I guess this is a Type III refractor then? Because with the Type V it wouldn't matter lol. Are the Type III NEMA buckets as good as cobraheads with the light pattern? I'd imagine the bucket isn't as effective. But is the difference between a Type V and Type III bucket obvious at nighttime by looking at the light pattern?
I need to find a refractor for my Line Material NEMA. Fortunately I have the reflector and spring clamp ring so I just have to find the plastic bucket. Was going to order a nice new Formed Plastics one but they're like $60. What are they high or something? And the plastic M-400 refractors they have are over $100. The old style round GE M-250 refractor they make is one of the cheaper ones at around $50 lol.
Hopefully I can find a refractor online. The formed plastics ones are nice since they're thicker than others but their polycarbonate lenses yellow badly. The acrylic ones are nice. My 100W Westy from Jace (which I'm guessing may have originated from you?) has a Formed Plastics open bottom Type V refractor. It got all cracked up in shipping and the reflector was all dented but I was able to smooth out the dents. I superglued the refractor back together and oriented the cracked part so that it faces the slipfitter side of the light and I oriented the retaining ring so that the spring is also facing the slipfitter side.
this brings back very fond memories........growing up in my hometown i always used to look at streetlights....back then obviously i didn't know the diffrent lamp types but things that were uncommon stood out. and in some Neighborhoods you would see a random bucket every so often that emitted a Golden Glow instead of orange or white.....they stood out. now fast foward a few years when im really just starting to know about the diffrent lamp types i used to think....well thats lazy of them to just put an incandescent bulb in there lol.....oh boy those were the days.
Yup, these are identical to the ones we use. I'd call it a pet peeve. Lol. The NEMA you got may have originated from me as I had gotten permission to save a bunch of them several years back and was able to pass them along to others. They're simple but built like tanks and by far I would say one of my more favorites. Just installed one in my room yesterday. I found a really nice yellowed globe along with a really high hour dimmed out merc lamp, it casts a nice soft glow in my room. Lol
I had priced the FP buckets years back and they're outrageous. I think once we deplete our stock we're not buying them anymore. With the cost of them we can upgrade to an LED for a small amount more. Much as I hate changing these work horses out it's much more feasible to simply upgrade them. We also use GE globes similar to these for our post top fixtures but they obviously have the open bottom. But the pattern is the same and looking at them from the ground one can't really tell a difference. I have on occasion used an open bottom globe as I didn't have one of these on my truck and the reflector has the spring and ring to attach it still intact. Plus it looks cooler.
My FP refractor is open-bottom. I like the open bottom NEMA buckets since I can see the lamp. The closed bottom buckets are probably better at keeping wasps out though. Wasps LOVE my street lights, no matter which model I stick out there. The 60s M-250R seems to be the most wasp-proof light I own lol. A very well-sealed light with no holes big enough for those PITA terrors to squeeze through.
Do you go through a lot of NEMA buckets? Kids throwing rocks at them or something? If it's because they keep yellowing try to see if you can get acrylic lenses instead. Those are much better. Don't need to worry about yellowing. And they're cheaper. There aren't any NEMAs here but most of the cobraheads use acrylic lenses here. They had used glass until the late 70s when they started getting the 100 and 175W MV fixtures with acrylic lenses. They're still fine today! For whatever reason, they used polycarbonate GE/FP refractors for the small cobraheads even going back when the OEM lenses were glass. I think they started using polycarbonate replacement lenses in the early 70s. They kept using those FP/GE lenses in polycarbonate and once in awhile acrylic until around 7-10 years ago. Now they either use Lexalite (AEL) refractors or just install a refractor off a removed light (I've seen deep GE glasses, which haven't been sold since 1991-ish end up on fixtures if the door was missing or the refractor was damaged. I guess they must save parts off removed lights, which is nice to see).
No, we don't really go through too many. I keep one on my truck and it can sit there for months. Usually due to trees damaging them. Very seldom are they vandalized. The current ones we use are acrylic, the yellowed ones are very old and are usually found on private area lights that haven't been serviced to 30+ years.
I have noticed with the new ones, the crimp that holds the lense in place is very bad and more often than not, the globe else up falling out. I'll take a pair of pliers and bend the rim a bit more and that usually does the trick. Sometimes the globe will be intact on the ground and I can reinstall it.
Back in the mid 1990s, before the viaducts on Main St. past Hertel were removed, and before the stretch between Amherst St. and Wnspear Ave. were refitted with HPS, this was one of the last bastions of Series MV lighting and the last incandescent circuit in the City of Buffalo. There was a great mix of GE teardrops, Westinghouse OV-20 verticals, GE Form 400 Verticals, and gumballs. Plus there was a Type V open bottom NEMA head on one of the lights. Between LaSalle and Winspear there was a mix of Westinghouse OV20 and 25, GE M400A and a LM Ovalite. The M400A luminaires for Series had the ballast mounted on the top housing because the leads were too darn big to allow a power module fitting.
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I need to find a refractor for my Line Material NEMA. Fortunately I have the reflector and spring clamp ring so I just have to find the plastic bucket. Was going to order a nice new Formed Plastics one but they're like $60. What are they high or something? And the plastic M-400 refractors they have are over $100.
Hopefully I can find a refractor online. The formed plastics ones are nice since they're thicker than others but their polycarbonate lenses yellow badly. The acrylic ones are nice. My 100W Westy from Jace (which I'm guessing may have originated from you?) has a Formed Plastics open bottom Type V refractor. It got all cracked up in shipping and the reflector was all dented but I was able to smooth out the dents. I superglued the refractor back together and oriented the cracked part so that it faces the slipfitter side of the light and I oriented the retaining ring so that the spring is also facing the slipfitter side.
I had priced the FP buckets years back and they're outrageous. I think once we deplete our stock we're not buying them anymore. With the cost of them we can upgrade to an LED for a small amount more. Much as I hate changing these work horses out it's much more feasible to simply upgrade them. We also use GE globes similar to these for our post top fixtures but they obviously have the open bottom. But the pattern is the same and looking at them from the ground one can't really tell a difference. I have on occasion used an open bottom globe as I didn't have one of these on my truck and the reflector has the spring and ring to attach it still intact. Plus it looks cooler.
Do you go through a lot of NEMA buckets? Kids throwing rocks at them or something? If it's because they keep yellowing try to see if you can get acrylic lenses instead. Those are much better. Don't need to worry about yellowing. And they're cheaper. There aren't any NEMAs here but most of the cobraheads use acrylic lenses here. They had used glass until the late 70s when they started getting the 100 and 175W MV fixtures with acrylic lenses. They're still fine today! For whatever reason, they used polycarbonate GE/FP refractors for the small cobraheads even going back when the OEM lenses were glass. I think they started using polycarbonate replacement lenses in the early 70s. They kept using those FP/GE lenses in polycarbonate and once in awhile acrylic until around 7-10 years ago. Now they either use Lexalite (AEL) refractors or just install a refractor off a removed light (I've seen deep GE glasses, which haven't been sold since 1991-ish end up on fixtures if the door was missing or the refractor was damaged. I guess they must save parts off removed lights, which is nice to see).
I have noticed with the new ones, the crimp that holds the lense in place is very bad and more often than not, the globe else up falling out. I'll take a pair of pliers and bend the rim a bit more and that usually does the trick. Sometimes the globe will be intact on the ground and I can reinstall it.