Not Sure what kind of lamps we use.....but we've been seeing alot of NEW streetlights out in recent months.....5 Months Old and we got cyclers and some not even lighting at all....what Crap.
Considering the quality thats not surprising, and if there going to have to re-lamp every 6 months why not just spend a few more bucks and get a better lamp (Sylvania,GE,EYE) it makes no sense
The problem with quality is this going green! They want less and less mercury and while thats great for the environment it bad for lighting. But the makers love it because you have to buy lamps more often. But think about it if you change the same lamp 2-3 times in 3 yrs compared to a lamp w/ more mercury that will last 7-8 yrs are you throwing any less mercury in the trash! So many lamps end up in the trash you ask your self how big of a difference does it make? I dont mean to start a discussion on the environment I'm just stating why I think lamps today are such junk!
tonight i noticed we have a lot of outages as far as streetlights go,and i've seen some new fixtures start cycling pretty early,a few GE M250R2's (100 W HPS) are not even two months old and Cycle already.
I've noticed several dimmed and non working HPS streetlights in my hometown that were installed 2 years ago which unfortunately replaced mercury vapor fixtures since the municpality wanted their streetlights upgraded.
I dont see many that burn dim, at least due to the lamp being defective. Usually it's a bad capacitor or voltage problem. I've come across a few that a bad mixture and glow nice and blue like a clear merc.
Yeah we have several around here that need to be repaired I just dont have the time due to the backed up work log! Thats also the biggest problem I find on some of the newer 175w & up MV fixtures is the cap goes bad and the lamp will fire but not come to full brightness! It seems to be an all to common issue.
On the freeway near here, they installed new lighting during 2008-2009 and some had already failed or started cycling. One failed almost immediately after installing. Junk!
And yet the Form 400 power packs from 1959 at a local mall still blast away every night, most new lighting is junk really none of the company's make great lights any more.....