This is how you prevent the lights from being left on at the Community's sports courts

Who controls the lights on the sports fields?

It's a rhetorical question and usually goes unanswered. In other words, in almost all homeowners' associations that have sports facilities, the control of the lights used to illuminate them after dark is something that is not at all clear.

We've encountered various cases, but in all of them, the situation was neither clear nor working as intended. Most commonly, there's simply a switch that turns on these lights to illuminate the track. It's usually a switch near the installation, in a small electrical panel, that allows anyone who walks in to easily turn them on and off.

But that ease of use also leads to easy forgetting. How many times have the lights been left on all night because someone turned them on but forgot to turn them off? It's not that it was intentional, it's just that in the heat of the game, when you're either running off or commenting on the incidents or the plays, the lights are inevitably forgotten.

In my case, I've personally encountered many nights like this, but it's something that community administrators and presidents tell me happens very frequently in almost all of them.

Solutions to control lights

In addition to this common option, such as a simple switch, there are other solutions based on automatic timers. These timers are responsible for turning them off when a preset time is reached. But of course, who exactly controls that time, because the timer is usually next to the switch itself, and the user must remember to turn it on at the same time before starting the game. And of course, we return to the same situation as before: forgetfulness is too common, and if we don't remember to turn off the lights, even less so to set the timer. Especially because in some cases we prefer to control when to turn them off as we see fit, since if the game is interesting, we could stay playing a little longer.

This is a semi-automatic option, but there are also other automatic solutions that usually require a fee to turn on the lights. Therefore, they are responsible for turning them off after a pre-set time has passed. In this case, the pre-set time is usually one hour, and the cost is determined by the community. The system automatically turns off the lights when the time is up, and if you want to continue using them, you must add another coin to the box. And of course, who has coins in their pocket these days? And even more so when we're going to exercise. It seems simple, but it also happens, and often.

However, there are many times when the court lights don't have an associated cost—that is, it doesn't cost money to turn them on for a game—but we still want to ensure they're turned off, and these solutions have many flaws. Not to mention that the coin boxes require someone to empty them, count the money, and take it to the bank to deposit it into the community account. And who's in charge of that? That's another problem.

Solution to coin boxes

We need a system that can control the lights turning on and off, that isn't a manual, free-form system, because we know humans need rules, and that often doesn't require payment to use.

And this is where our Onzane app can help eliminate all the problems we've mentioned:

• Lights on: Lights turn on automatically, but only if someone arrives to play (and has previously booked) and if it's within the designated time slot, or if they have paid for their use. That is, the lights turn on if the court is going to be used and if it's the right time. If it's daytime, they don't need to be turned on, and if we've defined a fee for them and haven't booked one yet, they won't turn on either. We can even automate the scheduled time to vary depending on the time of year and the court's geographic location.
• Lights out: This is much simpler here. Since the app knows the reserved time slot, and therefore its duration, it will know when to turn off the lights, always respecting the established schedule. We can set up courtesy minutes, both before and after the time slot, to facilitate the preparation or collection of belongings if necessary.

And finally, if we want to charge for using the lights, we can pay in the app when making the reservation. Or, if we want, we can set the lights as an option and choose whether or not to purchase them when booking. In either case, if we need to pay for them, we can do so by card, and there's no need to pay upon arrival at the rink. Plus, the money goes directly to the Community's account, without having to go through anyone or require someone to manually handle it.

So there's no more excuse for the lights on the Community's sports fields to remain on. With Onzane, you can control the entire process and do it automatically, without human intervention or forgetfulness.

What if I don't have Onzane?

If you don't have Onzane, you can request information right now , and we'll help you implement it in your community. Easy, fast, and affordable.