Ohio School Upgrades Lighting and Control System with Keystone

The lighting at Circleville City Schools was in need of a major upgrade. In addition to being unreliable, many of the fixtures at the three district schools, all built in 2014, were outdated fluorescents. Moreover, the gym lighting consisted of metal halides that put out a “dull, dark look,” in the words of Circleville High School/Middle School Athletic Director Brandon Wright.

To rectify the issues, the district, located about 25 miles south of Columbus, turned to Energy Optimizers, USA, an Ohio-based energy services company. The schools decided to upgrade its legacy lighting to LED, and more importantly, change the dysfunctional control system to something that was able to handle daylight harvesting, occupancy sensing, and scheduling.

But the cost of replacing the products with the legacy brand’s newest control units was going to be far more than Circleville Facility Director Jay Darland had budgeted. Still, based on his needs, he thought he didn’t have another option. Then Energy Optimizers, USA, suggested Keystone as their solution. 

Starting in December 2022, the contractors went to work. The fluorescent lighting in the classrooms and public areas was replaced by Keystone T5 LED tubes and their compatible LED drivers, and the gym lighting was upgraded with Keystone LED linear high bays.

For lighting control, the district opted for Keystone SmartLoop, a full portfolio of wireless solutions. Circleville’s installation included screw-in Bluetooth mesh wireless SmartPort LED controllers for SmartLoop with integrated daylight and PIR motion sensors.

In the classrooms, to control light levels by row, three fixture controllers were mounted above the ceiling in each classroom and commissioned via the SmartLoop mobile app, allowing for grouping—customizing certain lights to turn on with a push of the scene button—and scheduling. Additionally, each classroom features a remote mountable daylight PIR and motion sensor on the ceiling. Finally, every classroom got a SmartLoop dimmer switch/keypad so teachers could adjust the light to suit their pedagogical needs.

With SmartLoop, the switches are locally controlled, without the headache of a proprietary centralized system. Touch the keypad’s Auto button and sensors read a room’s light levels and adjust lighting accordingly, and three scenes can be saved on the Scene switch, with even more saved in the SmartLoop mobile app.

In the high school gym, the district decided on Keystone LED linear high bays with SmartLoop sensors added. Wright, the athletic director, uses the SmartLoop app on his phone and tablet, and has made the most of the possibilities: for the National Anthem, he turns a solitary light on the flag; for team introductions, he has a setting that spotlights the bench; for a wrestling match, he turned out all the lights except the ones above the wrestling mat.

For more information on the upgrade, and to see photos of the new lighting, view the full press release from Keystone.