For many years now metal halide lamps were the source of choice for Hibay and site lighting. They certainly provided the lumen output required and were a vast improvement over LPS and HPS in terms of CRi but were still a deeply flawed lamp source.
With no way of dimming them, control was always out of the question, limited to merely ON or OFF. The long re strike delay meant power outages were a potential disaster and the sheer heat generated by the arc tube, exaggerated by the reflectors needed to control the emitted lumens meant optimum lamp life was very short. This is obviously a major issue when considering the heights these fittings are often mounted at.
What is often overlooked or unknown is that the lumen output of a 1000w metal halide lamp reduces by around 50% after only about 5000hrs. This means your 1000w lamp is not much better than a 400w version yet the total system watts needed to run it remain constant at 1058, lowering the efficiency from the 100 LPW range down to almost 50. In real terms this means that re lamping should be done at least every 2 years to maintain safe and code compliant light levels and to avoid paying for the 50% light you no longer get.
From a safety, cost saving and environmental standpoint, isn't it time you made the commitment to upgrade to an LED solution. Can you really justify leaving it any longer?
Jon Lewis L.I.F
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