LSI scottsdale lights, 125C rated wire!!!

[1carwash1]

Just received our new LSI scottsdale 320W lights. The installation sheet indicates that the incoming leads need to be rated at 125C. I called several electrical distributors who surprisingly said we have never had a request for 125C rated wire. One asked if I was wiring an oven (LOL). Anyway, I believe THHN & THWN is rated for 90C. I don't know where to get 125C rated wire, nor do I want to rewire the entire lighting circuit with wire that is difficult to get. Am I missing something here? Any suggestions? Otherwise the lights need to go back and I need to find an alternate fixture.

 

[2Biz]

I don't think you're missing anything. The reason for the higher temp rating of the wire is because of the high amount of heat these 320w fixtures put out.

When I retrofitted my 175w Hubbel fixtures to CFL's the 175w Mercury Vapor bulbs and transformers baked the 12g wiring so badly, they crumbled just by touching them. I had to rewire several of the fixtures back to a junction box to get to good wire.

I have to wonder why you're putting in such high powered and energy consuming lights? There are CFL bulbs out there that run on 1/2 to 1/3 of the power and put off more usable light. Before converting to CFL's, I could not begin to touch the fixtures because they were so hot. Now they are merely warm to the touch. No need for higher rated wire....Just a thought...

 

[Ghetto Wash]

I have many 320W pulse start MH LSI fixtures (ceiling mount). Wired all with THHN. Oldest so far is about 10 years old. No problem with wires melting yet. On mine all the wiring is in a seperate compartment of the fixture than the lamp.

 

[1carwash1]

After confirming the 125C wire rating and considering what 2Biz pointed out regarding power consumption, we decided to return the lights and pursue something different. Our bays are 20 feet long by 15 feet wide. The G&G led lighting appears impressive but costly. To keep cost down, we're considering installing 4 of their six foot led tubes in each bay. Do you think this will be enough light? We have 7 bays to rework which I assume means 7 transformers (not to thrilled about installing 7 transformers). In addition, I'm also concerned about the lights being stolen.

 

[2Biz]

The CFL's I installed saved about 60% on my lighting bill. Plus I was able to remove the huge transformers in the Hubbel's and wire directly. If I ever replace the fixtures, I will go with Watertight T5Ho's...I have one of these (4' x 2 bulb) above my changer. It looks good and it puts out a lot of light. 54w per bulb, 5,000 lumens....Led has a ways to go before I'd consider installing them.

This is the T5HO Fixture I bought. I ordered it with SS Clips. Looks nice installed.

http://products.smartlightingsoluti...mp/sls-vt4-254-m-p-psn?&bc=100|1004|1012|1060

 

[Earl Weiss]

Ditto on what 2 Biz says,. Except the link did not say "HO". if it is a cold location you need HO.

I have the pre curser to these (T12HO), Four, 4ft Double tube (120W per fixture total as opposed to 108 for the T5) wet location fixtures in each bay.

Each fixture is mounted about 4 feet in from the end of each bay on the sidewall 8 feet high.

Unlike my EE tunnel where illuminating the sides of the car is not really important this gives great light on the sides.

As you can see the wattage is far less than the 320MH if you were going to use 2 per bay. The Cost of 4 of these is also less than 2 scottsdales.

Although my electric rates are slightly less than this I can figure 100 Watts is 1 cent per hour. So this set up costs 4.32 cents per hour to run or about 55 cents burning 12 hous a day. . What would the LED's cost and What is the wattage rating? Then you have your payback period. Of course there is a factor for bulbs and Ballasts fior flourescents that you should factor if you want to be thorough.

The above site had wet location motion sensor option for $57.00 . If you could use on e sensor for 2 lights that would be great. If used on one light it might save 5 cents a day. This would be a one year back back on electricity plus bulb replacement savings.

 

[2Biz]

I saw the same thing on the page link, but the preceding page listed the T5's as being T5HO....The link is below. The one I ordered from them was a T5HO and the price was a little over a hundred dollars with SS clips...Good Eye!

http://www.smartlightingsolutions.com/vapor-wet.html

I also ordered mine with the reflector shield. You'll want this if you order these.

This P/N "SLS-VT4-254-M-P-PSN" is the 2 bulb 54w fixture. The "254" in the p/n signifies 2 bulb and 54w....

 

[Randy]

If you need to replace your fixtures these could be a good option

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LITHONIA-TW...396?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4abea76554

Which fluorescent fixture is the most efficient in terms of bulb replacement cost, power consumption and light output? The T-5 or the T-8?

I leave my T-12HO's on 24/7 during the dark, dreary winter months, the bays are like driving into a cave on most days.

 

[2Biz]

Thats a good deal you found there Randy. The normal price for a Metal Halide Lithonia TWH Glass Lens Fixture is over $250....So the CFL Conversion is not bad at $160 bucks...

Here is a link to a site that compares T5, T5HO, and T8 bulbs. They are all within 3 CRI...But the T5 puts out the most lumins per watt.

http://www.lightingtaxdeduction.org/technologies/t5.html

I feel the T5HO is the best choice for our purpose. We want the most light from the smallest fixture, at the cheapest cost to install, and the cheapest to operate!

You can get T5HO bulbs for about $5.00 each...I've had my T5HO fixture installed for about 18 months and still going strong. No ballast or bulb issues.

 

[mjc3333]

Actually the T-8 bulb is cheaper to buy and cheaper to operate.


Here is a comparison http://www.lightingassociates.org/i...s/FAQs_T8_or_T5-HO_-__Which_should_I_use_.pdf

Here is another http://www.hoveyelectric.com/hovey-...ow-Do-You-Know-If-You-Really-Need-T5-Lighting

A T-8 bulb costs about $1.50 to $2.00 each where the T-5 is $5.00 to $8.00 each.

The T-8 is also rated at 32 watts, where the T-5 is 54 watts each.

The T-5 is brighter, but will cost much more in the long run (bulb $ + energy $)

I went with th T-8's 4 years ago and slashed my electric bill by over 65% compared to the old 175 watt MH lights.

 

[MEP001]

The T-8 is also rated at 32 watts, where the T-5 is 54 watts each.

The T-5 is brighter, but will cost much more in the long run (bulb $ + energy $)

FWIW, T8 vs T5 (comparing identical brands/color temp bulbs) are almost identical in lumens per watt.

 

[soapy]

In a T5 HO fixture you do nto have to run a 54 watt bulb. You can run a lower watt bulb with the electronic ballast but why would you. I wrote a lighting article a couple of years ago for SSCWN. At that time I was using a combination of T5 HO, some CFL 42 fixtures and some LEDS. So far not 1 failure of bulbs or ballasts in my T5 HO fixtures and they have been running 3 years. I got them from Kleenrite. The 42 watt CFLs are starting to burn out now and about half the time they also require a new Ballast at $40 each and a bulb at $11. I can buy new fixtures for cheaper than that. Now I just take out the ballast and covert the 42 watt fixture over to a regular socket and use a $10 42 watt CFL bulb that includes the ballast. In my experience the T5 is the way to go. I have found T5 bulbs for about $1 more than a T8 bulb. When buying bulbs try to get a Kelvin rating of 4100 or higher for better light recognition by the human eye.

 

[chewy007]

G&G led's vs LSI LED crossover

Hello,

I am building a new site that was planned entirely with the LSI LED crossover lighting. I am considering using the G&G lighting design in the carwash bay.. has anyone had any experience with them ? Our other locations have standard MH lamps ranging from 100 watt to 1000 watt.