My favourite refractor! I remember paying attention to every little details of this refractor design when I was a kid. I would sit under the streetlight in front of my house and stare at the refractor while the lamp was warming up. I also remember my favourite part of the warmup was when the lamp had a clear mercury tint The bluish-white light under this GE refractor is a big memory laner!
Here in Cape Coral, Florida, LCEC only installs FCO lights on residential roads now and they are all 100 watt HPS. Except for maybe in a few places. But the lowest wattage they use is 100. They switch every now and then between Cooper OVH, G.E. M250R2 FCO, and AEL 115 FCO on residential streets. And Cooper OVF, G.E. M400 FCO, And AEL 125 FCO on main roads. They still use drop lenses in a few places like on bridges, and the wider, busier roads.
I'd guess that too. I think my electric company is the reason why GE's streetlights are so expensive. They only pay $50 (give or take $20) for a M-400 or M-250R2. I think NGrid gets lamps at a discount too.
GE makes better products than AE, or Cooper. I think the M-250 R2 is the good small cobrahead made today. Especially the M-250 R2 doesn't have cycling issues.
How do you figure that Ian? I have seen more GEs removed around here than Coopers or AEs, and we have very few GEs at that... I think AEL makes the best lights at a reasonable price, Lumec and Hubbell are the top of the line, but their prices reflect that.
GE still makes quality products. The cycling really depends on the lamp they are using. Bad lamps do early cycling. And your utility might just not like GE is all.
I wasn't talking about cycling at all, I was talking about simply the quality of the fixture. Your right my utility doesn't like GE, in fact they don't care about streetlights at all! It is the city that owns and maintains all of the lights and hires contractors, they get to chose what lights get installed. My guess as to why they don't like GE is because they are too stubborn to offer unpainted finish on their lights.
This luminaire cost me I think like $130. I believe about the same price as the full cutoff 100 watt HPS M250R2 i have. So G.E. isn't that good? I've always thought G.E. was top of the line. Cause G.E. is a big company.
I didn't say GE isn't good, Hubbell is a big company as well, granted not as big, and Lumec is part of Philips. AEL is a part of Acuity Brands, yet another big corporation. And Copper is, well Cooper Industries. I think Cooper is the lowest quality, AEL and GE are about the same level, AEL offers more options so I prefer them, Hubbell is above both of them in terms of quality but a lot more pricey. Finally Lumec I think produces the best cobras but I would think they also cost the most.
I prefer buying streetlights brand new from the manufacturer. Unless it's a vintage one like a Westinghouse OV-25. Then of course i have to buy one on ebay cause Westinghouse doesn't make streetlights anymore.
I prefer the used (free) ones, I think they are more authentic since they have actually lit a road. I have one new cobra, which was new old stock (see here ) which I bought off Kijiji for $50, and I will be buying this tomorrow if everything goes to plans! I have another one planned, but I'm not going to divulge anything about it... yet!
I like getting used streetlights too cause they were actually used at one time. So far i have only gotten the OVF and OVC from my electric company. I will probably be going back soon to see if i can take a few more.
I've got two projects on my watch right now, one is a freeway lighting upgrade where hundreds of cobras are coming down, the other is the demolition of the old hospital, that has dozens of cobras and post tops! I think a Lumec cobra would be cool, info here!