Baldwin Park, CA is one of the first cities to be converted. SCE is using the right fixtures made by good ol' GE, unlike PG&E which chose crappy Cree fixtures.
I've heard the GEs aren't so great either, though nobody uses them in my area. RIDOT chose LeoTek toilets, Providence, Central Falls, West Warwick, and possibly others chose Cree, Cranston and some towns in East Bay chose 3000K AEL Autobahns. NGrid just added LEDs to their rate tariff at the end of January. So far no towns have announced a NGrid LED conversion and I don't expect any will. NGrid confines the amount of lights converted to LED per year to 10% of a municipality's lights and does not offer dimming or wireless controls (though provides a rate tariff for municipalities who own their lights and wish to use part-night or dimming controls). There's this non-profit lefty group called PRISM (Partnership for Rhode Island Street light Maintenance) that is basically coercing municipalities to "join the bandwagon" and buy their lights from NGrid and then surrender them over to PRISM. The city will still own the lights (thus be responsibly for all buying, maintenance, labor costs) but PRISM will oversee maintenance operations.
PRISM also dictates what kinds of lights can be used and PRISM drafted the law passed by the general assembly dictating the max wattage LED that can be used to replace HPS (they did that by stating the minimum energy savings required for LEDs over HPS). The whole thing just seems fishy to me. The way they're pressuring cities and towns to join in.
I'm getting used to them. I like the 3000K ones much better than the 4000K ones and they perform better in the rain than HPS but I agree the designs leave a lot to be desired and the quality isn't there. With HIDs, the lamps last three to seven years and the fixtures last maybe 15 to 25 years. With LEDs the fixtures might last 15 years tops and the whole thing has to be replaced. With a HPS, odds are the ignitor is what made the fixture inoperable and they're plug-in so if you carry ignitors you could keep the fixture going even longer. With LEDs, the technology is advancing so fast that by the time the fixtures start to fail, the drivers and LED chips existing at that time will no longer be available.
HPS components from GE, Cooper, and AEL haven't changed a bit since the 80s. GE, Westy/Cooper, and AE/AEL have used the same ignitors since the 80s and the ballasts haven't changed much either. Even fixture designs haven't changed much since the 80s so parts are easy to come by thus easy to keep existing fixtures going. Granted it's all a moot point since no utility I know of will change more than a lamp, PC, and refractor (though I've seen some lights get new doors if the lineman happens to have a door that fits).
They're easier on the eyes. The intense blue of LEDs is not as apparent in the warmer color temperatures. Plus they mimic incandescent street lights so that's always cool.
This picture pretty accurately shows their color. They look like halogen lamps. A little whiter than incandescent and maybe even more like 3500K to me but the light is a little easier on the eyes than 4000K or even 5000K, the latter I have yet to see in person.
I prefer ~5000K LEDs because they mimic old (1970's/1980's) MV (coated, MBF). They used to be slightly more bluish than "today's" 4000K-4200K ones. (I mean in Europe. Probably a slightly different phosphor formula.)
As LEDs also tend to green out with age, the effect is almost perfect.
@rlshieldjr:
I'm assuming by looking at it this is a GE Evolve.
Yeah those look more in the 4000k range.
Actually same goes for some others I've seen that were installed last year (which I believe someone said were Philips)
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PRISM also dictates what kinds of lights can be used and PRISM drafted the law passed by the general assembly dictating the max wattage LED that can be used to replace HPS (they did that by stating the minimum energy savings required for LEDs over HPS). The whole thing just seems fishy to me. The way they're pressuring cities and towns to join in.
HPS components from GE, Cooper, and AEL haven't changed a bit since the 80s. GE, Westy/Cooper, and AE/AEL have used the same ignitors since the 80s and the ballasts haven't changed much either. Even fixture designs haven't changed much since the 80s so parts are easy to come by thus easy to keep existing fixtures going. Granted it's all a moot point since no utility I know of will change more than a lamp, PC, and refractor (though I've seen some lights get new doors if the lineman happens to have a door that fits).
Interesting.
I've never seen a 3000k LED streetlight though.
As LEDs also tend to green out with age, the effect is almost perfect.
The only thing I miss is the slow, pink start.
Interesting seeing that pic. does look a bit incandescent-ish or like you say more 3500k
@merc:
I do like the color of ~5000k LEDs for the same reason.
I'm assuming by looking at it this is a GE Evolve.
Yeah those look more in the 4000k range.
Actually same goes for some others I've seen that were installed last year (which I believe someone said were Philips)