ALR photocontrols seem to be really good. They make electronic ones but i haven't ordered any before. I did buy some electronic ones on ebay actually. And they seem like very good quality.

Is this thermal?

Yes it is thermal. I don't really like thermal photocontrols. I prefer electronic. But i never had a maroon colored ALR photocontrol before so i bought this. Even though its totally useless to me cause its 208-277 volts. But i can use it as a shorting cap though

Yeah. I don't like thermal PCs that much either. i like electromagnetic relay PCs.

Me too. But not many companies make them anymore. Pretty much just companies in china that make them now. Fisher Pierce used to make electromagnetic photocontrols and they are my favorite electromagnetic photocontrols. But i like electronic ones a lot too.

Photocells belong in the Gear Category, not Misc, moving it

Sorry I wasn't sure what category to put them in. I'll put photocells in the gear category from now on.

It's fine, you weren't the only one either... I only made the comment to alert EVERYONE...not just you! Enjoy the page!

Hmm. I checked and the local Lowe's here doesn't carry these. They still carry what I stated above.

Hmm, I guess not all Lowes carry the same items. You could probably buy them from Lowes online.

not all stores carry same stuff.....I worked in Target, not all Target carry same stuff either....it depends on the demand of areas, depends on the needs, it's a marketing thing...

well, i started to see these here now.

Yeah and everytime I go to lowes and look at photocontrols and light fixtures, I see the whole shelf of these are opened or out of their packaging. They should have never started selling these at Lowes because people buy these not realizing that they are only for 208-277 volts and install them on their light, and when it doesnt work, they return them. They should sell blue multivolt ALR's.

I noticed this has an outside glued window like the 80s Fisher Pierce units?

Yeah these solid-color thermal ALR's have the glued-in window. The electronic ALR's have the slide-in type of windows.

ahh. are these the hard plastic or the more common softer/flexible plastic.

They're the harder plastic. I've dropped one like this before and the cover cracked and the window fell out. It wasn't even really used either. That's the only problem I have with these. Thermal photocontrols are said to last a lot longer than electronic ones because the only thing that really goes bad is the cadmium sensor. But because of how poorly manufactured the covers are, the cover will dry rot and crack, and the window will fall out probably before the cadmium sensor goes bad.

Ahh I see. If I had any use for these I'd pick one or two up but all the 208-277V PCs do for me is be shorting caps and I already have plenty of those. yeah thermals supposedly have the longest service life and they're the cheapest to make (which is why all the chinatown lights on the shelf at Lowes or Home Depot with twistlock PC sockets come with them). I wonder if they could make a thermal PC with a silicon eye. Then I'd really hate them lol. I like the look of the CdS eyes on the PCs. The reason I don't like thermal PCs is because they take too long to respond to either light or darkness so it makes testing them harder and if you have the lights wired on a timer that turns on at 3PM, the light will turn on for like a minute and then shut off until it's dark versus only being on for a split second.

Silicon eyes only work with electronic photocontrols. But there is a chinese photocontrol company called Longjoin that makes a semi-electronic photocontrol. A electronic board with a silicon eye drives a thermal switch.

actually i just remembered that i have a ripley from the 80s sometime and it has a CdS eye and it's electronic. I was shocked to see an 80s electronic PC. I have a pic in my gallery here.