To LED, or not to LED, that is the question...

[lilranch2001]

I have a Lithonia 250 watt MH wall pack on my barn, and have had it up since 1996 and this spring replaced the third lamp in it.

I have it on a remote photo eye on the barn, turns on at dusk and off at sun rise.

It burns every day

 

[tommu56]

If i touch a fixture it get a complete rebuild ballast cap and lamp base if needed we get 2-4 years out of our 400w lamps at work.

We jump on them fast but we do have a lift that can reach them.
If they go put in the winter bad weather we disconnect them in the hand hold if its snowy or icy and grab them on the first good day.

florescent lamps the same way touch the fixture relamp the whole thing.
If it needs ballast I put in electronic ones and replace both if the fixture is open the new lamps.

tom

 

[lilranch2001]

If i touch a fixture it get a complete rebuild ballast cap and lamp base if needed we get 2-4 years out of our 400w lamps at work.

We jump on them fast but we do have a lift that can reach them.
If they go put in the winter bad weather we disconnect them in the hand hold if its snowy or icy and grab them on the first good day.

florescent lamps the same way touch the fixture relamp the whole thing.
If it needs ballast I put in electronic ones and replace both if the fixture is open the new lamps.

tom

I do not see why anyone would automaticly replace the capacitor and the ballast.

Seems expensive to me

I have about 200 400 watt MH fixtures in my plant and less than 10% has a ballast fail

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I priced some parking lot LED lights a couple months ago, price was so high I didn't even consider it. don't recall the exact price, but several grand per fixture.

 

[DKCDKC]

LEDs are expensive. But they do use a lot less electricity, and last a very long time. If you factor in the efficiency and life expectancy (like not having to replace them for potentially decades) the cost looks better. Sometimes they will actually be cheaper when all factors are brought in. However, not all types of fixtures are now available. You have to keep checking. And electric utilities in many areas do offer coupons or discount programs to help with LED costs... But you have to check on it. The co-ops around here are looking to the load saved with LEDs as an investment and may actually pay a substantial portion of the costs.

And the manufacturers I spoke with indicated that the high costs are rapidly coming down as sales go up - mass production is seeing to that.

So if the LEDs aren't right for you right now, keep an eye on them. You may be surprised how quickly they can be competitive in the near future.

 

[grsthegreat]

ok... i have seen the streetlight heads,and while they appear bright, im not in agreement that they would replace a 400 watt mh. the ad you linked showed a 10,390 lumen light... but a 400w MH has a 36,000- 40,000 lumen rating. so how can these compare.

i generally never replace the ballast kit on a light fixture UNLESS its blown out. as long as dead lamps are replaced as soon as they go bad, a ballast should last a real long time.

not sure what you mean about the arking in the socket. i have never seen this happen.

 

[aczlan]

ok... i have seen the streetlight heads,and while they appear bright, im not in agreement that they would replace a 400 watt mh. the ad you linked showed a 10,390 lumen light... but a 400w MH has a 36,000 lumen rating. so how can these compare.

Good to know, I wasnt sure how many lumens a MH puts out.

i generally never replace the ballast kit on a light fixture UNLESS its blown out. as long as dead lamps are replaced as soon as they go bad, a ballast should last a real long time.

How long should a MH bulb last? There are several units which seem to kill the bulb within a year, thus my thought of replacing the ballast was to get everything to a known good state. The hotel was built in 2005, so they arent that old.

not sure what you mean about the arking in the socket. i have never seen this happen.

It looks almost like it is getting hot enough to melt the solder on the base of the bulb and then arcing across the center connector from the socket to the bulb. Will take pictures if/when I do the job.

Aaron Z

 

[grsthegreat]

i just replaced some ballasts on a project last month. i originally installed about 30 parking lot lights on this state building about 9-10 years ago, and i went and replaced 3 ballast and about a dozen lamps.

apparently they had been going dimmer for the past few years, but the client never called me. Metal Halide lamps DO decrease in brightness up to 50% over their lifespan, and can get quite dull after 5-6 years of continual use (like in a home depot situation ). Replaceing the lamps BEFORE they totally burn out will extend the life of the ballast and the fixture quite a bit.

also, if your lights are only lasting a year, then the ballast may me on the way out. Newer technologies on parking lot lights include pulse start ballast and sockets which tend to use alot less energy AND the lamps seem to last longer. Maybe swapping the troublesome lamp ballasts out for a pulse start system might help. you only need to replace the guts of the light fixture.

maybe you can see if a local supplier would loan you an LED lamphead to see how it compares to the existing lamp head. Here in No Idaho ive been able to get loaners from my supply house to show prospective clients. Problem is once they hear the price... i havnt been able to make one deal on the lights yet. These companies really need to lower their profit margins down from the 500% there making now to a more reasonable level

 

[aczlan]

also, if your lights are only lasting a year, then the ballast may me on the way out. Newer technologies on parking lot lights include pulse start ballast and sockets which tend to use alot less energy AND the lamps seem to last longer. Maybe swapping the troublesome lamp ballasts out for a pulse start system might help. you only need to replace the guts of the light fixture.

Looking, I see 400w pulse start ballast systems on Amazon for $60-70. Makes sense to go with the new technology if it is available and affordable.

maybe you can see if a local supplier would loan you an LED lamphead to see how it compares to the existing lamp head. Here in No Idaho ive been able to get loaners from my supply house to show prospective clients. Problem is once they hear the price... i havnt been able to make one deal on the lights yet. These companies really need to lower their profit margins down from the 500% there making now to a more reasonable level

Will try if the price is low enough that I could convince them to go for it. They have several LED fixtures outside and on displays in the store.

Aaron Z

 

[LD1]

I am no lighting expert but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night

Anyway, heres my :2cents:

I was kinda in the same dilema about 3-4 months ago and wanting a security light.

I was faced with 4 options:

HPS, MH, MV, and LED

HPS: Excellent bulb life (24000 hours) which is about 6 years in a dusk to dawn. Low cost. High lumen output per watt (cheap to operate). But the ONE thing that I hated most was the light color. I dont like the orange hue.

MH: Kinda a replacement for the old MV. Good light color but bulb life sucks. Most of what I seen were 6000 hr bulbs. Thats only ~1-1/2 years on a dusk-dawn.

MV: I like everything about them. All the advantages of the HPS like 24000hr bulbs AND good light color. Problem is the darn EPA and they are hard to find. They do consume a little more juice than a HPS for equal light. But that added cost is fine with me for the light color. (175w MV = 100w HPS)

LED: Just too expensive for my taste. And I dont believe they are as good as they are going to be in the future just yet. As mentioned, poor dight dissipation.

There is also a 5th option I considered. Its a self ballasting MV bulb. So in a sense, you are changing the ballast everytime you change the lamp anyway. And these can be used in ANY type of fixture. Just bypass the ballast and ignitor. IOW, just hardwire the socket to the dusk-dawn sensor.


I ended up getting a NOS MV fixture. But As a private individual, I dont have to worry about the govt and EPA as you may.

You may want to consider the HPS if you can live with the light color. That is what ALL of the electric companies are using around here since they done away with the MV lights.

The other option may be the self-ballasting MV bulbs. Just keep in mind that they are only 6000hr bulbs. But that said, when you replace one, you know it is going to last another 6000hrs. No need to worry about ballasts, or anything else eating the bulb life.

Let us know what you end up doing:thumbsup: