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PostPosted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:00 am 
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In Holland there is a version of the MA90 that runs 55w PL-L and another version that runs twin 36w PL-L. I shall eventually be making one of each sometime in the future with my surplus MA90s. ;)


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 5:57 pm 
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Speaking of LED lighting Lancashire County Council have been going for this in a big way in the previous few months installing WRTL Stelas on quite a few estates which were built in the last 15 years and therefore are quiet cul-de-sacs which already have metal columns to retrofit the Stelas to post-top. I think they look quite good on modern estates and the columns were already painted black so they match the lanterns. How good they'd look on a 1930s estate retrofitted to a sleeved concrete column (if that's possible) or on one of those awful unpainted Stainton 'Bones' columns they tend to use now I don't know however!  ;) These Stelas have been springing up overnight and I will have to try and count the LEDs in them next time I see one but the lighting levels from them are appalling! The old mercury lighting was better than this! The previous 50w SON used on these roads was definitely better than this! I'm sure they're saving the council a lot of money though, probably all they're concerned about!

As for lantern dimming not being 'detectable to the human eye' I beg to differ. I live on a main A-road which has 150w Vectras lighting it. When at full power these light the road extremely well. However after midnight the Vectras are dimmed to a considerable level and look like they're using 70w. On a quiet road this may be acceptable but on a road like mine with through-traffic all night it isn't as the lighting levels are again, terrible. I noticed when we had some fog recently that these dimmed Vectras barely cut through it! Lighting levels are going back to what they were in the 1930s with all this cost-cutting! As sotonsteve says they should use CFL and CPO and it would be much brighter for the same or less energy effiency!


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 6:00 pm 
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Won't dimming SON or MH damage the lamps?

I know CFL burn out quicker when dimmed (tubes blacken) but not sure if it will work with SON or MH?


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 7:17 pm 
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Fluorescent tubes if dimmed with the correct control gear don't suffer from end blackening. Dimming both fluorescent and SON/MH has no effect on life, in fact life should be longer. SON lamps are considered an "ideal load" when dimming is considered and unlike fluorescents which really need the electrodes to be kept at normal operating temperature when dimmed, SON lamps do not have this limitation.

The issue is, do you really need to light roads at full illumination levels when traffic volumes are low late at night? My view is not.


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 7:56 pm 
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Thanks for that, phosco.

I agree, dimming them to around a 3rd of full brightness would be a far better means of saving energy when there's no earthly need for lanterns to be lit at full brightness.


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 8:04 pm 
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It's all very well talking about dimming and such though, but does the lighting need to be so bright in the first place? Parts of the A27 in South Hampshire are lit with 12m columns and 250w SON, whilst practically identical sections of the road are lit perfectly well with 8m columns and 90w SOX. It should be a case of targeting this form of energy waste first, but so often, like the Highways Agency for example, they will install 600w SON through a completely rural area and then say they are being environmentally friendly because they are part night. It's a load of rubbish really.

Strange thing is, councils are willing to offer shockingly poor levels of illumination with LED lighting, yet wouldn't dream of doing so with conventional discharge lighting. From what Gramma6 is saying, I would imagine 36w PL-L to be considerably brighter than the Stelas he has seen, yet I bet the local council insists on either 70w SON minimum otherwise.


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 8:27 pm 
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I'm surprised this has not been said before.
The most energy efficient way of lighting a street is to not light it up at all!!!

But then we won't have anything to look at either...


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 8:42 pm 
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nick217 wrote:
I'm surprised this has not been said before.
The most energy efficient way of lighting a street is to not light it up at all!!!

But then we won't have anything to look at either...


Well, built up areas need lighting, but not rural areas, and even most stretches of motorway don't really need lighting. The A27 around Portsmouth, which is a motorway in all but name, hasn't had lighting for two years now, and has had patchy lighting for four years, yet accident rates don't seem to have gone up.


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:34 pm 
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I've brought up the subject with the average Joe. They just think i'm being stupid and talking BS.

Take the current works on the M62 i've mentioned in the Yorkshire thread for example. It's obvious 600w SON is being installed in the new lanterns. I've also heard of 750w SON now being used but not sure on that.


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:37 pm 
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750w? it'll melt the carragieway.

How long will it be till we get 1000w SON lamp, you wont need sunbeds then.

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From streetlighting to radio, dance through the night whilst the streetlights are glowing outside.


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