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Old Merc Posttop
Here's a shot of an old 60's merc posttop and the AE 115 FCO that's going to replace it. I'm not sure who made this or the wattage and I'll have to get another pic of it when the weather gets nicer here. 
Keywords: American_Streetlights

Old Merc Posttop

Here's a shot of an old 60's merc posttop and the AE 115 FCO that's going to replace it. I'm not sure who made this or the wattage and I'll have to get another pic of it when the weather gets nicer here.

IMG_0042_A.JPG IMG_0042_A.JPG IMG_0042_A.JPG TOR_IMG_2950M.JPG IMG_0042_A.JPG
File information
Filename:IMG_0042_A.JPG
Album name:joe_347V / Toronto Area Streetlights
Keywords:American_Streetlights
Filesize:67 KiB
Date added:Oct 26, 2011
Dimensions:1000 x 750 pixels
Displayed:220 times
Color Space:sRGB
DateTime Original:2011:10:26 11:22:35
Exposure Mode:0
Exposure Program:Program
Exposure Time:1/226 sec
FNumber:f/2.4
Flash:No Flash
Focal length:4.28 mm
ISO:64
Make:Apple
Model:iPhone 4S
URL:http://www.galleryoflights.org/mb/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=9080
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Comment 1 to 13 of 13
Page: 1

gailgrove   [Oct 30, 2011 at 09:23 PM]
Yuck, I like these old post tops, I wonder who made them. The only place I have ever seen them are around the TTC subway system.
joe_347V   [Oct 30, 2011 at 09:30 PM]
I like these old merc posttops too too bad too bad they're replacing them with the ever common AEL 115. The only other place I've seen them aside from the subway is here on Yonge.

There used to be some along the subway that runs along Allen but those were removed last year with these FCO lights.
streetlight98   [Oct 30, 2011 at 09:53 PM]
Those post tops are cool looking. At least cobraheads are replacing them and not shoeboxes or durastars.
joe_347V   [Oct 30, 2011 at 11:27 PM]
The 50s subway tracks used mini gumballs! Very Happy
streetlight98   [Oct 30, 2011 at 11:37 PM]
Nice. gumballs didn't seem to be that common here. We used admiral hats and radial waves in our incandescent days. radial waves are my favorite out of the incandescent NEMAs.
joe_347V   [Jun 04, 2013 at 03:56 AM]
Update: the 115s are now connected but some of the merc posttops are still up and running. Some MH posttops have been spot replacing the MV lights though.
joe_347V   [Aug 05, 2015 at 05:13 AM]
These are still running. I wonder if they forgot about them lol. Interestingly, the pictured one has a remote ballast mounted at the base of the pole whiles the others in use don't have a visible ballast can. I wonder if this particular one had a failed ballast.
streetlight98   [Aug 05, 2015 at 09:09 AM]
Hmm maybe these used postline ballasts and this one had failed at some point like you'd said? Neutral Interesting that they're connected. When they replaced these NGrid-owned truss lights in 2009-2010, they were still connected for months after the new lights were installed.
joe_347V   [Aug 05, 2015 at 06:41 PM]
I guess the TTC tends to forget about old lights lol. The mini gumball I mentioned in a earlier comment is still up even though they were replaced with Lumecs in 2007. It has been disconnected though but I believe the remote ballast is still in place.

Yeah, postline ballasts are pretty much the only ballasts I could see fitting in these unless they managed to cram a core and coil ballast in the canopy. I wonder what wattage are they, they use BT-28/ED-28 lamps so it had to be either 175w or 250w but I don't think they made 250w MV postline ballasts. The remote ballast can seems like a 175w sized one though. Unfortunately I can't go to track level to check lol.

A similar thing happned when the MTO replaced the truss lights on the southern portion of the 427 in 2004. The truss lights stayed up until July 2008 for the southbound lanes and March 2009 for the northbound lanes. I think there were disconnected shortly after the highmasts were switched on though.
streetlight98   [Aug 05, 2015 at 08:45 PM]
Yeah I'd say 175W too. My work has a lot of 1960s and 70s cobraheads but I've never seen them lit. All the building lights (floods and wallpacks) have individual photocells (most are twistlock with some wire-in PCs) but the cobraheads all have no PC sockets (except for three building-mounted M-400s, which do have PCs) so they must be relay or timer-controlled. One of the M-400s on the building has a missing glass and spots a GE demented-ED28 shaped 250W MH lamp. Makes sense, since 400W MV and 250W MH give the same amount of light. There's an OV15 without a glass on a metal pole though and it's got a fully coated BT28, so it's either 175 or 250W MV. The wood pole lights were originally 400W MV since there's one 250W HPS Model 25 on one of the wood poles and it actually has a PC (or a full-profile shorting cap). It could have been converted to 250W MH though if the others were. I have no idea where the timer would be for the lights since there is no real "main office" or "main panel room". If there is a timer (or was a timer, if it was taken out and the lights disconnected) it's probably in a random utility closet nearby the parking lot. They disconnected the two M-400s on one pole and mounted a pair of tiny LED flood lights about half way up the pole, so I assume the lights are powered at night, but must be on a timer instead of PC-controlled since I've been there on really dark stormy mornings when the sun is just coming up (but it's dark out because of the storm) and the parking lot lights don't come on, though all the other outdoor lights do.

Anyway, I can't take my own pictures without being arrested and prosecuted as a traitor to the Navy, but Here's a streetview of the parking lot from the public road. The front left pole has two OV-15s, one has a browned out plastic lens and the other glass. The back far left near the building has two M-400s and is the one with the cobras disconnected and two tiny LED floods installed. The front-most poles (center left) has two M-400s. The back center pole (center right) has one OV-15 and one Model 25, which came off its thru-bolt and is hanging by the lags. If you turn the view a little to the right, you can see two more cobrahead poles in the back of the lot. Two M-400s on the left one and one M-400 on the far right one, which is off its thru-bolt too. All the arms are 4ft tapered ellipticals.

By the gate, you can see an OV-15 on a tapered elliptical pole. It's now a giant LED fixture, which is controlled by a ground-mounted remote PC about 4ft off the ground. Past that pole on the left (can't see it) is another tapered pole and it still has its OV-15. Here's a shot of the other end of the same road. You can see a nice incandescent teardrop nearly covered by the tree on the left. there's several along the left side of the road and on the right where the trees are there's a bunch of headless poles of the same design. There's not a doubt in my mind that the teardrops are out of service. Here's two of the three building-mounted M-400s. Looks like there were three more here, but flood lights are mounted on the mast arms. PC-controlled, as you can see by the dayburning flood on the far right.


Another shot of the parking lot from the main road. Here's three OV-15s, the first one is on a more vintage looking pole; all the other poles are identical and marked POLELITE on the base. The first one is missing the glass but has a coated BT28 lamp. Second one is in great shape. Third one must've been hit since it's tilted a lot, missing the glass, lamp, and side of the housing is dented in. In the streetview the light is fine though.

Plenty of interesting disconnected lighting inside too, but I can't take pictures. Sad
joe_347V   [Aug 06, 2015 at 07:36 PM]
Ahh interesting Streetviews. I wonder if they just forgot about them or do they still work at night. I suppose the timer for them might be in the electrical closet or even a PC controlled relay panel for that matter.
streetlight98   [Aug 06, 2015 at 08:29 PM]
Yeah we had a really bad microburst thunderstorm Tuesday morning while I was in my car in the parking lot before officially clocking in (it was around 6AM) and it got so dark the street lights on the main road came back on and all the flood lights with individual PCs on the building came back on but the parking lot lights didn't, so they're either on a timer or no longer in use. I assume they are in use though since they installed those LED floods on one pole, and they're obviously recent additions and wired on the same feed as the cobraheads. The M-400s were disconnected on that pole and the LEDs were wired in place of the M-400s on the same circuit. I can only imagine the LED floods being about as bright as a 150W halogen flood lol.
joe_347V   [Aug 08, 2015 at 04:52 AM]
Ahh yeah if they installed new LED floods on the poles then the poles are at least still wired up. They might have disconnected the feeder to the cobras though. Yeah, I always found those elcheapo LED floods to be a bit tacky and glary but dim lol. Haven't seen a name brand LED flood yet lol.

Comment 1 to 13 of 13
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