Lighting Pole Selection Calculator: Height, Series, Spacing and Number of Poles

Lighting pole selection calculator

The calculator gives a rough guide: how many poles a section will need and how big the project is. It works from the preliminary selection rules in our articles. The wind region, the luminaire and the street category are not taken into account; a calculation confirms those.

How to use it

• choose the type of site: a street or courtyard, a park or footpath, or a road;
• enter the width of the strip to be lit (carriageway, pavement or path) in metres;
• choose the layout: one-sided, two-sided staggered or two-sided opposite;
• enter the length of the section (100 m by default) to see the number of poles on it;
• to confirm the selection, send a request with a site plan.

How the calculation works

The calculation rests on three rules from the articles How to Choose the Height of a Lighting Pole and Distance Between Street Lighting Poles:

• Height. The strip to be lit must be no wider than the mounting height for a one-sided layout, one and a half heights for a two-sided staggered layout, or two heights for a two-sided opposite layout. So the minimum height is the strip width divided by 1, 1.5 or 2, rounded up to a whole metre; the next metre up is added as an option with a margin.
• Spacing. On one side, poles stand roughly 3–4 mounting heights apart. The lower limit comes from the smaller height, the upper limit from the larger.
• Quantity. The length of the section is divided by the spacing; for two-sided layouts the result is doubled because poles stand on both sides.

The series and height limits depend on the site:

The mass of one pole is taken from the table Height and Mass of Lighting Poles. For galvanising, the same rate of 20–38 UAH/kg incl. VAT is used as in the galvanising cost calculator. The calculator does not select heights above 12 m: for stadiums, large sites and wide roads, floodlight masts are used.

Example: a street 7 m wide

Take a local street: a carriageway 7 m wide, a one-sided layout and a 100 m section. The minimum mounting height is 7 m, so we look at 7–8 m. These are the UMO-7, UKO-7, UMO-8 and UKO-8 series, and one pole weighs 83 to 109 kg. The spacing on one side comes out at 21 to 32 m (3 × 7 and 4 × 8), so a 100 m section needs 4–5 poles with a total mass of roughly 332–545 kg.

For the same street with a two-sided staggered layout the minimum height drops to 5 m (7 ÷ 1.5 ≈ 4.7). The spacing on each side is 15–24 m, and 10–14 poles are needed per 100 m. The poles are lower but more numerous: the choice depends on the budget, the luminaire and the conditions on site.

What the calculator does not take into account

• the wind region: it determines the diameter and wall thickness of the shaft and the limiting height of the pole; W0 values are in the article Wind Regions of Ukraine;
• the type and weight of the luminaire and its light distribution: they decide whether a spacing of 3–4 heights is suitable;
• the street category (A, B, C) and the required luminance under DBN V.2.5-28:2018, see Street Lighting Norms;
• junctions, pedestrian crossings, bends, trees and buildings: there the spacing is reduced or an extra pole is added;
• the foundation and the way the pole is fixed, see Lighting Pole Foundations;
• the price of the poles: guideline figures by series are in the article Lighting Pole Prices.

The result is a preliminary estimate of the number of poles and the scale of a project. The final selection comes from a lighting calculation and a structural calculation for wind load.

What to send for an exact selection

Send a site plan with the widths of carriageways and paths, the type and parameters of the luminaire, the construction region and the coating requirements. We will propose the height and spacing of the poles and calculate the structure and cost. The full list of data is in the article How to Order Poles and Masts; you can also fill in the technical specification form for a lighting pole.

Selecting a pole by luminaire area and mass

You do not have to look up the permissible luminaire area in the “Scope of application” table by hand: the pole selection calculator by luminaire area and mass compares your luminaires with these data and shows which poles suit the height, wind region and mounting scheme.