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Merc in a Can When the Ryerson Library/Podium/Jorgenson Hall complex opened in the early 1970s, hundreds of these 100w recessed mercury vapour cans were used as exterior lighting and indoor accent lighting. The majority of these fixtures was disconnected during a lighting upgrade in 1994 but I know some that are still powered. The ones that are still powered probably haven't been relamped since 1994 as half of them are burnt out or very dim. This one has long since been disconnected and replaced with a F17T8 wraparound but it still sports a GE 100w /DX A23 lamp. Keywords: Indoor_Fixtures

Merc in a Can

When the Ryerson Library/Podium/Jorgenson Hall complex opened in the early 1970s, hundreds of these 100w recessed mercury vapour cans were used as exterior lighting and indoor accent lighting. The majority of these fixtures was disconnected during a lighting upgrade in 1994 but I know some that are still powered. The ones that are still powered probably haven't been relamped since 1994 as half of them are burnt out or very dim.

This one has long since been disconnected and replaced with a F17T8 wraparound but it still sports a GE 100w /DX A23 lamp.

IMG_20150107_201557.jpg IMG_20150107_193147.jpg TOR_IMG_20141204_203838.jpg TOR_2014-08-25_17_44_54.jpg IMG_20140321_184045.jpg
File information
Filename:TOR_IMG_20141204_203838.jpg
Album name:joe_347V / Commerical Lighting
Keywords:Indoor_Fixtures
Company and Date Manufactured:Prescolite, 1974
Wattage:100w
Lamp Type:Mercury vapour
Filesize:274 KiB
Date added:Dec 08, 2014
Dimensions:2448 x 1836 pixels
Displayed:396 times
Color Space:sRGB
DateTime Original:2014:12:04 20:38:39
Exposure Time:1/101 sec
FNumber:f/2.4
Flash:Flash
Focal length:3.97 mm
ISO:123
Make:Lge
Model:Nexus 5
URL:http://www.galleryoflights.org/mb/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=18744
Favorites:Add to Favorites

Comment 1 to 13 of 13
Page: 1

LampLover84   [Dec 08, 2014 at 01:33 PM]
Neat! too bad the lens in broken
streetlight98   [Dec 08, 2014 at 08:38 PM]
Nice that it's still up. Here, when they replaced the not-working 1X1 fresnel-lensed recessed cans over the outdoor entrances to the votech building, they screwed a board of plywood over the recessed cans and mounted LED canopy lights on the plywood boards.
joe_347V   [Dec 08, 2014 at 09:33 PM]
Yeah, someone tried pulling out the trim and bent it up like that.

They seemed to have left most of the old recessed cans in place except for a few where they installed a fluorescent wraparound or a MH canopy light over the old can opening. There are some recessed incandescent recessed squares that got covered up with sheet metal though.

During the winter break, I might go around school and grab pics of the older lighting that they left behind during the retrofits.
streetlight98   [Dec 08, 2014 at 10:32 PM]
And maybe grab a few lamps too? Very Happy Laughing
joe_347V   [Dec 09, 2014 at 04:43 PM]
That can be arranged. Laughing Razz But seriously, I wonder how old the lamps are, the order code says H100DX38-4/A23 instead of the more simplified one. Imagine if this lamp is actually from 1974. Shocked (Date Code 14)
streetlight98   [Dec 09, 2014 at 10:01 PM]
Interesting that it's USA-made instead of Canadian. That etch does look kinda old, could be original! Shocked Very Happy
joe_347V   [Dec 10, 2014 at 09:15 AM]
Yeah, I guess CGE might not have had a line for A23 shaped mercs. If it was original, it probably would have been lit more or less 24/7 for the 20 years before they disconnected the fixture so I guess it would be pretty dim. Razz

Once thing I did notice was that they used so many of these fixtures that the original 100w mercs at full brightness must have overlit everything (Fixture spacing was like 3' Shocked ) . Maybe that's they replaced them all with fluorescent wraparounds.
streetlight98   [Dec 10, 2014 at 12:06 PM]
Hmm, when new a 100W /DX merc is 4000 lumens, about the brightness of two F32T8s running off a normal ballast factor ballast, so I guess the light level would be comparable to a 4-lamp F32T8 fixture. I guess maybe they factored in that the lamps probably wouldn't be changed too often so they "overcalculated" so the rooms would still be adequately lit when the lamps dim out? I wonder if they didn't realize 100W mercs dim and out and replaced them to get "more" light. Laughing
GEsoftwhite100watts   [Dec 11, 2014 at 04:23 PM]
I believe some lighting situations (like this) are designed to be overlit at first, therefore when some lamps/ballasts/etc fail (or dimmed out MVs) it will still be bright enough.
I would've loved to have seen this in it's day though. I would think /DX would be a little strange indoors though (well MV in general) so maybe that's why they were replaced too.
I always wanted some nice recessed merc fixtures in a living room, etc. Preferably with the classic round fresnel lens, know the ones I'm describing?
joe_347V   [Dec 12, 2014 at 03:55 AM]
Probably but them these were mainly used as accent lighting so I don't know why they used 100w merc in them lol. The main lighting in there are 30x30 lensed air handling troffers with 2x F17T8s inside. They were originally 2x FB40T12 but got retrofitted to F17T8 the same time the mercs got disconnected.

Yeah, I guess by 1994 the original mercs would have been really dim (maybe like the level of a 40w incandescent Shocked ) so they probably though this old mercury vapour tech was dim and power hungry so they disconnected them and put in wraparounds. Personally I would have converted the recessed cans to 50w CMH or 2x PL-13 instead of installing wraps to keep the original look intact.
GEsoftwhite100watts   [Dec 16, 2014 at 03:30 AM]
I suppose so. Now imagine if they were hooked back up, in addition to the wraparounds. Try ASKING IF YOU CAN TAKE SOME LAMPS!
GullWhiz   [Jan 21, 2015 at 08:02 PM]
Whoa nice find here!
joe_347V   [Feb 02, 2015 at 05:47 AM]
Yeah, I originally thought these were incandescent until I looked more closely and I realized they were A-23 mercs.

Comment 1 to 13 of 13
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