Crews installed new custom LED fixtures across the tower\u2019s geodesic dome, replacing a system that had exceeded its expected lifespan and become increasingly difficult to maintain.<\/p>\n
![\"Rope](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/JOQGDGYMKBEZLBGMUNH5IAFFYA.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Rope access technicians Ian Porter (left) and Kain McLaughlin of Highpoint Access make tweaks to new LED lighting installed on Reunion Tower, March 19, 2026. The installation of lights will expand the detail of objects by going from 8 inches to 24 inches, utilizing a 60 watt center RGBW LED and 32 additional 1 watt RGBW LEDs around it. The old one was a single 50 watt RGB Pixel. In essence the ball will be brighter and have more bulbs creating better color and white light.<\/p>\n
Tom Fox \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fixtures that we had produced many memorable shows over the years, but they were coming to end of life,\u201d said Shawn Miller, vice president of operations for Reunion Tower. \u201cWe wanted to take the opportunity to go completely custom and add some fun to the shows that we haven\u2019t been able to do before.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2012 an LED system replaced an earlier incandescent lighting setup and relied on a single RGB pixel-per-light unit. The new fixtures significantly expand that capability.<\/p>\n
Each unit now includes a 60-watt center RGBW LED, meaning red, green, blue and white light, and 32 additional 1-watt RGBW LEDs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can do any of the previous light shows that we did before,\u201d said Scott Ingham, president of Ingham Designs, who has worked on lighting projects across Dallas. \u201cAnd then we can create new, more dynamic shows going forward because of the additional pixels.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/KDM7HID24ZDS3OM4EVINPBYLNE.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The installation of lights on Reunion Tower, done March 19, will expand the detail of objects from a single 50 watt RGB Pixel to a 60 watt center RGBW LED and 32 additional 1 watt RGBW LEDs (pictured here).<\/p>\n
Tom Fox \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
Ingham said the Reunion Tower upgrade is the highest-profile project he has worked on.<\/p>\n
The scale of the upgrade is substantial. Each fixture has grown from 8 inches to 24 inches in diameter, while the weight has dropped from 21 pounds to about 10 pounds, reducing the total load on the structure by roughly 2,850 pounds, or 1.4 tons.<\/p>\n
Installation also required about 9 miles of new data wiring, enough to stretch from downtown Dallas to Love Field.<\/p>\n
Much of the redesign focused on longterm performance. The new fixtures can communicate real-time data, allowing crews to monitor temperature, power levels and system health remotely.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is lighter,\u201d Ingham said. \u201cIt has Bluetooth so we can talk to it now. We can see what temperature all these lights are at in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The system also divides the tower into sections, making it easier to locate and service individual fixtures.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow a problem will stay with one individual light,\u201d Ingham said. \u201cWe can ask it how it\u2019s doing, what its temperature is, what its power is, and get that information quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Engineers also addressed challenges tied to the tower\u2019s height, about 560 feet above ground, where wind, rain and temperature swings can affect performance.<\/p>\n
![\"High](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/JQJMBCCEEBD2JFHGBRKPZL25NY.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
High above the railroad tracks at Union Station, rope access technicians Ian Porter (top) and Kain McLaughlin of Highpoint Access make tweaks to new LED lighting installed on Reunion Tower, March 19, 2026. The installation of lights will expand the detail of objects by going from 8 inches to 24 inches, utilizing a 60 watt center RGBW LED and 32 additional 1 watt RGBW LEDs around it. The old one was a single 50 watt RGB Pixel. In essence the ball will be brighter and have more bulbs creating better color and white light.<\/p>\n
Tom Fox \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know there\u2019s going to be water,\u201d Ingham said. \u201cWhat do we want the water to do? Where is it OK for it to get in as long as it can get out?\u201d<\/p>\n
While much of the upgrade happened behind the scenes, officials say the visual changes will be most noticeable up close.<\/p>\n
From a distance, the tower will retain its familiar appearance. But at closer range, the added light points and expanded color range will allow for more detailed effects.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really going to incentivize people to come up and visit and see the tower closer up,\u201d Ingham said.<\/p>\n
With installation complete, crews are now focused on programming new light shows, with changes expected to become more noticeable in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know it can do a lot more,\u201d Ingham said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have fun learning more and more effects, what works, what doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Miller, the upgrade is also about maintaining a symbol that has become part of Dallas\u2019 identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t turn on the news without seeing the tower in the back,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t watch a football game without seeing the tower going into every commercial.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe skyline doesn\u2019t exist without the tower,\u201d Miller added. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely a sense of pride when you\u2019re flying in on the plane and you see the light show.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High above downtown Dallas, workers in harnesses moved carefully along the steel framework of Reunion Tower this week,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,109,223],"class_list":["post-213589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-downtown-dallas","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}