Light pole alternatives

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chrsb

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I got a call for a church and they are looking for alternatives to their existing light poles. Right now they have around 10-12 metal halide poles with 2 shoe box heads on each. There are 400W lamps in each head. What the church wants is to save some money on electricity. I already re-worked the existing circuits so only they can only turn on the front 3 poles when they want to.

I called my wholesale house and they said that florescent light poles are maintance heavy, high pressure sodium would draw less but the payback would be along time. She mentioned something about re-strikes being an alternative as they draw less on start up, but I still do not see the payback in that.

The church also wants to increase the lighting in the parking lot, the best alternative I could think of there would be to put the 30 degree knuckels on the shoe box heads to throw the light farther.

My other thought was to check to see how they are being turned on right now, if it is just a time clock with no photo cell I was thinking on putting in a astro time clock to keep the time down on them burning when it is not dark. I also could program it to turn off after a certain time when no one is there.

So this is what I got, any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
I suggest a simple time clock with 'skip a day' option in series with a photo eye.

Set the clocks "ON" time to be anytime after sunrise, say 1 PM that will leave the photo eye to turn the lights on when it gets dark.

Set the clocks "OFF" time to whenever they feel is late enough.

Metal Halide is about as good as it gets for parking lot lighting. IMO you are not going to make it brighter and use less power...it's one or the other.

You could take some load readings, do a little math and let them know about how much per hour it costs to run the lights and they may find ways to run them less.
 
I try to stay away from electronic clocks.

I find the rate of failure with electronic clocks is much higher than the mechanical clocks.
 
What's the consensus on the 400W CF luminaires, that take the place of the 400W MH?
Anyone try them?

And have you done a FC reading?

Without seeing the layout, you may be able to replace the outside ones with 250W fixtures.
 
This is your opportunity to sell them a micro-CHP plant. :grin: In all seriousness, I think that is a quickly coming technology that is part of our industry's future.
 
Someone once told me the most efficient lights are the ones that are not on. I also know of a system that has dimming abilities for HID lighting. I think it uses different capacitors switched into the system to dim them? That coupled with motion/occupancy sensors allows for constant light at lower levels when not in use and brighter levels when they are needed.
 
there's a company here called envirolight (maybe find them in a websearch) that sells flourescent replacement bulbs for hid's which consume about 70% less energy. i've seen them in the showroom and they're extremely bright. their 400w replacement bulb supposedly puts out an equivalent of 800w MH. The bulbs were $125 a piece, and you have to bypass the hid ballast and go straight from the line-in to the lampholder. it seems like the salesperson told me they have a 30k hour lifespan.
 
brantmacga said:
there's a company here called envirolight (maybe find them in a websearch) that sells flourescent replacement bulbs for hid's which consume about 70% less energy. i've seen them in the showroom and they're extremely bright. their 400w replacement bulb supposedly puts out an equivalent of 800w MH. The bulbs were $125 a piece, and you have to bypass the hid ballast and go straight from the line-in to the lampholder. it seems like the salesperson told me they have a 30k hour lifespan.
Click to expand...

I've heard the same thing, but these are only claims.

Have you tryed them?
 
brantmacga said:
there's a company here called envirolight (maybe find them in a websearch) that sells flourescent replacement bulbs for hid's which consume about 70% less energy. i've seen them in the showroom and they're extremely bright. their 400w replacement bulb supposedly puts out an equivalent of 800w MH. The bulbs were $125 a piece, and you have to bypass the hid ballast and go straight from the line-in to the lampholder. it seems like the salesperson told me they have a 30k hour lifespan.
Click to expand...

I will look into this. Thanks for the replies so far, I also was thinking of putting in the photo cell-time clock combo. I also am looking into the LED option, to bad they only go up to 250W. I am meeting with the Church next week and will be bringing all the options to them.
 
Dnkldorf said:
I've heard the same thing, but these are only claims.

Have you tryed them?
Click to expand...


I've only seen them indoors in the showroom. It was extremely bright and relatively cool. It appeared to be brighter than the MH. I haven't seen them outside though. I know that a few factories and large warehouses here have converted their HID lighting to these flourescent bulbs.

chrsb, the company is Envirolight and the phone # is (229) 559-7554. The owner's name is Frank Johnson if you want to call and get more info and pricing. If you buy several I'm sure he'll cut you a break.
 
Hid Exterior Luminares

Hid Exterior Luminares

Ever Consider Replacing The 400 W Metal Halide Fixture With Pulse Starts. They Consume Less Energy And Are Brighter. Also Lose The Shoe Box Style And Consider Cutoffs Or Floods. You Can Also Consider Contacting A Company Called Agex Corp. A Division Of Hytran Transformer Company Based In Flemington , Nj. They Have Developed An Affordable Hid Ballast Dimming System Which Can Reduce Your Energy Comsumption Up To 40 Percent Of A Normal Hid Fixture. I Have Used Them On Different Occasions With Great Results Depending On Your Application. Watch The Fluorescent In Exterior Applications Because Most Are Electronic Ballast Design And Have An Issue With Temperature.also If You Use The Metal Halide Pulse Start Design Fixture Check With Your Local Utility Company For A Possible Rebate, Sometimes The Utility Company Will Pay For The Replacement Fixture Minus Your Installation Cost.
Happy Easter
 
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