Seen or know what facts exactly? It takes around 10 minutes to reballast a fixture at most if you are good at it, and cost about $100, and new fixture will take just as long to change out and cost around $600, with cobras they aren't designed to be reballasted and I understand why they get replaced but a big $600+ flood should be repaired in my opinion.

Try replacing a ballast with the OSHA required glove.......it's harder.........and have you ever actually followed a lineman and watched them do the work....its HARDER than it sounds....I didn't believe it till I have seen actual proof, and actual damages and actual requirements and how long it really takes to do specific work....you must remember...time to park in road, the time to set up safety hazard cones around truck, time to set up needed stuff, time and all the things...you must do some reports bafter each assigned jobs.......this is why my electric company fixes lights so effecently....the other places....there are complaints some work isn't done or it takes forever to get a lineman to come and stuff......I wasn't convinced until I saw all this in person, snd for those linemen, they have actually done it and the tell me experiences....its more than you think....its also about timing.....and safety!

Well first off none of the floods or cobras we use cost near $600 a piece! On that note I have seen for a fact from working on them that there are times when a ballast burns up it destroys the wiring in a fixture in which case it has to be replaced. Cost is a big concern of course and with cost I have a lot more knowledge of whet we pay for parts and the cost of going to a light. Most of the 1k mv floods on our system are well over 10 years old and have no warranty and there for it makes sense to change them to a new fixture! When you replace the ballast you do not have a factory warranty on that so if something goes wrong your beat! Besides changing the ballast on a fixture is not always easy to do on a fixture w/o taking it down so wouldn't it make sense that if you have to take it down to repair then why not replace it? I guarantee it would take longer to rebuild it and put it back up then to just replace it! Trust me I know that for a fact. It has nothing to do with how good you are at it! You also have to realize that the biggest concern for most members here is to keep old fixtures in service but a utilities concern is to get the lights working as cheap as possible and most of the time that means changing out fixtures! I personally have changed out tons of fixtures where yes they could have been repaired but it would cost more time and money to do so than to just replace it! I would love to save more fixtures but that's not my job! My job is to repair or replace as cost efficiently as possible! So just because you see a fixture get replaced dont just think it was replaced cause someone was lazy! There is a lot more involved than what people see!

Guys I never said it was anything about being lazy, and for the record Jace I have talked to many linemen and see them work. According to several members on this site they have quoted the AEL 327 for more than $1000, that's considerable more than $600.

It's different if you buy ONE....I have been to the electric company headquarters and refurbish shop...have you? I went to the headquarters to get a job and interview.

The price of ONE fixture is different from a contractors pack...it is a LOT cheaper if you pay a contractor pack.....

Also buying from a distributer will be more expensive then asking for a quote from the manufacturer. If a single 115 costs around $100 a contractor pack must be pretty darn cheap.

I only change the cap or Ignitor if necessary, other than that if the fixture is bad, we swap out for a new one. It is much faster and easier to swap a fixture than reballast. 2 wires and 2 bolts is alot easier than 15 wires and a 1/4 nut driver taking out a big ballast wearing 17kv rubber gloves.

Niall, Gmercury2000 is MY local lineman and works in the company in the pic above! You shouldn't argue with a lineman!

And right on Tony! Exactly what Gmercury2000 does! If the 1000 watt MH has a bad cap, the cap will be replaced, but if the ballast is bad, a new fixture is installed! Now 2 linemen both agrees and knows exactly what they are talking about!

Thank you Gmercury2000 and Tony!

Hmm. Do linemen still have to wear gloves if they remove the light? Even then it's still more work... I do think no replacing PLUG IN ignitors in fixtures is lazy though...

YES! That is the law and the rules for safety! Plus if you work on poles with 17 KV powerlines (or more) you MUST wear those protective rubber sleeves and THICKER gloves! But if the lights are on a pole that does not have the high voltage and only 120, 240 volts or so then low voltage gloves must be worn!

For refurbishing shop, you must wear low voltage gloves if you are testing an energized fixture...

Even if the fixture is off the pole? Wow.

God for bid your not wearing gloves working on a fixture and the primary lets go and comes across the mounting bracket.

That's the OSHA laws for you! People have gotten killed or hurt before!

I mean if the lights on the back of the truck, I wont have them on while prepping the fixture, but once i'm in the bucket the gloves are on.

Well, strict is good when it comes to safty.

Did you know that the bucket on the bucket truck is also made of fiberglass instead of metal to prevent YOUR BODY being connected to the GROUND!

yeah and the bucket liners must go in once a year for a dielectric test to make sure they still insulate.

Even the gloves has expiration date!

yes, I have to change them every 3 months.

I have tried the gloves on and touched the two probes of the 15,000 KV transformer........it felt like it had energy around the probes, vibrations around em.....put a piece of stick across them will BURN the stick into ashes!!!