbs don't get pointed back to the inside of the pit they are likely to hit the wall and break. Also because they are incandescent bulbs they do get quite hot, but that could made much better with LED bulbs.

Edit: they are track lights that can swivel and tilt