For those CFL converts…

[wash4me]

Why would someone want to change $75+ worth of parts for little to no benefit when many have proven that the $20 CFL conversion saves lots of money and the light is comparable? En"lighten" me.

What I'm saying is that you are getting more light cheaper with a pulse start metal halide or a t5 or a t8 fluorescent. I can understand the appeal of the cfl though, just having to change a lamp.

 

[MEP001]

In the last few years all of the metal halides are psmh or pulse start metal halide.

All of them? No. Pulse-start metal halides can only work in a vertical-base-up configuration. Horizontal bulb wall-packs aren't pulse-start, and horizontal bulb ceiling fixtures can't be converted to pulse-start.

These new psmh fixtures put out more lumens per watt than a cfl.

Initially, yes, but they lose much of their light output long before their end-of-life, by my observation at least 2/3rds at their rated life. CFLs lose very little of their rated light output over their life.

You can either buy a whole new fixture or you can buy a ballast kit and lamp to convert to psmh.

Or you can convert to T5 or T8 fluorescent fixtures and have the same lumens per watt as a pulse-start metal halide and no maintenance for at least 30,000 hours.

 

[wash4me]

All of them? No. Pulse-start metal halides can only work in a vertical-base-up configuration. Horizontal bulb wall-packs aren't pulse-start, and horizontal bulb ceiling fixtures can't be converted to pulse-start.
Any wall pack you buy (horizontal mounting) are pulse start.

Initially, yes, but they lose much of their light output long before their end-of-life, by my observation at least 2/3rds at their rated life. CFLs lose very little of their rated light output over their life.

This doesn't agree with the information I've seen but it's difficult to dispute your observations. Dirty fixtures are probably more likely to get cleaned because you have to change the cfl lamps more often.

Or you can convert to T5 or T8 fluorescent fixtures and have the same lumens per watt as a pulse-start metal halide and no maintenance for at least 30,000 hours.

This is good information. My point in including those types was just to point out that they are better than cfl lamps.

All this being said you are still getting the low hanging fruit of energy savings and the ease of just changing lamps by using cfl. Next time you are at a relatively new building or parking garage you probably won't find cfl.

I have spent a lot of time reading the past posts and would like to thank you and everyone here for all the good information.

 

[Randy]

OMG!! I finally got around to replacing my last remaining 175 watt metal halide bulb with a 105 watt CFL http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/8257/FC105-S50MOGOD.html The 175 watt metal halide bulb had only been installed about 14 months and was pretty well punked out. The difference is like night and day. Pretty bright light, I wonder how long it will stay this bright.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I jumped on the CFL bandwagon back in May of 2011. I changed out about 80 MH to the bulb Randy listed, nearly all of them that summer. To date, at least 70 of those original bulbs are still in service. I couldn't be happier.

 

[6t7gto]

Wish I could say that.
I changed 18 over to CFL 105 watt.
Very bright.
Original 18 failed in a very short time. 3 months?
1000 bulbs replaced those under warranty.
Since then I have replaced 7 more.
This is in a 24 month period.

 

[washnvac]

It is weird. I have had a few fail in the 5-8 month period. And then I have some that have been in 4 years. That is about 21,000 hours on my burn schedule. (They are rated for 10,000 hours) It is still the easiest, and best deal going. You get nice,bright white light. And it stays that way until the end. Even if they only last a year; there is a $44 electric savings yearly.

 

[dogwasher]

How do the CFL bulbs do in the cold Chicago weather? Also my existing MH light fixtures are 208 single phase..?

 

[MEP001]

There aren't any on 1000bulbs.com that are not either 120V or 277V, but I assume you can just move the 208V wire to a 120V breaker.

The bulbs linked say they will start at 0°F. They'll take a little longer to come up to full brightness, but if they're in an enclosed fixture they should with no problem.

 

[Randy]

The 1000bulbs web site says they are Equal to 420 Watt incandescent. The box they came in says they are Equal to 500 watt, they are bright. They barely fit into a Cooper 175 watt MH fixture. We'll see how long they last.

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

I got 20 175watt MH and in process of changing them out there pulling 30 amps changed just three lights two CFL and brought amp draw to 25amps going to do the rest of my bays, this is crazy someone brought up this question as i was doing mine lol )

 

[Randy]

I got 20 175watt MH and in process of changing them out there pulling 30 amps changed just three lights two CFL and brought amp draw to 25amps going to do the rest of my bays, this is crazy someone brought up this question as i was doing mine lol )

Which wattage CFL's are you installing? So I've been happy with my 105 watt CFL's

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

85watts the biggest I could get in my fixture because of length and seem brighter from hunt electric

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Wish I could say that.
I changed 18 over to CFL 105 watt.
Very bright.
Original 18 failed in a very short time. 3 months?
1000 bulbs replaced those under warranty.
Since then I have replaced 7 more.
This is in a 24 month period.

After reading about Earl's vacuum issue, where he most likely had it connected to the wild leg, I kind of wonder if that may be the issue here???

 

[MEP001]

I'm pretty sure it would cause immediate problems. I had to straighten up a mess of problems caused by a service tech at a wash who had no business working on electrical but did so anyway. He moved breakers to high-leg (277v) spots to make room for more breakers, which immediately toasted everything in a brand-new Fragramatics combo unit. He also put the fluorescent bay lights on a high leg, which when turned on buzzed loudly for a second and tripped the breaker.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Another thought. A couple of years ago I had to replace the motor contactor on an air compressor. It worked fine for a day or two, then stopped working. I discovered that the coil was bad on the new contactor. The electric supply house gave me a new one. A couple of days later, same thing. They gave me another one. Once again, same thing a couple days later. As Jethro Bodine would do, I got to doing some ciphering. I soon noticed that I was using 120V coils on the contactor that was wired 208. Since it was only about 6" from the electric panel, I just ran a neutral wire and used what I already had instead of driving 1/2 hr back to the supply house. I also didn't have to go tell them that I was a dumba$$.

Would a CFL act the same way in this scenario?

 

[MEP001]

If it has an electronic ballast, probably not. I can certainly apply 208V to an old CFL and give it a try.

 

[MEP001]

I ran two 28W CFL's side by side for 10 minutes, one wired at 120V and one at 208. The 208 one was noticeably brighter and got significantly hotter (The base didn't get much warmer but the spiral tubes were too hot to touch, where the 120V one could be handled easily). The one running 208V didn't fail in 10 minutes.

 

[Mr. Clean]

I've been waiting to convert because I was under the impression that CFLs would only run on 120V and This summer we were either going to convert to LEDs at 208 or repower the circuitry to 120. Are there bulbs with 208V ballasts or how do they get configured?
Thanks.
MC

 

[MEP001]

I mentioned a few posts up that 1000bulbs.com only has 120V and 277V CFL's.

All it requires to make a 2-pole 208V circuit a 120V one is to move a wire from the breaker to the common bus.