Ive got the old ov-25 and i absolutely love it Unfortunately I had to convert it to remote ballasted because the original ballast was 240 volts only But now it's compatible with any light bulb so i couldn't complain
I have a similar fixture, except fixture body is dark bronze finish and is 100 watt HPS. It is a surface mount instead of pendant mount. Mine is not made by Gardco, but there are many lighting manufacturers who make very similar products. My high school had (still have some to this day) surface mounted fixtures that were like 6” square and 19” long, that were mounted under a concrete canopy that was two stories high in the outdoor quad area. The fixtures utilized a 100 watt A23 mercury lamp that I thought were really cool back then. Most of the fixtures have been replaced with white surface mounted cylinder fixtures that are probably metal halide. Maybe by now all the fixtures in the quad area have been replaced with LED.
TXDOT did use these, until they started using LED street lights. These were also in 250W and even 150W. The 150W ones used in underpasses. Plus, these were also available in black finish housing, instead of the light grey housing.
@@EYL8902 I know they did, I live in Texas as stated in the video. They came in Gray, Black, Green, Terracotta, and other colors depending on what TXDOT wanted. I own a black 250w PSMH one (got it after filming this video) and that will get a video soon. They used them in 150-400w, i stated that as well.
@@EYL8902 I think I mentioned them in the video but I don’t remember. Four are known to exist. I discovered 3 of them 2 years ago in an intersection, and recently I found another on marketplace with a bunch of other TXDOT fixtures that came from an auction. The black PSMH one was a surprise, I didn’t catch it in the listing photos. I will be selling some of these TXDOT fixtures soon, though.
As a word of caution, you have to be extremely careful with running these Sylvania 360W Unalux lamps because they were designed to run on HX (high reactance) autotransformer ballasts or 208-277V series choke ballasts instead of CWA (constant wattage autotransformer) ballasts. If the lamp is used on a CWA ballasts for too long, you might damage the lamp or the ballast. This means that they must NEVER be used on most 400W M59 probe start metal halide ballasts since many of them are CWA ballasts. The reason that the Unalux lamps are incompatible with CWA ballasts is because the constant current nature of those ballasts causes the Unalux lamps to run at dangerously high power loadings due to the fact that their arc voltage drops rise very fast during their lives. In the long term, a CWA ballast can get destroyed due to the lamp overloading its primary. In this case, if you want to continue running your Unalux lamp again, it is best to invest in a 400W H33 mercury vapor HX autotransformer ballast or invest in importing a European 220V 50Hz 400W mercury vapor series choke ballast if you have any access to 240V 60Hz supplies at home. Sadly, HX autotransformer ballasts for mercury vapor lamps 250W and above are very hard to find. As far as I can tell, I can see that the fixture appears to have a CWA ballast due to the appearance of 2 dark edges on the flicker bands. A proper HX autotransformer ballast or series choke ballast should only produce narrow dark flicker bands with one dark line in the center. As far as I can tell, the lamp and ballast should be okay if the setup is operated for short test runs. Sadly, I have read that one collector in the lighting community has damaged one of their Unalux lamps by running it on a CWA ballast even though it was for a short test run.
Thanks for the word salad, this was literally done just for a video. I do not even own this light, and it is no longer at my house. I am well aware of the operating characteristics of Unalux lamps, and I never intend on really using my refit lamps in installations.
It resembles as GE M-400A from early 1970s through mid 1980s, as well as GE M-400A2 from 1985 to early 2000s, but they are really GE C400, and GE C400-2. There are a couple different of these two. The later ones does have a location of photocell moved from the back to the center of the fixture, and it has a clamp instead of the push lever. These types of fixtures are used in Chicago Illinois then other major cities in the USA.
Born and raised in Chicago, everytime I saw these, I knew I was home! Personally, I thought these were great looking lights. These were mainly used on main artery streets and looked better than the smaller variant for the side streets. I'm on the hunt for one!
This type of fixture is also available as GE, M-4002, Crimefighter in the late 1980s through early 2000s, and they are abundant in Chicago Illinois, then any other major cities in the USA. There are couple of changes between GE M-400A1, Crimefighter, and GE M-400A2, Crimefighter is the location of the photocell was moved from the rear to the center of the fixture, and the latch is different at the front.
My state used M400As exclusively on freeways and major arterial streets. Before the 90's though, they were mercury vapor. They were also the early versions that had the 2 slots at the sides of the GE monogram.
Studies typically suggest a proper streetlighting program reduces crime around 20%. The whole idea of these fixtures was to blast light in every possible direction. I’m planning on getting more of these but once again shipping is an absolute pain in the ass.
places with bad infrastructure tend to be poor, poorer places tend to have more crime. sounds like both have common cause rather then a brighter light banishing criminals.
@@thelightingcollector2419 Chicago is not the crime ridden hell that you claimed... Perhaps you should stick to lighting as you apparently don't know what you are talking about when describing our cities...
It is the starters, although I have had a few lamp deaths recently. These were pulled out of a factory facing demolition, and the lamps are very well used.
Dude, these are also one of my top favorite street light models! My city used to have at least a few thousand 250 watt (or 200 watt) HPS OVMs. I vaguely remember seeing them illuminating but now my city is 98% LED. In fact, my profile picture is of a shaded OVM that I found in my city.
Can we just go back to Ceramic Metal Halide And High Pressure Sodium Streetlights...for some reason they are built to last for many years...if they are built strong enough they will last 30+ years....i mean the light bulbs also can be recycled to just look at how their made
