Re: Yard Light goes off several times during the night.

On Wed, 01 Mar 2006 18:16:16 -0600, maradcliff@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:


Thanks for the advice. This is just a 70W unit. I'd hate to pay the
electric bill for anything larger. My neighbor has a sodium light,
yellowish in color. I heard they are a little more cost efficient for
electricity, but the bulbs cost more. My biggest problem with them is
the color. More than once I haev seen smoke or fog with the neighbors
light and thought there was a fire.

That sounds like a 175 watt lamp. I don't recall seeing anything
smaller than 100 watts in common use in the mercury light type lamp.
HPS lamps are available all the way down to 20 watts. 75 watts is the
usual security light wattage.

I have the same problem as you with the color. In recent years both
GE and Philips have come out with "color corrected" versions. These
have some other metals in the arc tube and result in an
orangish-purple tinged, almost white light. Many governments are
using these for street lights now because the color rendering is a LOT
better than pure HPS. Both companies even make these lamps that will
work in a mercury vapor luminary. In the $40 range for a 175 watt one,
as I recall.

I didn't know they made photocel eliminators. I do have a spare
photocell though. I suppose I can try that first. I hate going up on
the pole, on a ladder, so i hope that does it.

That'll work. The cell has three wires, a red, black and a white one.
The white is neutral, the black is hot and the red goes to the
ballast. I've never seen any deviation from these color codes. You
can pop the top on the photocell and manually operate the relay if you
like. Or you can use a jumper cable to jump around the contacts. Or
even do as I mentioned before, jump the red and black wires together
in the socket.

Unless the crud buildup is really bad on the photocell, you can also
wrap the can with a couple layers of black electrical tape to make it
see dark all the time. That might be a good first test.

Of course, if your spare cell is known-good, just stick it in and see
what happens. Odds are, that will fix things. If not, I'd replace
the light fixture rather than messing with the ballast.

That's the policy of the co-op I moonlight for. Change the photocell.
If that doesn't fix the problem and the bulb isn't darkened, change
the fixture. Cheaper than fooling with it.

John

I agree about the bulbs getting dim before burning out. The last time
the bulb died, it was very dim before it actually died. That is why I
am asking, because this time it's still bright. Maybe the ballast is
going. I suppose in that case it's probably cheaper to buy another
fixture and just change the whole head. This one is 6 years old. I
believe I paid about $25 for it. I know the last time I bought a bulb
it was about $10, and the sensors are around that same price. So at
that rate the ballast should be $5 but I bet they are much more.

Mark


John

On Wed, 01 Mar 2006 06:19:27 -0600, maradcliff@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

I have one of those mercury yard lights on a pole. (Common farm
light). It used to work fine, but recently I find it going off
several times during the night. It goes dark, and then comes back on
in a few minutes. Maybe the bulb is going bad, but in the past they
would just stop working and that was all. I doubt it's the sensor
because that seems to work fine, comes on when it gets dark, goes out
in the morning. Of course anything is possible. I should mention
that the light is not reflecting up into the sensor, or nothing has
changed with the mounting since this started going off and on a couple
months ago. Of course the weather is cold, but it did not do that
other winters, except occasionally during heavy snow storms, but I
always figured that was caused by the snow on the sensor.
Anyhow, I am trying to see if anyone else has had this problem and
what caused it. I know electricity well, and have even worked for
electricians when I lived in the city, but we didn't have these lights
in the city. I know there is not a loose wire or anything, and
checked all of that. It's the light itself. There are only 4 working
parts, bulb, ballast, sensor and socket.
I am sure the socket is fine, so that leaves the bulb or ballast (or a
sensor that has gone whacko).

Anyone????

BTW: This isa 70W bulb.

Thanks
Mark
---
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.johngsbbq.com
Cleveland, Occupied TN
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.-Ralph Waldo Emerson
---
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.johngsbbq.com
Cleveland, Occupied TN
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.-Ralph Waldo Emerson
.

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