Parking lot lights

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Timboe

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I have 1000 watt metal halide parking lot lights that i take care of. The problem is I turn on the lights then fix the ones that are out but the next day someone will tell me that i missed some. I check them again and they are on and bright. After some investigation i found that there are some lights that don't come on every time. I changed the light bulbs and checked the capaciters and the problem still happens. I know change the transformer-ballist, but i don't like to guess and just fix it by changing all the parts. What have other people found in this situation. By the way if they come on it will burn bright all night without any outages.
 

stevebea

Senior Member
Location
Southeastern PA
I have 1000 watt metal halide parking lot lights that i take care of. The problem is I turn on the lights then fix the ones that are out but the next day someone will tell me that i missed some. I check them again and they are on and bright. After some investigation i found that there are some lights that don't come on every time. I changed the light bulbs and checked the capaciters and the problem still happens. I know change the transformer-ballist, but i don't like to guess and just fix it by changing all the parts. What have other people found in this situation. By the way if they come on it will burn bright all night without any outages.

I know its more money up front but I always buy the ballast kit. I hate changing out a capacitor and getting called back three weeks later to change out the ballast so while I have the fixture opened up they are getting all new " guts ".
 
If you are having a nagging problem with metal halides, I would start with checking the line voltage, do it at the base of a pole with the lights on. I find a lot of 208v 240v mix ups or sometimes to much voltage drop. Also double check the ballast and lamp, there is a 1000w pulse start out there but it is not as common as the ordinary 1000w metal halide (probe start). If you have a solenoid(wiggy) tester with continuity tester you can use it to test a couple of things, first the open circuit voltage(never use digital meters or testers on this as they can be destroyed) go to a fixture working without the problems and place the tester across the socket from eye to shell, and both eye and shell to ground. remember how that looks and go to the trouble ones to see if its the same. You can also test the capacitor that way with the continuity tester, take out the capacitor for testing place the leads of the tester across the terminals it should glow for an short time(seconds) and then get dimmer and dimmer until it goes out. usually caps bulge or leak when bad or going bad, but not always. capacitor plates can go open or be shorted together and even change capacitance, this will cause outages or dim lamps. Also beware of bad product it seems to be happening more these days, I recently had 7 out 12 MH lamps that cycled(on and off) right out of the box. But that one is a long shot.
 

Cow

Senior Member
Location
Eastern Oregon
Occupation
Electrician
I have 1000 watt metal halide parking lot lights that i take care of. The problem is I turn on the lights then fix the ones that are out but the next day someone will tell me that i missed some. I check them again and they are on and bright. After some investigation i found that there are some lights that don't come on every time. I changed the light bulbs and checked the capaciters and the problem still happens. I know change the transformer-ballist, but i don't like to guess and just fix it by changing all the parts. What have other people found in this situation. By the way if they come on it will burn bright all night without any outages.

Since you didn't ask a specific question, I'll just say I think your individual part replacing is costing far more than throwing an entire ballast kit at it. If you don't believe me, put pencil to paper and calculate it out. Then you'll have your answer...

Personally, I'll keep doing ballast kits and lamps. Customers expect me to fix the problem the first time. Not to come back and work on it a second. They know time=money.
 

Timboe

Member
Yes I can replace everything and fix the problem but for my own information I would like to know why would something work fine for days then not work for a day then work again. I could see if it was heating up and the shuting off but it is not happing that way. It will work for days then one day it won't. I think this is weird.
 

augie47

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee
Occupation
State Electrical Inspector (Retired)
I encountered a similar situation once and found the ballast had been incorrectly connected (wrong tap). On cold nights the lamps would not illuminate, but on warm nights they did.
 

jumper

Senior Member
Yes I can replace everything and fix the problem but for my own information I would like to know why would something work fine for days then not work for a day then work again. I could see if it was heating up and the shuting off but it is not happing that way. It will work for days then one day it won't. I think this is weird.

The answer is that you may never know the answer.

As stated wrong taps, supply voltage variance. bad bulbs, screwy ballasts, etc... could be affecting different fixtures at different times.

Another problem I find is that when checking fixtures is that many times a person will see the bulb initially light, but not wait to see if it fully brightens, can take up to 10 mins or so. The bulb essentially never gets past a sickly glow. Most "civilians" do not really see the difference, to them it is on or off. I can see the difference at 50 yards during the day.

For what I call "secondary" pole lights and wall packs, 175w-250w, I will replace a bulb or cap to see if it fixes the problem. These are poles I can work on using my 12' ladder. For "primary" pole lights, 250w cobra heads and 400w-1500w pole lights and fixtures that require a lift or bucket truck-I go full bore and everything gets changed if more than 3 years old. I mark the date on the ballasts.
 

broadgage

Senior Member
Location
London, England
A failing but not yet completlt dead lamp might light at 105% line volts, but not at 95% line volts another day.
Once lit it might stay lit if the voltage latter dropped.

And as others post, double check the nominal voltage of the ballast, the nominal voltage supplied and the actual on load voltage supplied.
240 volt ballasts on a 208 volt supply would probably work sometimes but not reliably.
Likewise 277 volt ballasts on a 240 volt supply.

240 volt ballasts on a nominal 240 volt supply wont be reliable if the utility voltage is low and there is a lot of drop between service and lamp.
 
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What is the supply voltage? What is the wire size feeding each light on the circuit in question? How many lights are on the circuit in question? What is the distance from the first light and the breaker feeding the circuit? What is the distance from the last light and the breaker feeding the circuit? What are the ballast starting currents? What are the ballast run currents? Are the lights on a photo cell or cells? If so tell us about them. Assume the lights are properly connected and to the proper line voltage, no short circuits, and nothing defective with the ballast or the lamps or the photo cells. Answer the questions above and we may be able to help find an answer to the problem.
 
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