The M250R2 has been in production longer than any M250 before it.  Do you think GE has an M250R3 in development?  or is the M250R2 the last HID version that will be produced due to the recent LEDisease.

Almost certainly the latter.

Almost certainly the latter.

Well, given what the M400R3 looks like compared to the M400R2, maybe we should be happy it's the latter.  I have a feeling that an M250R3 would be ugly as sin like the M400R3.  It would probably be a smaller version of the M400R3 which in itself is a copy of the AEL 125.

What's wrong with the m400a2? I like the design much more than previous versions.

What's wrong with the m400a2? I like the design much more than previous versions.

I never said anything was wrong with the M400A2.  I was expressing my dislike with the M400R3 (M400A3).  I actually like the looks of the M400R2 and M400A2. 

I just received word that the M400R2 and M400A2 are being discontinued.  As are many other older style lights due to the LEDisease.  The reason is sales of these models are slow to non-existant.  All lights are on clearance, and an M400R2 costs $325.00 new.  Hell, a new M250R2 costs $194.00 from the factory.  I have a new 100W M250R2 (M2RC10S1N2GMC2108) coming fresh from the factory.  It is free of charge as a warranty replacement.  The latch did not want to latch shut.

I just received word that the M400R2 and M400A2 are being discontinued.  As are many other older style lights due to the LEDisease.  The reason is sales of these models are slow to non-existant.  All lights are on clearance, and an M400R2 costs $325.00 new.  (...), a new M250R2 costs $194.00 from the factory.  I have a new 100W M250R2 (M2RC10S1N2GMC2108) coming fresh from the factory.  It is free of charge as a warranty replacement.  The latch did not want to latch shut.

You are ****ing kidding me. As if I didn't hate LEDisease already, now my favorite lights are being discontinued because of it! Well, there goes my dream of getting one new from the factory someday.

What angers me the most about municipalities rushing out to buy LED fixtures is that within 30 years, some "new and incredible" lighting technology will come along and the exact same thing will happen.

What is wrong with the M400A3 ? Proper well designed lantern

So what if they come up with something new? In the Twin Cities virtually all of the fixtures were replaced 30 years when high pressure sodium came out. None of the mercury fixtures they replaced could have been more than about 30 years old. In the meantime they will have saved a ton of money on energy and maintenance with LED fixtures.

So what if they come up with something new? In the Twin Cities virtually all of the fixtures were replaced 30 years when high pressure sodium came out. None of the mercury fixtures they replaced could have been more than about 30 years old. In the meantime they will have saved a ton of money on energy and maintenance with LED fixtures.

All it takes is one lightning strike to blow the sensitive electronics in the LED fixtures on the freeways. That sure will require much more maintenance than the HPS lights ever could have needed.

That already happened once on the Minnesota River bridge where a power surge took out a bunch of power supplies. Mn/DOT didn't buy any more of htat model...

And lighting took out a bunch of sodium lights at Cedar and Old Shakopee; blew out the fuses in the base.

That would take some massive overvoltage, not a little surge

So what if they come up with something new? In the Twin Cities virtually all of the fixtures were replaced 30 years when high pressure sodium came out. None of the mercury fixtures they replaced could have been more than about 30 years old. In the meantime they will have saved a ton of money on energy and maintenance with LED fixtures.

In the current conversion - not without cutting down light levels greatly. Thing is, HPS is as efficient or more efficient than LED, and HID optics are better than LED optics

Maintenance probably did not change all that much back then - Old Mercury lamp (from the times when they were in use there) and HPS lamp (from the time period when they were put up) last about the same, though each with its own failure modes : ~10 years noticable light output deprecation in Merc, first lamps starting to cycle in HPS

From then to now, somewhere during the 2nd half of the 00's, HID lamp quality went downhill, preparing the ground to blame HID for low reliability and high maintenance costs

And finally, now we have the LEDs that promise to solve the EOL lamps problem

That would take some massive overvoltage, not a little surge

Quote from: mdcastle

So what if they come up with something new? In the Twin Cities virtually all of the fixtures were replaced 30 years when high pressure sodium came out. None of the mercury fixtures they replaced could have been more than about 30 years old. In the meantime they will have saved a ton of money on energy and maintenance with LED fixtures.

In the current conversion - not without cutting down light levels greatly. Thing is, HPS is as efficient or more efficient than LED, and HID optics are better than LED optics

Maintenance probably did not change all that much back then - Old Mercury lamp (from the times when they were in use there) and HPS lamp (from the time period when they were put up) last about the same, though each with its own failure modes : ~10 years noticable light output deprecation in Merc, first lamps starting to cycle in HPS

From then to now, somewhere during the 2nd half of the 00's, HID lamp quality went downhill, preparing the ground to blame HID for low reliability and high maintenance costs

And finally, now we have the LEDs that promise to solve the EOL lamps problem

Since LEDs are so new it will be interesting to see what kind of EOL problems they will be plagued with eventually just like mercs and HPS.

It's a shame that they're getting rid of the GE M-400R2 and M-400A2 but I had a bad feeling that this was gonna happen sooner or later given that they haven't been strong sellers since the late 90's. Most utility companies have been ignoring them ever since they came out with the M-400R3 and M-400A3 which are just rebadged American Electric street lights with thicker doors, bail latches and GE logos. It's too bad I'll never get a GE M-400R2 since they're very hard to find.