All my metal halides are gone

[Sequoia]

I finally replaced my lone remaining metal halide light with a LED fixture. This last remaining fixture was the one which lights up the entry door and a changer. What a great feeling, at least so far.

I know the numbers for energy savings vs cost don't pencil out for a very long time, if ever. But, I have gotten really tired of being up on ladders replacing bulbs and ballasts and those parts are not cheap. So far, I haven't done any maintenance on any LED fixtures at all-- and I am into year 2 now. Counting the cost of parts and avoided maintenance the acquisition cost of the LED's has been worth it for me.

I still have CFL in the bays. I installed those in 2005 and they are still going strong although I have put in bulbs and a new ballast here and there with the CFL.

I'm using a combination of 28w wall fixtures and 56w fixtures, depending on location. The 56w roughly equates to a 175w metal halide, although the light "throw" is not quite as wide.

 

[Indiana Wash]

I have replaced almost all of mine too! I went with T5HO bulbs.

 

[2Biz]

I still have CFL in the bays. I installed those in 2005 and they are still going strong although I have put in bulbs and a new ballast here and there with the CFL.

You shouldn't have a ballast/transformer wired in line in the fixture. The incoming supply should be wired directly to the base socket. A CFL bulb has the ballast built in.

If you didn't bypass your transformer, your CFL bulbs might last longer. So far I haven't had a single failure in 6 months.

I looked into the LED fixtures when I retrofitted my Hubbels. It didn't pencil out. It cost me less than $20 ea. to change my fixtures from 175w Metal Halides to 85w CFL's. I run my lights on avg. 14 hrs a day. My electric bill last month for 12 fixtures, Led lit Business Sign, 220v air compressor, Pop machine, and various pump motors was $55.00....My pump stand is three phase. I think I've got it to the bare minimum. The biggest savings was in the lighting.

 

[soapy]

Just to clarify, not all CFL bulbs have the ballast integrated into the bulb. I am using some 42 watt CFLs that have the ballast in the fixture and you just rplace the bulb as needed.

 

[2Biz]

My bad, the ones I use are either a medium or mogul screw in base. From what I have found so far, they have the ballast built in.

 

[Kirb]

2biz,
How is the light output with using the 85 watt CFL compared to the 175 MH in your bays? Did you also use this bulb in you parking lot? If so how did it compare?
Thanks,
Kirb

 

[2Biz]

I started a thread when I did my conversion that has some before and after photos if you want to see the comparison.

http://forum.autocareforum.com/showthread.php?t=6668

The 175w Mercury Vapor bulbs had a yellow tint and the Daylight CFL's have a more "White" light. You can see from the pics that the CFL bulbs put out more and better quality light than the MV's. I used 40w CFL bulbs at my vac stations. I feel they put out plenty of light. I rarely have people using the vacs at night anyway. Its more for security.

Our wash is "In Town" on main street where I live, so we get benifit from street lights. I don't have any parking lot lights. The lot is a lot brighter than what is pictured. My digital camera set the shutter speed according to the light output from the bays, which left the parking lot to appear darker than it is.

 

[MEP001]

For what it's worth, I replaced several 320W metal halide bulbs/ballasts in the Scottsdales with 250W. They're noticeably dimmer but not extremely so, but after more than a year they've lost very little light output where the 320W lose at least a third of their light in that time, and after two years have lost at least half. It's not a huge savings in energy but it's an improvement, and I've had no troubles at all with them. I've been replacing bulbs/capacitors in all the fixtures about every 18 months, which costs about $800 to do. I don't think I'll have to with the 250W.