mtnelectrical
Senior Member
- Location
- Essex, New Jersey
Any good experiences retrofitting 400 watts metal halide fixtures, tips, hints and any brand you recomend for four 54-watt T5 highoutput fixtures?.Thanks for sharing your experience.
Any good experiences retrofitting 400 watts metal halide fixtures, tips, hints and any brand you recomend for four 54-watt T5 highoutput fixtures?.Thanks for sharing your experience.
Very very good for electric bills. Off the top of my head, cost was reduced about 65% after switching from 400mh fixtures to T-5's with ocupant sensors set at 20minutes. Electronic ballasts are quite sensitive and dont seem to last very long but the advantages are huge. Again I'm guessing, but I think a 400w mh draws about 3 amps. Where a 4 lamp 54w T-5 is about .5 amps
Not sure how you figure 54Wx4 = .5A
So I checked just to make sure, and sure enough is 2A @ 120V
So I assumed you mean 480V, that would make it .5 A
But then the 400MH is not 3A, is only 1A.
So first of all it looks like the MH draws 6 times more current, which in fact is only 2 times.
Second, 4 - 54W T5 lamps have 5000 Lumen's, whereas a 400A MH has 32,000.Sorry, I don't care what the "specialists" say, I installed enough lights in my life to be extremely confident that 4x54W T5's are not even close to the brightness of a 400W MH.
Any good experiences retrofitting 400 watts metal halide fixtures, tips, hints and any brand you recomend for four 54-watt T5 highoutput fixtures?.Thanks for sharing your experience.
Absolutely not scientific in any way, but my perception, from what I've installed, is that 4-T5's are just a wee bit brighter than a 250w metal halide at your 23 ft. level.
To replace 400w MH, I would look to the six lamp units.
T5 or T8, they come on within two seconds, full output within a minute. if you're using special high temperature amalgam T5 which resists output fading in unconditioned high-bay installs, it will take 5-10 minutes to reach full output, but starting and restrike is instant.Finally, with T-5's you get SOME light almost the instant you flip the switch. No more 20-minute periods of darkness every time the power has a hiccup.
As said before, new lumens are not as important. I use 4750 for T5, 2800 for T8, times relevant ballast factor. It's almost always 1.00 for T5. For T8, its anything between 0.77 to 1.20.Second, 4 - 54W T5 lamps have 5000 Lumens, whereas a 400A MH has 32,000.
Sorry, I don't care what the "specialists" say, I installed enough lights in my life to be extremely confident that 4x54W T5's are not even close to the brightness of a 400W MH.
there's a great chance you'll get stuck with eh... ballast like Fulham Workhorse