250 watt wall pack conversion to LED...?

[sjb]

Greetings... I have 17 year old 250 watt metal halide wall packs, in my 8 bays (4 per bay) and looking into making the change/upgrade to LED.

Have any of you made the conversion to LED, and did you do retrofits or rip out and replace...? The rebates, or lack there of, seem like a racket. The more I look into it, the whole project seems shovel ready!

Anyway, thanks for your time & thoughts!
sjb

 

[cmawash]

led replacement

Greetings... I have 17 year old 250 watt metal halide wall packs, in my 8 bays (4 per bay) and looking into making the change/upgrade to LED.

Have any of you made the conversion to LED, and did you do retrofits or rip out and replace...? The rebates, or lack there of, seem like a racket. The more I look into it, the whole project seems shovel ready!

Anyway, thanks for your time & thoughts!
sjb

am in the same boat our led 250 hw are old, it was easy to just buy some led 60 leds new fixtures then it was to update housing, its not only the cost but also dealing with old housings dirty lens old gaskets and we repositioned some lights . new lights were easy to install, light weight compared to old fixtures, and very very easy to plug in

 

[cwguy.com]

If you are spending that much extra money over cfl why not purchase new housings? I would also.

Plus how do you know your purchasing US led products? There is a local place here but other stuff is cheap and it sure seems like a crap shoot.

 

[mjwalsh]

Greetings... I have 17 year old 250 watt metal halide wall packs, in my 8 bays (4 per bay) and looking into making the change/upgrade to LED.

Have any of you made the conversion to LED, and did you do retrofits or rip out and replace...? The rebates, or lack there of, seem like a racket. The more I look into it, the whole project seems shovel ready!

Anyway, thanks for your time & thoughts!
sjb

sjb,

Cmawash is saying something that one should consider. In 3 of our bays we replaced a bunch of 4' 2 bulb (water resistant len covers) fixtures with the KR G&G LED strips. G&G Jason Baright was good to work with. It was around $4K cost. Advantages: more directional, 100% waterproof, zero maintenance. Since 24VDC was brought into the bays from the equipment room area ... we felt the rewiring was easier than some other higher voltage layouts.

Probably ... not as fancy as Cantbreak's lighting controls ... but knowing the potential lull periods & since we had to rewire anyway we went with what we feel are better controls than the norm. We used a PLC with a very precise analog light sensor mounted on a south interior window away from the wet car wash bays. The analog sensor has proven itself for over 11 years on our old computer driven controls for the old lights. Does anyone ever feel that their lights come on too early or too late? From our experience the photocell sensors from the average electrician are not nearly as precise. We left the lessor sensors in place though & can bypass to them if we have a temporary PLC down situation along with being able to bypass all sensors & just turn the lights on & off manually with plain jane toggle switches.

As I have posted before in previous posts, we like the idea that we have it so one third of the LEDs come on during a standby period & the other two thirds making the full light condition immediately as the coin box starts up with a 5 minute delay before turn off. The 5 minute delay makes it so the customer does not think we are rushing them too much with less light. Based on our clamp on amp meter tests ... if there is a lull in all three bays ... we are using only 2 amps vs 6 amps for all 3 bays. The LEDs are positioned in such a way & the quality is such that the customer from the street has never been deterred from driving in ... based on about 3 months of experience so far.

The other parts of the new PLC controls which are less relevant to the post is that we have our backup (low air pressure condition) air compressor not ever come on during hours we are closed. We also have the words BLODRY come on with extra bright blue LEDS when the meter goes on with them going off with our chosen 6 minute delay. The China-Ebay webpage allowed us to select whatever lettering for the back car window intended (automobile brake light replacement) assembly.

Hopefully, this post is understandable & does some good because that is what the intent was & is!

mike walsh http://kingkoin.com/USA_Deficit_Reduction.html

 

[cwguy.com]

In 3 of our bays we replaced a bunch of 4' 2 bulb (water resistant len covers) fixtures

Yes this does help if you are talking about cfl tubes? I was going to purchase water tight or vapor tight housings. But do you still have yours? I'll purchase them if your price is good. Just send me an email.

 

[mjwalsh]

Yes this does help if you are talking about cfl tubes? I was going to purchase water tight or vapor tight housings. But do you still have yours? I'll purchase them if your price is good. Just send me an email.

Eric,

They were the style that used magnetic ballasts & T12 fluorescent tubes. The enclosures were pretty far gone ... I do not believe it would make sense ... considering shipping cost etc. Thanks though ... you never know sometimes used stuff can buy an operator time before he is ready for something really good ... or waiting for a technology to become mature (if ever) enough etc. The truth be known ... they were damaged even more & disposed of when they were taken out.

mike

 

[cwguy.com]

I am pretty sure I'm going to replace my metal halide lights with fluorescent tubes. Not for cost savings.... but annoyance. You can purchase led bulbs for those housings now for $40-50 on amazon? Good ones will be super cheap in a couple years. Maybe they are now if you purchase directly from Cree? I really have never researched led besides what prices my Dad told me.

 

[cmawash]

make sure you can buy replacement parts like lens, like a glass lens,. . Lithonia is a brand we have bought. any light that spares are not supported are not worth the cost or problems. Once led die its nice to know that is easy to repair. Also failure mode for a led is a short, not a open. We also have had many a mh fixture just fry and almost burn up

 

[Kevin James]

If your fixtures are in decent shape I’d put in 105 Watt CFL’s before I'd go to the expense of LED fixtures. Something like these http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/8257/FC105-S50MOGOD.html The LED fixtures are still too expensive.

 

[Jeff_L]

If your fixtures are in decent shape I’d put in 105 Watt CFL’s before I'd go to the expense of LED fixtures. Something like these http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/8257/FC105-S50MOGOD.html The LED fixtures are still too expensive.

This is what I've been doing instead of buying new wall packs, LED retro fits, etc. it's relatively cheap and easy, gets rid of the ballast and other junk in the housing. Haven't had any issues during the cold winter months. Don't get me wrong, LEDs are really cool, but they're just so pricey right now that going with a $20 fluorescent spiral bulb to replace a MH bulb is so much more reasonable for me.

 

[2Biz]

I agree with Kevin and Jeff_L ...

I replaced all my Metal Halides with CFL's 3 years ago. Since then I've only had to replace (4) bulbs. 2 of those were from a surge that also took out an LED 7 during an ice storm. When I replaced them, you can't tell any difference from the ones in adjacent bays that are 3 years old....

 

[norton]

I was at home depot last week and bought some 60 watt equivelent LED bulbs for $6 each. They are US made by Cree with a 100,000 hour life and a bright daylight color. I think I could easily convert some of my metal halide fixtures to house 3 or 4 of these per fixture. All I would have to do is take out the ballasts and buy some conventional light sockets to screw the bulbs into. For $30 I could install 4 of these in a light fixture.

 

[cap732000]

This is what I've been doing instead of buying new wall packs, LED retro fits, etc. it's relatively cheap and easy, gets rid of the ballast and other junk in the housing. Haven't had any issues during the cold winter months. Don't get me wrong, LEDs are really cool, but they're just so pricey right now that going with a $20 fluorescent spiral bulb to replace a MH bulb is so much more reasonable for me.

I just recently found some 4' water tight leds with 3600 lumèns for $79 at Home Depot. I replaced two 8' t-12 with them very impressed. We will see!

 

[Randy]

I'm thinking of trying a 50 watt LED bulb in my wall pak that I've got a 105 watt CFL in. Enter this on EBay E27 50W 8250LM 165 x 5730 SMD LED Buld Warm / White Corn Home Light 110V

 

[6t7gto]

Is the E27 a medium base or mogul base?
Nevermind, I found it.
It is a medium base.

 

[Randy]

Use one of these https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/5840/ELEC-242515.html

 

[6t7gto]

I replaced all my mogul sockets to medium when I installed the cfl's.

 

[soapy]

I found these Honeywell outdoor LED lights at Sams club today for $60. 4000 lumens, 45 watts, 5000K color with photo eyes. I am going to try a couple on the perimeter of the building. 5 year warranty also.

 

[HCW]

Replaced all 20 MH with CFL about 2 years ago, and not one problem. The only thing is, not as bright as MH.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

I found these Honeywell outdoor LED lights at Sams club today for $60. 4000 lumens, 45 watts, 5000K color with photo eyes. I am going to try a couple on the perimeter of the building. 5 year warranty also.

I saw them too but wasn't sure enough about the brightness and distance of light to buy them.
Soapy do you have them up and running?
Any pics?