I like the brightness of MH too but yeah, my 70W PSMH light on the wall of the house on the deck is a glarebomb more than anything else and it's very rarely used. I might either replace it with an incandescent fixture or just rewire it for incandescent and just keep the ballast and guts. Maybe I'll stick my 75W equivalent LED inside it! Nah I think it could probably use a 100W incandescent at the least. Maybe 150W but that uses quite a bit of power. I'd leave the PC connected too. I love having PCs on the outdoor house lights since they can be left on when we're on vacation and just come on at night instead of running 24/7 while we are away. We don't normally leave any lights (outdoor or indoor) on at night. We just leave the lights in front of the garage and by the front door on when we leave the house at night or when we go on vacation (or if we're expecting company) but other than that, they're not used.

But I would love a low-wattage PSMH cobrahead (like 70 or 100W). I have a spare 250W HPS OEM ballast for an American Electric/ITT Model 13 but I don't have a Model 13 for it (it's got a welded-on bracket that probably only fits a Model 13 but I've never tried mounting it in a fixture). 250W HPS is too bright and hot for my uses but would be cool to have a higher wattage HPS. I have a 320W PSMH street light (my brightest light in the collection) and a 400W MV street light (my highest-wattage light).

Yep, all you need to do is open up the fixture and find the wirenut with all the white wires bundled together and then remove the white wire going to the igniter from the cluster and cap off that white igniter wire separately from the other wires. Some members have wired up fixtures with a switch wires to the white wire of the igniter so to run PSMH, they flip the switch to ON and to run MVs they flip the switch to OFF. Very cool! You can use a 70 or 100W PSMH ballast to run 100W MV. 100W PSMH will actually run a 125W MV better and will slightly overdrive a 100W MV but not enough to make the lamp blow up or anything lol. Most 100W MV ballasts tend to slightly overdrive the lamps anyway. I found the 100W MV lamp in my deck light rather dim when I had it in it (running off the 70W PSMH ballast) and it was a brand new lamp. Should have been much brighter IMO.

Ah yeah I forgot about that one. Nice fixture! And the LPS is cool too. I don't have any LPS lights. LPS is very rare around here.

I say change out the whole fixture rather than converting it to incandescent.. Maybe you can eventually find another location for it?

I leave 2 1xF32 fixtures (1 in back, 1 in front) on from midnight something like 5

This one, and the HPS flood in that other image are connected together & plugged into a remote-controlled unit, so I can just grab the little remote if I want to fire them up

A low-wattage cobrahead like that would be cool, especially if it was also a 'mini cobrahead' as far as size goes.. that'd be the perfect little yard light!
If that bracket was in the way, you could probably just cut/grind it off .lol.
My highest wattage (& brightest) is a 400w MH grow light... got it free too, only needed a new lamp, which I got off eBay. (right now its is just sitting under a desk, can't see that I'd need it any time soon).


I remember seeing a post from someone about putting a switch on the igniter.
The MV lamp I have is actually rated for either 100w or 125w fixtures, so sounds like it'll be a perfect match
A green MH lamp would probably look really cool too, but it'd still be a glare-bomb LOL

Yeah, nice looking fixture.. I'd love to find a good spot for it, I think in the right place it'd look great...
LPS is very rare here too, I've only ever seen one (not counting mine).

Yeah I thought about just replacing it too, but the fixture's a real glarebomb and then I'd have to pay for a new fixture lol.

How come you don't turn them on until midnight? Oh a remote? Interesting. How does that work? Are these flood lights wired to cords like the lights in my backyard then?

What do you mean by mini cobrahead? Yeah I could grind it off but then I wouldn't have a ballast bracket lol. The ballast doesn't have any provisions for an aftermarket bracket. I'd have to weld another on and I don't have the tools for it.

Ah yep that lamp will work great then. If you have any PAR motion sensor flood lights, perhaps replace it with the wall-mount light? I think it would look pretty sharp on the side of the house.

Usually someone's awake to around midnight anyway, so that just seemed like a good time to set the timer for (actually thinking about it it, I did change it to 11pm for the winter, but will likely go back to midnight in the summer) the more I keep the time cut back, the less electricity .. to keep costs down (even if its only a small bit)

I'll take a picture of the remote thingie later
Yep, they're just plugged in. (we installed a couple outlets at the back of the yard years ago so its not a long cord) digging a trench across the yard to run power & water (a 2nd hoseknob for the garden-hose) was well worth the effort! (also ran a wire for speakers & a sprinkler-system pipe in the same trench too.. don't use those those speakers anymore, more junk laying around the shed LOL)

By 'mini cobrahead' I just mean one thats smaller than those you see on streets (never knew how big they were til I saw one up close LOL)

I was thinking that ballast just had an "extra" mounting bracket.

I don't have any of the motion sensor flood lights (have a couple floods on switches for the driveway, can't remember the last time those were used LOL)

Ah i see. I would think it makes more sense to have the lights off when you're asleep, since the light doesn't really do you any good when you're asleep lol.

Oh wow sounds like it was a really big project back when you did it! I would have ran a cable for my lights but my parents were against it (it saved me a lot of money too!)

Oh I see. Yeah i always thought they were smaller too. Would be cool to manufacture 1/2 sized cobraheads (but otherwise identical to the real ones, ie a miniature M-250A or a mini OVZ or whatever). The small sized cobraheads (50-250W) are about 27" long. Medium ones range from 30 to 36" (i think the OV-25 silverliners were nearly 40" long!)

Yeah it's a weird ballast. Not even sure what kind it is. I think it's a 120V CWA, which is sorta uncommon since most CWA and CWI ballasts are multitap now (though back in the 80s single tap ballasts were probably still more common).

Ah i have a motion sensor PAR fixture in the backyard that we never use. The timer is set for 10 seconds so the thing always shuts off when you walk more than a few feet from it. My plan is to take off the motion sensor piece and wire in a photocell, but I can't figure out how to remove the thing off the side of the house! I can't find any screws.

The ones I leave on are meant as security lights, I installed them a number of years ago after there was some issues in the neighborhood..

Yeah, that was a big project, but using the trench for multiple things made it even more worth it.

Yep, think of how cool a cobrahead in the 12" - 18" size range would be!
And wow 40" is a beast! I bet those weigh a ton too! I probably wouldn't even be able to lift one .lol.

If there's no screws, either they're well hidden, it must have some sorta clips/push-on connectors. Do you have a close-up pic?

I see. Yeah my area is quiet at night so no real need for lights on at night. Yeah cobraheads can be big! A normal 400W MV cobrahead is about 40-45 pounds. A 50-150W HPS cobrahead with a plastic lens and a reactor ballast can weigh as little as 15-20 pounds. No close-up. I'll have to take one and post it. There's a couple of squarish things but they're flush with the mounting plate and I saw no way to remove them. The motion sensor is like 10-15ft up in the air too so kinda scary to be working over my head on a 8ft ladder.

Yeah I've hardly ever left outside lights on overnight. Mainly because of electrical capacity though. In fact with my current size battery bank now I should try leaving my 175w MV on all night come to think of it...

@Mike: 15-20 isn't too bad, that'd be easily movable but 40-45 lbs is pretty heavy .. those wouldn't be so easy to try & carry .lol.
Its never fun trying to work up on a ladder like that.

@GEsoftwhite100watts:
Running on batteries like that is one of the cases where LED & its low wattage would be a good thing...

Yeah I even almost bought one of those LOA "Buster" 175wMV>65wCFL retro lamps but did not, thinking I might be able to run my yardlight all night. (At that time, I could not, with the original 175w MV lamp, which it still has but my electrical capacity has since increased).

LOL yeah when I install one of my bigger lights outback for a picture or something, I take it apart first so that it's lighter lol.

A couple years ago I was telling a fellow youtube friend (they're browsed LG but never joined) I might be getting some 8ft slimlines and they said remove the ballast first for removing/installing!

@GEsoftwhite100watts: That's probably a good idea
I installed a couple 8' slimlines in the garage years ago... those things are a real pain for one person (only reason I was able to do it is I used 2 ladders, one to stand on, one to hold the other end of the fixture up near the ceiling)
Without the big heavy ballast, it woulda been easier to work with those things.....

When mounting chincy 4' fixtures between ceiling joists I've tapped a nail into the side of one of the joists to sorta support one end while screwing in the other end. My one slimline that is installed is suspended though. But I intend to hardmount four more!

When I installed the F32T8 shoplite in my great-aunt's basement, she held up one end while standing on the floor by pressing the broom handle against the fixture while I screwed in the other end lol.

4-footers short enough that they are pretty easy to install by yourself .. have done plenty of them in my time .
I have a 1-lamp 4-footer that I plan to change out for a different fixture...that one won't be fun, but only because its atleast 16-feet off the ground.

I won't install anything suspended on chains because I hate that setup .lol.
I also won't mount striplights flush on the ceiling, instead I put a piece of 1x2 at each end (so the screws go through it, may not be right at the ends of the fixture)...The idea there is to leave an air-space for cooling

Maybe with a drill but for me I had to line the fixture holes up with the joists and then put the screws in with a screwdriver lol. My arms get too tired trying to mount stuff over my head so I need another person to hardmount a fixture. That's another reason I try to suspend fixtures when I can.

Depends on the fixture type. I think industrials/shoplights look stupid hardmounted While on the other hand, I think strips and wraps look better hardmounted, be it flush to the ceiling or on a stem/pendant assembly. I like the idea of air circulation for the fixture but I think 1" is a little much. I would just use a 1/8" gap (3/16" the biggest) using washers since anything larger than that won't look right IMO. That's only if the ballast runs hot, otherwise I'd just flush mount it. Quicker and looks way better IMO. I'd never suspend a fixture in "living space" but I think fixtures look better suspended in an unfinished area like a shop or a basement.

@Mike:

I just drilled extra holes in the fixtures to line up with the joists (so the fixtures would be right where I needed them)

I had some extra 1x2 pieces around so I used that and it seemed like a good fit but you could go less space (I personally wouldn't go less than 1/2" .. unless its a decorative fixture inside)

I like direct mounting because its much more sturdy (and to me looks better) especially if its more than one fixture in a line, which I have a tendency to do .lol.
I also dislike unfinished areas...it would only be a matter of time before I finished it off - even a garage or shop.

Same here, I'd like to eventually insulate and finish my garage/shop, although the wall finish would be plywood or OSB, not sheetrock.

Mine had the holes already there since it was a pre-owned light but I still needed to hold the fixture against the ceiling to put the screws in. Ah I don't want a finished basemnt only so I can mount lights all over the studs lol.