This 115 replaced a cycling R47! All it needed was a new lamp, what really gets me is that this is happening at an alarming rate, pretty soon it will be nothing but cycling Coopers and AELs here...
Well for my area, if any fixture has a bad cap, it will be removed and replaced with new fixture, but what do they do with the old one, it depends on the fixture, if its a MV, of course its scrapping time, if its a HPS....depends....they may refurbish it and fix it up. As for ignitor, a lot of the current fixtures has easy replaceable plug in and unplug ignitors, plus the linemens sometimes, not always, but sometimes if an old fixture has a bad ignitor, they will remove the old ignitor, put a new ignitor socket in and place the replaceable ignitor in the fixture, though it depends on the lineman, the time, the traffic of the location of the light. I know sometimes fixtures get replaced due to bad PC socket, and even though sometimes PC socket gets replaced, but sometimes time is an issue, esp. When they have waaaay too many fixtures to deal with ahead of the time!!! Now as for needing relamping....beats me LOL If new lamp solves the problem, then we all are happy, but if lamp didn't solve problem...them they will figure out what's wrong! For refractors, if a refractor is available and they have the correct size that matches, then they will leave it alone. I know some linemen here will sometimes save a door or parts of older fixtures to save for any other fixtures that lost a door, or a part or whatever, saves the utilty money!!!
Replacing a capacitor is really easy so I don't see why they don't do it here, the irritating thing is I have seen perfectly good functional lights replaced for no explainable reason, its annoying
not as easy as you think for replacing caps, there's actually too many varity of sizes depending on what cap it needs and some sorts.....some ballasts needs this cap...others need that cap....then other needs that...even in same wattage......
For example. I have this one Cooper 150 watt HPS that only uses 14 uf cap then I have a 100/150 watt HPS from McGraw Unidor that uses only 2 uf cap, and one McGraw Edison HPS 100/150 watt that uses a whopping 48 uf cap!!! Too many varies! So not as easy as you might say!
Jace you pretty much hit the nail right on the head! There are so many different style caps for even the same wattage's it would not be cost effective to carry all those caps. Now there are some cases where we carry caps for some fixtures such as 1K MH floods. In our case we have so many different style fixtures and brands with caps. The biggest thing you all need to keep in mind is utilities don't look at it as lets save all these fixtures, they look at it from cost effectiveness! If it is easier to change the fixture rather than repair it then that's what will be done. Now as for changing the fixture if it requires just a lamp that does not make sense. Now with that said I have changed out whole fixtures depending on the condition of them. For the most part I carry all the parts I need to repair most fixtures I work on but there instances where it is easier to change out the fixture.
Some capacitors may not be compatible with older fixtures and may do more harm than good which is why most utility companies replace fixtures that have bad capacitors since there's a risk of blowing out a lamp if it's not an exact match. A lamp is easier to replace.
Sometimes people that report a light that's not cycling report the wrong light. Crew comes to replace it and since its an order so I even if the ballast ,ignitor, photocell is working they just replace it anyway. Thats my theory.
I really don't get it, I once reported a R37 that was out for over a year (I thought it was a goner) but yet it was fixed and working perfectly a week later. Then there's lights like this, nothing wrong with them but yet they get replaced.
I've reported the wrong light here before and they relamp it and replace the PC but they don't replace it. I noticed one time a light was out and it was pole number 122 and i entered 123 on the form so they didn't fix the light on pole 122 (which ended up being replaced) and they relamped the light on 123 instead lol. I noticed it because they replaced the baby blue PC with a new shiney gray/black one. Unfortunatly the old lamp and PC would have probably lasted longer than the new lamp and PC will but oh well. It's really odd how they're replacing random fixtures in your area.
I wonder if they have a policy where a light past a certain age gets replaced even if only a new lamp is needed. I remember a utility in Dave's are had that policy.
I somehow doubt it, since I've seen tons of lights older than this relamped. Of course my OVX was replaced just because of this little crack. If that's how picky they are I can see why so many lights get replaced, at least half of my collection has small issues like that.
I wonder when anybody will report this one http://goo.gl/maps/Lux5s its been dead for about a year and a half. I randomly see working lights just get replaced all the time!
I noitced in York a lot of the R7's were replaced for LED testing. Dixie has gone full LED between Eastgate and Dundas except for the intersections they stil have HPS
Yeah most of the R7s in Vaughan got replaced with Lumec LED lights. Surprised Dixie has gone full LED though last time I was there they still had the tall poles and the 400w lights.
Most intersections in Vaughan are still HPS too. I wonder if they did that on purpose to highlight the intersection better...a throwback to the old days when caution yellow mercs were used at intersections.
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For example. I have this one Cooper 150 watt HPS that only uses 14 uf cap then I have a 100/150 watt HPS from McGraw Unidor that uses only 2 uf cap, and one McGraw Edison HPS 100/150 watt that uses a whopping 48 uf cap!!! Too many varies! So not as easy as you might say!
Most intersections in Vaughan are still HPS too. I wonder if they did that on purpose to highlight the intersection better...a throwback to the old days when caution yellow mercs were used at intersections.