fan-of-fans
Well-known member
I was kinda into streetlights growing up, especially ones that the power company would install in people's yards as security lights. In more recent years I've started to pay attention to them again.
AI've gotten a couple of commercial grade lights like the power companies use. I intend to install these someday when I have my own home as security lights.
In my area most newly installed lights are the LED type. However there are still many, many high pressure sodium fixtures around, and a decent number of mercury vapor lights. Some of the mercury vapor lights date back to the early 1960s and still work perfectly. Sodium lights create the orange colored light that reminds me of fall leaves, while mercury vapor is a white or bluish green colored light.
Unfortunately a few of the older fixtures are getting upgraded to LED as they fail. I wish I could save some of those old lights as they are getting rare.
Two of the commercial grade fixtures I have are the NEMA head variety with the round plastic lens, which are typically installed as security lights, but can be seen on residential roads as well. One is mercury vapor, while the other is sodium. The mercury vapor one is from the 1980s while the other is newer.
I also have a sodium cobra head fixture which is usually installed for street lighting. This one is brand new also.
Probably my favorite fixture is the GE Powr/Bracket, which was a NEMA style light that incorporated the ballast into the arm. I saw a few of these around growing up mostly as security yard lights leased from the power company, unfortunately none are in use any longer, and the remaining ones have essentially been abandoned, until/unless the customer starts paying for them again, which will result in them being replaced with LED fixtures. I'd really like to have one of these for my yard in the future. The ones here use 400 watt mercury vapor lamps, which with these fixtures used a larger than normal round lens, which I particularly like about these fixtures.
AI've gotten a couple of commercial grade lights like the power companies use. I intend to install these someday when I have my own home as security lights.
In my area most newly installed lights are the LED type. However there are still many, many high pressure sodium fixtures around, and a decent number of mercury vapor lights. Some of the mercury vapor lights date back to the early 1960s and still work perfectly. Sodium lights create the orange colored light that reminds me of fall leaves, while mercury vapor is a white or bluish green colored light.
Unfortunately a few of the older fixtures are getting upgraded to LED as they fail. I wish I could save some of those old lights as they are getting rare.
Two of the commercial grade fixtures I have are the NEMA head variety with the round plastic lens, which are typically installed as security lights, but can be seen on residential roads as well. One is mercury vapor, while the other is sodium. The mercury vapor one is from the 1980s while the other is newer.
I also have a sodium cobra head fixture which is usually installed for street lighting. This one is brand new also.
Probably my favorite fixture is the GE Powr/Bracket, which was a NEMA style light that incorporated the ballast into the arm. I saw a few of these around growing up mostly as security yard lights leased from the power company, unfortunately none are in use any longer, and the remaining ones have essentially been abandoned, until/unless the customer starts paying for them again, which will result in them being replaced with LED fixtures. I'd really like to have one of these for my yard in the future. The ones here use 400 watt mercury vapor lamps, which with these fixtures used a larger than normal round lens, which I particularly like about these fixtures.
