Gallery of Lights


Home Login
Album list Last uploads Last comments Most viewed Top rated My Favorites Search
Home > User galleries > Mike > My General Electric Crimefighter
My Very Own GE Crimefighter!
Here's what appears to be a lightly used GE crimefighter (the paint is still there and relatively shiny too, so it was probably in use for a short period of time). I got this from Joe Maurath. It's intended to be a 250W MV remote ballast fixture. Note the lack of a PC socket or lack of a provision for one. When I clean this up I bet the paint will shine even more. The top has some missing sheets of paint but nothing drastic on the visible portion of the fixture.
Keywords: American_Streetlights

My Very Own GE Crimefighter!

Here's what appears to be a lightly used GE crimefighter (the paint is still there and relatively shiny too, so it was probably in use for a short period of time). I got this from Joe Maurath. It's intended to be a 250W MV remote ballast fixture. Note the lack of a PC socket or lack of a provision for one. When I clean this up I bet the paint will shine even more. The top has some missing sheets of paint but nothing drastic on the visible portion of the fixture.

DSC03945_Lite_Lovin.JPG 073016_049.JPG gol62712_005.JPG 06600028.JPG posttop_project.gif
File information
Filename:073016_049.JPG
Album name:Mike / My General Electric Crimefighter
Rating (3 votes):55555
Keywords:American_Streetlights
Filesize:430 KiB
Date added:Aug 01, 2016
Dimensions:2048 x 1536 pixels
Displayed:363 times
URL:http://www.galleryoflights.org/mb/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=20839
Favorites:Add to Favorites

Comment 1 to 19 of 19
Page: 1

HPSM250R2   [Aug 01, 2016 at 01:23 AM]
I want! Well really, I want all the lights you got lol. Very cool Mike. I need to get one of these.
traffic light1   [Aug 01, 2016 at 02:52 AM]
Very nice !
streetlight98   [Aug 01, 2016 at 03:59 AM]
Thanks! Yeah I'm fortunate to have found some of my lights on ebay for a good price and to have friendships with other collectors. Seems recently I've been getting lots of nice additions that I've been looking for for quite some time. It's funny, I've never even bothered to look for a crimefighter because I never thought I'd be lucky enough to own one and yet here she is!
joe_347V   [Aug 01, 2016 at 04:16 AM]
Nice find! I also never imagine myself owning a crimefighter but I also ended up in the collection lol. Didn't know that they had a factory remote ballasted/incandescent option though.
streetlight98   [Aug 01, 2016 at 04:21 AM]
Yeah me neither but I'd imagine any light could have been ordered empty for remote ballasting. Whats weird though is that it specifies the lamp wattage. Unless the remote ballast was included, it wouldn't make sense to say that the light is 250W since it was also made in 175W.
lite_lover   [Aug 01, 2016 at 08:08 AM]
Nice bunch of fixtures you acquired there Mike!! Shocked Cool
lights4life   [Aug 01, 2016 at 10:16 PM]
Nice! A Crimefighter. I believe these are a bit rare?

Great collection going on, I'm impressed and amazed at the same time. Smile
streetlight98   [Aug 02, 2016 at 12:31 AM]
Thanks guys! Yep, these are quite rare. You're welcome to stop by sometime and check it out since you live in Fall River, but I think we've talked about it before and you couldn't?
lights4life   [Aug 03, 2016 at 02:32 AM]
Well at the moment no, when I get my licence to drive I'll be able to.
joe_347V   [Aug 03, 2016 at 03:33 AM]
@Mike, perhaps the 250w might be the maximum wattage, a little odd for it to be on the tag like but then again GE's 120v PC 240v fixtures say 120/240v on the tag.
streetlight98   [Aug 03, 2016 at 03:53 AM]
Ah that should be in the next year or so, right?

Yeah that's true, might be a maximum. Joe said it had a 175W lamp when he got it but the lamp looked unused as if someone just stuck it in there to make it look presentable or something. At any rate, an interesting fixture. I will either install a 175W or 250W MH/MV ballast inside there. I'd like to go 250W to retain authenticity of the nameplate but 175W would be less of a glarebomb.
streetlight98   [Aug 03, 2016 at 07:40 PM]
EDIT: Joe you were right. The 250W is definitely a "MAX" rating, as there is no rating next to the ANSI lamp code field. The "H" is pre-inked, since at that time all the fixtures were MV but there is no numerical value stamped on the tag; it was left blank. Same for line amps. Also, it was definitely not intended as an incandescent fixture since on the wiring diagram it labels the feeds as "BALLAST SECONDARIES", so this was intended to be a remote ballast 175 or 250W MV fixture it looks like (since I don't think there were any 100W MVs used in Chicago, since that wouldn't be very bright lol).

Still, I wonder, why the fuses? Like you said, doesn't really make sense to fuse the ballast secondaries. The only thing it would protect against would be the socket short-circuiting or something lol. From what the fuse reads, it appears to be a thermal cut-out fuse or something. One's missing so I'll probably remove it like you did with yours. I'll leave it in there til I put a ballast in this though (which won't be for awhile, likely).
lights4life   [Aug 05, 2016 at 02:15 PM]
Correct, next year.
joe_347V   [Aug 06, 2016 at 04:04 AM]
Ahh, I figured the "H" field would have been empty. I guess this might have been designed for retrofitting onto existing remote ballasted poles then. Apparently part of Chicago had 175w Revere Peaheads which might have gotten swapped with crimefighters.

Mine was also missing the other fuse and I think it's designed to use only one fuse since the other screw on mine was used to splice the ballast leads.
streetlight98   [Aug 06, 2016 at 01:56 PM]
Yeah this was probably designed to replace remote ballast fixtures. This must not have been in service long though, since the paint is still sorta shiny and not at all worn on top. Typically these had their paint worn off the top over time, though not at all to the extent of the 80s GEs, which practically lost every drop of paint after so many years. Shocked

And yep, I checked again and it appears the missing fuse's block is bypassed.
streetlight98   [Aug 06, 2016 at 02:15 PM]
joe_347V   [Aug 09, 2016 at 10:05 PM]
Hmm, if it was not in service for long I wonder if they replaced it with a integrally ballasted version a few years later.

Interesting video! I've done composite work before so it was interesting to see how they made them. That particular episode aired in 2005 so I wonder if that R7 shown was NOS at the time or they still made them in 2005.
streetlight98   [Aug 09, 2016 at 10:41 PM]
No idea. I forget where Joe said he got this, but when he got it, it had a 175W lamp in it and I think he said it appeared to be brand new. I'm guessing this was originally 175W. Not sure about the R7, but I totally dig it! Smile Not one of my favorite Powerlite models but any Powerlite that's NOS would be cool with me since it'd be a rare thing in general. Reminds me of that ancient NOS Powerlite from the 60s in that online museum you've linked before. Would LOVE to see that thing in person. Very Happy
joe_347V   [Aug 11, 2016 at 03:33 AM]
Yeah, NOS Powerlites are quite hard to find. The only place where I've seen them show up is on Kijiji. I would love to see that NOS B2217 in person too, along with all the other rare items they have in their collection.

Comment 1 to 19 of 19
Page: 1