I have 100w Mercury Vapor fixtures, can I put in a 50w MV bulb, I want
to save a bit on my electric bill.

On Feb 15, 11:20*am, ransley wrote:
I have 100w Mercury Vapour fixtures, can I put in a 50w MV bulb, I want
to save a bit on my electric bill.

Above question reads " ....... 100w Mercury Vapour fixtures ..." but
then reads "can I put in a 50w MV bulb" i.e. single bulb. So not sure
if there is one 'fixture'; or a number of 'fixtures'.

However: Per fixtu

a) At 10 cents per k.watt hour you will save 0.5 cents for each hour
the lamp is on.

b) At 20 cents per k.watt hour you will save 1.0 cent per hour lamp is
on.

So if lamp is on every night for say 10 hours;

a) 365 x 10 x 0.5 = 1825 cents or $18.25 saving per per year.

b) $36.50 per year

If lamp is only on occasionally the saving will be much smaller.

PS. This question sounds a little phishy! Was this a troll???????????

Note: Is ransley .......@yaoo etc. not a frequent (and
knowledgeable?) contributor to this forum?

"ransley" wrote in message
...
I have 100w Mercury Vapor fixtures, can I put in a 50w MV bulb, I want
to save a bit on my electric bill.

Never do this becuase the ballast is designed to deliver a certain voltage
and current to the bulb. The ballast would attempt to drive the same current
into the smaller bulb. The bulb could fail early or even explode. The
ballast may overheat and burn out.

From what I hear, MV bulbs, ballasts and fixtures will no longer be sold in
the US. Replacing it with a CFL fixture may be a better option. MV is not
really a very efficient light source anyway.

On Feb 15, 8:49*am, terry wrote:
On Feb 15, 11:20*am, ransley wrote:

I have 100w Mercury Vapour fixtures, can I put in a 50w MV bulb, I want
to save a bit on my electric bill.

Above question reads " ....... 100w Mercury Vapour fixtures ..." but
then reads "can I put in a 50w MV bulb" i.e. single bulb. So not sure
if there is one 'fixture'; or a number of 'fixtures'.

However: Per fixtu

a) At 10 cents per k.watt hour you will save 0.5 cents for each hour
the lamp is on.

b) At 20 cents per k.watt hour you will save 1.0 cent per hour lamp is
on.

So if lamp is on every night for say 10 hours;

a) 365 x 10 x 0.5 = 1825 cents or $18.25 saving per per year.

b) $36.50 per year

If lamp is only on occasionally the saving will be much smaller.

PS. This question sounds a little phishy! Was this a troll???????????

Note: Is ransley .......@yaoo *etc. * not a frequent (and
knowledgeable?) contributor to this forum?

Troll? No ive cut electricity usage in every building I run 50-60% by
use of Cfls, different location of Photosensors and timers on
equipment. I am 14.25 kwh and going up again, I know of no area that
is in fact .10c kwh. 100w 24x7 for me costs about 10$ a month. 50w =
about 5 a month. At 12hrs a day I will save 2.5$ a month. Since I need
a new bulb anyway its adds up in commercial use when you have alot of
MV lights outside. With a building, waste and my profit is paying the
utility co. 30$ will get me a new Cfl and fixture and save me over the
years. Its the small things you do that add up to save on utilities.

On Feb 15, 9:09*am, "JohnR66" wrote:
"ransley" wrote in message

...

I have 100w Mercury Vapor fixtures, can I put in a 50w MV bulb, I want
to save a bit on my electric bill.

Never do this becuase the ballast is designed to deliver a certain voltage
and current to the bulb. The ballast would attempt to drive the same current
into the smaller bulb. The bulb could fail early or even explode. The
ballast may overheat and burn out.

From what I hear, MV bulbs, ballasts and fixtures will no longer be sold in
the US. Replacing it with a CFL fixture may be a better option. MV is not
really a very efficient light source anyway.

I thought a ballast might deliver what is demanded on it, but I dont
know ballast design. A lower watt Cfl fixture is my best option, ones
I saw at HD allow in water and hold it in the lens when its in a
horizontal position, I need to shop.

"ransley" wrote in message
...
I have 100w Mercury Vapor fixtures, can I put in a 50w MV bulb, I want
to save a bit on my electric bill.


*If you don't mind the color, change to a 35 watt or 50 watt high pressure
sodium fixture. You'll get good lighting and good life. Check out the RAB
brand at rabweb.com

In ,
ransley wrote:

I have 100w Mercury Vapor fixtures, can I put in a 50w MV bulb, I want
to save a bit on my electric bill.

Do not put in a bulb other than 100W mercury. A 50 watt one will be
overpowered, probably receiving something like 90 watts. 50 watt operates
with higher mercury vapor pressure (IIRC around 6 or 7 atmospheres) than
most others, and can easily explode if seriously overpowered.

To save power, you have to replace the entire fixture, or at least the
ballast as well as the bulb.

Use only bulbs having an ANSI ballast compatibility code same as at
least one on the ballast or fixture. Violating this can lead to
overpowering or underpowering of the bulb, and/or inability to start or
unreliable starting or starting becoming unreliable after the bulb has
been broken in. Overpowering/underpowering is even possible with
mismatch between 2 different types of same wattage - such as 2 different
150 watt pulse-start high pressure sodium versions. Check the ANSI
"ballast compatibility" codes!

Also, replacing a 100 watt mercury with a 50 watt one may change the
light distribution pattern because the light source is shorter and may be
closer to the base.

- Don Klipstein )

In article ,
JohnR66 wrote:
"ransley" wrote in message
...
I have 100w Mercury Vapor fixtures, can I put in a 50w MV bulb, I want
to save a bit on my electric bill.

Never do this becuase the ballast is designed to deliver a certain voltage
and current to the bulb. The ballast would attempt to drive the same current
into the smaller bulb. The bulb could fail early or even explode. The
ballast may overheat and burn out.

From what I hear, MV bulbs, ballasts and fixtures will no longer be sold in
the US. Replacing it with a CFL fixture may be a better option. MV is not
really a very efficient light source anyway.

As far as I heard, the bulbs themselves are not outlawed. The following
can be operated on same-wattage non-pulse-start metal halide ballasts:

175 watt H39 mercury will work with M57 metal halide ballast
250 watt H37 mercury will work with M58 metal halide ballast
400 watt H33 mercury will work with M59 metal halide ballast

However, I do agree with replacing the mercury fixture with something
more efficient - preferably metal halide or CFL. If CFL is used, go for
higher color temp. for illuminating outdoors at night - the spectrum of
higher color temp. is more visible to night vision.

Also, get a fixture with some directivity, to put the light where you
need it. That will allow a lower wattage, and also keep the "dark sky"
people happier.

- Don KLipstein )

On Feb 15, 8:20*am, ransley wrote:
I have 100w Mercury Vapor fixtures, can I put in a 50w MV bulb, I want
to save a bit on my electric bill.

I can only throw this out for ppl that have HPSodium fixtures...where
I work we have 70W fixures and the guy before me bought 50W fixtures.
I have been buying 50W bulbs (as replacements in both) and they all
seem to be equally bright and no premature failures (been using them
for about 3 yrs)

On Feb 18, 12:21*am, wrote:
On Sun, 15 Feb 2009 08:04:57 -0800 (PST), ransley





wrote:
On Feb 15, 8:49*am, terry wrote:
On Feb 15, 11:20*am, ransley wrote:

I have 100w Mercury Vapour fixtures, can I put in a 50w MV bulb, I want
to save a bit on my electric bill.

Above question reads " ....... 100w Mercury Vapour fixtures ..." but
then reads "can I put in a 50w MV bulb" i.e. single bulb. So not sure
if there is one 'fixture'; or a number of 'fixtures'.

However: Per fixtu

a) At 10 cents per k.watt hour you will save 0.5 cents for each hour
the lamp is on.

b) At 20 cents per k.watt hour you will save 1.0 cent per hour lamp is
on.

So if lamp is on every night for say 10 hours;

a) 365 x 10 x 0.5 = 1825 cents or $18.25 saving per per year.

b) $36.50 per year

If lamp is only on occasionally the saving will be much smaller.

PS. This question sounds a little phishy! Was this a troll???????????

Note: Is ransley .......@yaoo *etc. * not a frequent (and
knowledgeable?) contributor to this forum?

Troll? No ive cut electricity usage in every building I run 50-60% by
use of Cfls, different location of Photosensors and timers on
equipment. I am 14.25 kwh and going up again, I know of no area that
is in fact .10c kwh. 100w 24x7 for me costs about 10$ a month. 50w =
about 5 a month. At 12hrs a day I will save 2.5$ a month. Since I need
a new bulb anyway its adds up in commercial use when you have alot of
MV lights outside. With a building, waste and my profit is paying the
utility co. 30$ will get me a new Cfl and fixture and save me over the
years. Its the small things you do that add up to save on utilities.

There are certain people on usenet that label everyone a troll. *Best
thing is to just killfile them.

Of course you're going to save money, and dollar saved is a dollar
earned. *I dont think you can do this without changing the ballast or
the whole fixture. *You'll have to look up the specs for your fixture.
Any light that uses a ballast tends to only work for specific bulbs,
even florescents.

On the other hand, the common yard lights on farms use 170w bulbs (if
I remember correctly). *They now sell Compact Florescent bulbs for
these. *The bulbs are twice the cost of a Mercury Vapor, but they only
consume 30 to 40 watts from waht I recall. *I s3eriously considered
buying one the last time I had to replace the bulb, but I hesitated
because I live in the north and it gets very cold in winter. *On the
coldest days, the CFL bulbs in my barn did not light at all. *Maybe
these yard light types are better at handling cold, but I'd like to
find out before I spend the money, not to mention I have to always
hire someone to change the bulb because I can not tolerate going that
high on a ladder.

These are supposed to be made to screw directly into the fixture.

I'm looking for feedback from anyone who tried one of these. *Did they
work in cold weather?

LM- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Ive had good luck with HD brand Invision, and they have a 7 yr
warranty, so I might have and endless replacement supply free. I have
about 70 HD cfl bulbs in use 2 years with maybe 3 burnouts , 20 on
photocell full time. I am refering to 9-13w cfl and 15-22w cfl floods,
all light at -10f but the floods take about 10 min at -10f to be full
bright so forget the motion sensor with the floods. What was barn
Voltage when it didnt fire? I am 117-120v. Often I get the HD 9w cfl
at about 1$ each because of Com Ed subsidies through HD. Popular
Mechanics magazine rated HD Invision Soft White in the green pack as
good or better than incandesant in skin color rendition. Its an old
article in the home section. With HDs 7yr warranty, try em, and make a
copy of the reciept so you are covered.

On Feb 17, 8:00*pm, (Don Klipstein) wrote:
In article ,

JohnR66 wrote:
"ransley" wrote in message
....
I have 100w Mercury Vapor fixtures, can I put in a 50w MV bulb, I want
to save a bit on my electric bill.

Never do this becuase the ballast is designed to deliver a certain voltage
and current to the bulb. The ballast would attempt to drive the same current
into the smaller bulb. The bulb could fail early or even explode. The
ballast may overheat and burn out.

From what I hear, MV bulbs, ballasts and fixtures will no longer be sold in
the US. Replacing it with a CFL fixture may be a better option. MV is not
really a very efficient light source anyway.

* As far as I heard, the bulbs themselves are not outlawed. *The following
can be operated on same-wattage non-pulse-start metal halide ballasts:

175 watt H39 mercury will work with M57 metal halide ballast
250 watt H37 mercury will work with M58 metal halide ballast
400 watt H33 mercury will work with M59 metal halide ballast

* However, I do agree with replacing the mercury fixture with something
more efficient - preferably metal halide or CFL. *If CFL is used, go for
higher color temp. for illuminating outdoors at night - the spectrum of
higher color temp. is more visible to night vision.

* Also, get a fixture with some directivity, to put the light where you
need it. *That will allow a lower wattage, and also keep the "dark sky"
people happier.

*- Don KLipstein )

Don I see you are quoted on Wikipedia, thats good. MV from what I see
are 55-60 LPW about the same as CFL. What is much more efficient than
that in a soft White Color for an exterior flood fixture in maybe 35w.
HP sodium? I want to keep watts consumed as low as possible.

You recommend Daylight CFL for exterior light but HDs brand show a
lower LPW rating for Daylight vs Soft White flood so I am confused and
buy Soft White, plus I like the way they lite up residential. I wonder
if the charicteristics of Daylight make it perceptably brighter even
with lower LWP rating. For security lights you recommend the
"Daylight" cfl rating, like HDs bulb?. You feel will they be
percieved as much brighter?