LIGHTING Salvage, SHOULD I ?

genecarp

I HAVE access to a bunch of these light fixtures, they came from a supermarket. I am considering using 3 or 4 of them for my shop. What do you think, will they be to costly to run ? will the ballasts go a year after i install them ? will they be to bright ? any thoughts, Thanks, G


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genecarp

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genecarp

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genecarp

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jmic

Not sure on the cost to run them, but you may also get a good tan from them.

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Joe

MALCO.New.York

The fact of finding the bulbs in the near future will be a bitch. They are M/V which are go out of production in the near future.

As for electricity do you have the proper service?

Replacement ballasts are ridiculous IF you can find them. $60.00ish

And if you desire work at night, you need 5-15 minutes for these lamps to "Glow Hot".

They are NOT cost savers by ANY stretch!

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Speedy Petey

I have to very much disagree.
They ARE HID (high intensity discharge) lights. HID's use a glowing arc in a gas tube for the light as opposed to a glowing filament in incandescent lamps. Same idea as a fluorescent, only "high intensity".

HID lights are inherently more efficient. Mercury vapor are not as good as metal halide, but still WAY more efficient than incandescent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-vapor_lamp

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neolitic

How about keep the 4 fixtures and
cannibalize the rest for bulbs and
ballasts?

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MALCO.New.York

There is a pretty good solution.

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MALCO.New.York

400 Watts is 400 Watts. And you do need quite a bit of ceiling height to spread the light properly. Fluros will do it at any height.

Not saying they are bad, just not as good as other options.

They can also have a fair amount of sound discharge which can be VERY annoying.

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genecarp

I would welcome the input of Magnettica, is he lurking about?

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220/221

Forget the garage.

You could set up one hell of a pot farm with those babys

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Magnettica

I'm thinking you'd be better off going with something like fluorescent T-5 lamp fixtures. I have agree with watt's [sic] been said about start up time with these fixtures and the cost to have them up and running. And if you do decide to use the fixtures from the supermarket they're mostly wired at 208/240 volts and your work space will need the same. When they go your shop will have to also be rewired. I say trash 'em!

Speedy Petey

That is obvious. It's the output you get from those watts that makes them efficient.
I'm not saying they are better than anything other than incandescent. But they are an HID lamp.

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Speedy Petey

Of course he is better off with the newest technology. Thing is these are free.
If they will work in his application why not use them.


May I ask WHY you say his shop will have to be "re-wired" if they go???
A) ALL HID lighting is available in 120-480 volt. He can always replace the ballasts one by one as they go, with M-H versions.
B) ALL fluorescents are available in 120-277v. Many new electronic ballasts are multi-volt 120 thru 277 volt.

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MALCO.New.York

EXACTLY the type of thinking that one would expect from Phoenix!!!!!!!!!

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nap

where do you get these are mercury? The ballast states metal halide right on them and a Syl Metalarc lamp is metal halide.

and I believe mercury lamps are already out of production. Whats in the pipeline is it from what I understand.

MALCO.New.York

Sorry..........I did not take the time to read the bulbs and ballast in the Picture Posts. I do know that, apart from my M/V flubb, all that I have stated is acceptable and true!

M/V and M/H are NEARLY identical!

" Like other gas-discharge lamps such as the very-similar mercury-vapor lamps, metal halide lamps produce light by passing an electric arc through a mixture of gases. In a metal halide lamp, the compact arc tube contains a high-pressure mixture of argon, mercury, and a variety of metal halides............Common operating conditions inside the arc tube are 70-90 PSI (480-620 kPa) and 2000 °F (1090 °C). "

WIKI

Nothing efficient about that! You can literally Lick an LED or a Fluro. and not be bothered! Heat is WASTED energy.

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Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
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Speedy Petey

I am just as guilty for following Malco's lead. I didn't even take the time to read the lamp or ballast tag.




As far as construction and physical appearance. True.

As far as light output. WRONG.

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mdshunk

These will be great fixtures for your garage, aka grow room.

If you pay about 9 cents a kilowatt hour, considering a lamp consumption of 400 watts and a ballast loss of 60 watts, each fixture will cost you a little over 4 cents an hour to operate.

Be advised that these fixtures need to "warm up" to come to full brightness. No good for a quick trip in and out. If you sometimes do this, install a regular incandescent fixture to provide minimal lighting for quick trips in and out, and use these for when you'll be in there a while.