Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #30 on: December 26, 2015, 01:00:02 AM » Author: nicksfans
@lights*plus: This is all I could dig up. https://www.duke-energy.com/pdfs/mv-lighting.pdf http://www.duke-energy.com/news/releases/2014092202.asp http://www.duke-energy.com/pdfs/l4-sc-schedule-sls.pdf http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2014/09/23/duke-energy-replace-sc-street-lights/16099353/
		Logged

I like my lamps thick, my ballasts heavy, and my fixtures tough.

My Gallery
Instagram
YouTube

	Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #31 on: December 26, 2015, 10:24:46 AM » Author: streetlight98
Interesting how in-depth your utility's lighting stuff is. National Grid is very vague. NGrid bills on an annual basis, not monthly. Also interesting now they don't offer 70W HPS anymore and never offered 50W HPS. National Grid took over Narragansett Electric and Blackstone Valley Electric in RI. NECo had used 50W HPS to replace 100W MV and BVE (and BVE's sister utility Newport Electric) used 70W to replace 100W MV. So NGrid uses 50W in former-NECo territory and 70W in former-BVE/Newport Electric territories. In the past, BVE, NECo, and Newport Electric used 100, 175, and 400W cobraheads (NECo offered 1000W MV cobraheads too) and 400 and 1000W MV floods. No 250W MV was used here, so consequently 150W HPS isn't used here.
		Logged

Please check out my newly-updated website! McCann Lighting Company is where my street light collection is displayed in detail.

	Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #33 on: December 26, 2015, 11:55:11 AM » Author: streetlight98
With current replacements for MV, NGrid tends to use 100W HPS for 100W MV and 175W MV. Because NGrid charges the town extra to change a wattage, even if it's a MV to HPS swap. Since 100W HPS is the closest wattage they offer to 175W (as opposed to 250W HPS, which once in a very great while I see installed in place of a 175W Mv if it's a major road). I honestly like seeing 100W MV replaced with 100W HPS when one does get replaced since 50W HPS is freakin' useless lol. Unless there's snow on the ground, the road is barely lit. And if the ground is wet or the road was recent repaved (thus blacker than usual) forget it; there's virtually no light on the ground at all. When brand new, 100W MV puts out decent light. It's like a nice soft moonlight glow. Nice for a sleepy side street. But 100W MV dims pretty fast and it doesn't take long for it to become too dim. 175W MV is nice and bright and usually doesn't dim out past the brightness of a slightly-dimmed 100W MV, so it puts out some usable light throughout its whole life.
		Logged

Please check out my newly-updated website! McCann Lighting Company is where my street light collection is displayed in detail.

	Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #34 on: December 28, 2015, 11:33:43 PM » Author: DieselNut
Wow! How the hell did I miss this?!? Thanks for sharing! Yes, finally something sensible from the USA government! Now can we get the same common sense legislation for fluorescents, diesels and guns? Unfortunately, the government seems to like to cut us off at the source (ballasts, fuel, bullets, etc).
		Logged

Preheat Fluorescents forever!
I love diesel engines, rural/farm life and vintage lighting!

	Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #35 on: December 28, 2015, 11:39:40 PM » Author: nicksfans
Well, if the DoE applies the same thinking to fluorescents, there should be no more fluorescent bans. The report shows that sales of fluorescents are declining, with T12 lamps only making up about 15% of sales. I honestly thought it was still more than that. Note that T12s are still outselling T5s...I guess the T5 format didn't really take off. I'm not surprised...they're not that much more efficient than T8s but are considerably more expensive and are more difficult to retrofit into existing T12 fixtures.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2015, 11:42:38 PM by nicksfans »		Logged

I like my lamps thick, my ballasts heavy, and my fixtures tough.

My Gallery
Instagram
YouTube

	Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #36 on: December 29, 2015, 10:06:53 AM » Author: streetlight98
Yeah I was also shocked at what little percentage fluorescent lighting in general received, though aside from residential installations, I didn't think there was much T12 left out there. I recently got four fancy-pants 2X2 Lithonia troffers that use two 14W T5 tubes each and I gotta say they're pretty nifty, but not really any brighter than a pair of F17T8s. Plus another thing with T5s is that they loose a lot of lumens since they run hotter due to the smaller tube diameter. I think the best part of the T5 troffers I got was that they're programmed start. I never see programmed start fixtures in the "wild". These troffers came from my school. They tossed six out. My teacher took one for the basement, my friend scrapped one (it was missing a lamp cover/diffuser, so I took the lamps, sockets, and ballast and one cover and he took the metal housing itself to scrap). I also gutted two 2X F32T8 Genlyte-thomas 2X4 lensed troffers with LBF Sylvania ballasts.
		Logged

Please check out my newly-updated website! McCann Lighting Company is where my street light collection is displayed in detail.

	Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #37 on: December 29, 2015, 01:26:53 PM » Author: Silverliner
Those programmed start T5 lamps last forever, but after 6-7 years they get dim due to severe phosphor burn! Especially the HOs.
		Logged

Administrator of Lighting-Gallery.net. Need help? PM me.

Member of L-G since 2005.

Collector of vintage bulbs, street lights and fluorescent fixtures.

Electrician.

Also a fan of cars, travelling, working out, food, hanging out.

Power company: Southern California Edison.

	Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #38 on: December 29, 2015, 03:28:27 PM » Author: M250R201SA
Quote from: Solanaceae on December 22, 2015, 03:33:52 PM Maybe this will promo GE to get their heads out of their asses and stop the discontinuation of many HID fixtures. They should restart production Merc fixtures...  Even if it's just 175, 250, 400, and 1000 watt ballasts
		Logged

"I know a thing or two about a thing or two...  I sure do."

	Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #39 on: December 29, 2015, 03:40:52 PM » Author: Solanaceae
Keep in mind that making merc ballasts is uneagle. Maybe they could put MH ballasts in MV lites.
		Logged

Me💡Irl
My LG Gallery
My GoL Gallery

	Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #40 on: December 29, 2015, 05:20:20 PM » Author: streetlight98
The manufacture of MV ballasts or HID luminaires containing MV or probe start MH ballasts is illegal (except for 1000W probe start MH, which you could run a 1000W MV lamp on, at the loss of a lot of light lol). Replacement MH ballasts are legal, so you can buy a fixture and convert it to MH and run a MV lamp in it but probe MH fixtures are illegal just like MV fixtures and MV ballasts.
		Logged

Please check out my newly-updated website! McCann Lighting Company is where my street light collection is displayed in detail.

	Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #41 on: December 29, 2015, 05:24:04 PM » Author: Solanaceae
Wait, probe MH fixtures are illegal? I saw brand new ones being installed the other day.
		Logged

Me💡Irl
My LG Gallery
My GoL Gallery

	Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #42 on: December 29, 2015, 05:32:08 PM » Author: streetlight98
They must've been PSMH. Probe start MH fixtures were banned in 2008 with the MV fixtures because it was an obvious loophole in the MV fixture ban. Yet they still (fortunately) allow replacement ballasts for existing probe start fixtures. Canada allows probe start MH fixtures but also banned MV ones with the US. That's why all fixture ordering sheets say that probe start MH is only available for sale outside the US.
		Logged

Please check out my newly-updated website! McCann Lighting Company is where my street light collection is displayed in detail.

	Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #43 on: December 29, 2015, 08:00:48 PM » Author: Silverliner
@Mike, my utility Southern California Edison goes down to 50w HPS. My city has them on all the residential streets. Looking down the street at night, there's the dim and soft row of lights. They are only 20' high and evenly spaced, so the streets are lit ok.
		Logged

Administrator of Lighting-Gallery.net. Need help? PM me.

Member of L-G since 2005.

Collector of vintage bulbs, street lights and fluorescent fixtures.

Electrician.

Also a fan of cars, travelling, working out, food, hanging out.

Power company: Southern California Edison.

	Re: It's official. NO BAN on mercury vapor lamps in the USA! « Reply #44 on: December 29, 2015, 09:22:24 PM » Author: streetlight98
Ah here the lights are spaced randomly (wood pole spacing is random here) and lights are not always on every pole. And light height varies too; they're always mounted just under the secondary feed on the pole, so if the feed is 35-40ft up there, so is the light. NECo and BVE tended to mount lights at a lower height but when NGrid replaced poles, they always use taller poles so the secondary gets raised thus the street lights get raised too. The street light in front of my house is pretty high up at about 40ft. This light is mounted RIDICULOUSLY high. Has to be around 50ft! Also, NGrid raised the height of this M-250R2 from this to this. Look at how ridiculous that light looks way up on that pole! This light is a good height. And look closely: they ran the wires all the way down from the transformer. That wire leaving the pole near the arm is just an anchor wire for the next pole. Like most of the 6ft upsweep arms around here, it probably had a 105W incandescent (radial wave or maybe admiral's hat) before the 50W HPS was installed. Possibly a 100W MV in between. And yet the next pole's light is ridiculously high up. It's just insanity lol. Granted, the higher up you mount the light, the larger area it covers, but the less effectively it lights the area. Best to stick to the recommended 20-30ft mounting height for cobraheads under 250W HPS/400W MV or 25-35ft recommendation for 250W HPS/400W MV and up. At least that's what GE recommends in my 1977 catalog that I appear to have lost when my computer crashed. I lost some things (mostly pictures) and not others.
		Logged

Please check out my newly-updated website! McCann Lighting Company is where my street light collection is displayed in detail.