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Lighting - Again

Earl Weiss

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FWIW about 2 years ago I remocdeled a tunnel with 25 year old 400 W MH lights.

Ordered some 150W LED ceiling fixtures from TSS. Tried a couple and the light was outstanding. I Know the specs indicate their are less lumens but the effect was undeniable. They were about $500 a pop so I did not replace all at once.

In the 100 foot tunnel the lights are about every 15' depending on equipment location. (For instance I don't put the light directly over a mitter curtain) As an EE one light in the center is plenty be it 400W MH, 320W MH used in a remodel about 8 years ago, and now the LEDs. (For SS light near the sidewalls is more important so customers can see the sides of the cars and in a FS Tunnel with the customer watching from a hallway I might do it differently.)

Now KR advertises what I think is the same "New" offering from TSS at about $450.00. Just put one in and it's even better. Their # LIGX1210

Figuring round numbers 10 cents KWH there is a 2.5 cent savings per hour over 400w lights. or 35 cents a day per light for 14 hour days or $127.75 a year.

Now, We will have to try and remember to clean them at least once a year since we are not replacing bulbs and ballasts for a while. Time will tell how they hold up in the car wash environment.


Just throwing that out there for people considering a change of lighting.
 

soapy

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4 and 1/2 years ago I took advantage of some electrical programs that let me replace my MH lights at 3 of my locations at 0% interest. The power company specified using 42 watt CFL fixtures that had the ballasts separate from the bulb. At the first 2 locations I have lost over 50% of the fixtures due to bad ballasts. The last location that was done has been better with only loosing 1 fixture due to a bad ballast. RAB lighting is the name of the 43 watt fixtures I used and I had no luck getting them to warranty any of the bad ballasts, even the ones that failed in the first year. At the same time I redid a fourth location with T5 lights and fixtures and installed them myself. I have not had to replace one bulb or ballast in the same time with the T5 fixtures and the light is much better with them. I am getting ready now to replace the 42 watt CFLs with T5 fixtures at the first 3 locations. At my detail location I put 40 T5 fixtures in 4 years ago and have never replaced a bulb yet.
 
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