Nice! My old middle school from 1970 has recessed cans on sporadic overhangs like this (they don't go around the whole building, just over windows; two per overhang IIC and only on the backside of the building) but I think they're incandescents, but they could also be A-shaped mercs. They don't work though. Could just be switched off but I think a few are missing bulbs too.

That is cool it is still alive somewhere

My school uses all HPS wallpacks lol

Thanks! Yeah all the original exterior (and some interior accent) lighting on this building are 100w mercury vapour. Looking at how dim it is compared to the MH wallpacks makes me think they still have original bulbs. Especially since I think 80% of the remaining MV bulbs are original. Some do look like they have newer etches so I think they only spot relamped fixtures.

My school is all T12 with some HPS outside and in the gym (Eww!). Totally 1979-1985 vibe (when it was built).

In the GYM?! Ick!

Yes, in the GYM! And the whole surrounding neighborhood lights up orange from it too! (gym has windows).

Ack! HPS indoors. The larger gym at my university uses 400w MH highbays reccessed in the ceiling while the smaller one has surface mount 1x4 troffers.

As for elementary and high school, they both used 1x4 surface mount troffers.

Something interesting, those troffers you see in the window are 30"x30". They originally used 40w T12 U bents but were converted with one of those specular reflector kits to 2x F17T8. The louver is also a retrofit, they were originally lensed.

Wow..."Gym" just jogged a memory. When I was in high school in Florida, our Gym was lit by a ton of 400w MV. We had the class in the morning and everyday I watched them switch on the lights....imagine a ton of /DX 400w mercury vapor lamps all lighting up at once! It was quite a sight. As they were warming up, there would be the random red "flare-ups" too!

All the schools I went to had 400w mercury high bays, and all were in various stages of relamping with 400W M59 metal halide. My former elementary school is now T5/HO, my former high school is still HID but with only one mercury lamp left. My tech school's electricity department (a converted gym) is also HID and the remaining 5 or 6 Appleton Baymasters with mercury lamps have all been replaced since 2012, one of which I was able to save from the scrapyard! As of the mechanics department, there are still 3 or 4 mercury lamps left, but one recently failed and was replaced by a metal halide lamp. However other metal halide fixtures in school have recently received brand new EYE mercury lamps!

Interesting that they used new MVs in those fixtures Vince. My elementary school originally had 400W MH GE glass highbays with clear glass covers on the bottom. Once in a while you'd see an exploded lamp sitting in the bottom. They were good about lighting maintenance at my elementary school though. A dead lamp never sat for too long.

My middle school had 400W MH low bay fixtures with a few aluminum highbays with wireguards. Those low bay fixtures were pretty cool.

IDK what kind of highbays my high school used in the gym. I do know that in the votech building they used SQUARE-LENSED low bay lights with MV lamps up until 2010-ish. Now, my elementary school gym, middle school gym, high school gym, and votech building at the high school all use 6-lamp F32T8 motion sensor high bays. They did the mass-changeout when I was in 7th grade, so I actually got to see them remove the middle school ones. Never saw what the high school looked like before it got rid of HIDs though. I only know about the votech building's lights because of a couple of pictures of the shop.

As for T12s and T8s, my elementary school had magnetic PL EXIT signs, T12/RS troffers, wraps, and louvers, PSMH parking lot lights, HPS wallpacks, magnetic PL wall bulkhead/scone lights, and six-lamp opal surface mount square lights. Right after I left, they came in and retrofitted all the T12 lights to T8 (except for the six-lamp surface fixtures, which each got replaced with two 2X4 F32T8 three-lamp troffers side-by-side to fill the 4X4 space), replaced all the outdoor lighting and the exit signs with LEDs, and replaced the gym lights with F32T8 motion sensor lights. The auditorium got its halogen recessed lights retrofitted with LEDs, which look virtually the same, except for the smaller illuminated face.

My middle school retrofitted everything way before I got there (a lot of dead lamps and missing diffusers!) and my high school replaced everything with new Lithonia fixtures in 2011.

Yeah, I guess whoever relamped them thought 400w MH and MV was interchangable. I guess the only issue with running MH lamps on a MV lamps is that the lower OCV makes them harder to start as the lamp ages.

To add to the mystery, I saw another one of the merc cans running one night but the pictured one was out. Oddly enough I only saw it lit for one night. It was around the same brightness so I'm assuming basically all of the merc cans have dimmed/burnt out lamps. Would be nice to see them relamped since they appear to still be connected to power.

That's weird. I wonder why only one random can seems to be lit. I'd be very surprised if they were all individually switched. I'd expect to see them all on a mechanical timer or something. Time to go poking around in utility closets around the library for a timer or cluster of switches I guess lol. TBH I'd like to have some 70W PSMH can lights over my front door or garage when I get my own house, if I have a tall enough overhang over the doors. I heard the 50W PSMH lamps aren't as reliable as the 70W ones. The cheaper PSMH ballasts tend to have issues starting lamps anyway from what I've seen. I love PSMH though! Would also like MV can lights even more but PSMH ones can still be ordered new.

Yeah I wonder why too. I guess they're the odd chance all the cans are still powered on at night but the MV lamps are too dead to start and I guess the nights I see one lit, that one managed to start. I kinda wish I had a bucket truck to test that theory lol.

Yeah, I'd like to have a PSMH or MV can over my front door too. I have the fixtures already but they probably won't get installed until I get my own house. They're 50w PSMH so I could also run 75w or 80w MVs. I have a couple of 80w MV lamps for them too. 70w PSMH is pretty nice too, it's a more common wattage than 50w PSMH and can also run 100w MV which is also more common than 70/80w MV.

That would be very interesting if they're too weak to start but one will every once in awhile. That's probably the best explanation. Installations like this always make me think "What did this place look like when it was new?" Must've been a lot brighter around the outside!