beeznutz

Whell I was at the local junkyard and I found a pile of street lights and poles. They look like the kind that they use on highways and stuff. Well I opened one of the casings up and found out that they were all HPS lights, then I got extremely interested in them whell after chekin em out for a minute I found mostly 250 watters and a few 200 watters. They are made by cooper or for cooper and heres some info that was on the tag. Line watts 480 (damn thas a lot of voltage!!) Lamp style 200 on some and 250 on others, Ballast CWI. 480 is a lot of watts but do you think you can wire them to run off of 110???? im not much of an electrial expert!! So I took one for now and 2 extra bulbs just for the hell of it. If they can work I can get em all for free but If not at least I can have 6 bulbs and some reflectors for free. let me know what you thank, And if I hit the jackpot or not?????

stecki

It's possible to rewire, I believe, but make sure you know EXACTLY what you're doing before you even start. Better yet, take the ballast to an electrician you trust (this helps if you have friends in the business, but if not, your choice if you want to risk it). Otherwise, it sounds like you hit it big. 6 free bulbs is nothing to laugh at. Good luck.

stecki

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40till5

not unless those are multi-tap ballasts, which I doubt...
damn, where's Harrad when you need him?

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Sanclem

480 single tap for streets lights very common. You can get a 120/480 1 phase for about $200 used. Machine repair shops have them. Rewinding the spool is ,time and cost, not worth it. It will distroy a good oven when you bake the ballast to set the gylptol. For the money and time thcbc.com is much cheaper than all hydor stores. But the electrcal substations just chuck them and get new ones. I think 400 hps ge's are $18 at home dump. One thing if you put the bulb in a sack and hit it with a hammer and take out the cermic stick it makes a great knife sharping tool.

pontoon

<<One thing if you put the bulb in a sack and hit it with a hammer and take out the cermic stick it makes a great knife sharping tool.>>

That's a great idea man! It beats just chuckin' 'em!

Is there anything inside the bulb that could cause problems though? Like a gas or something we'd wanna watch out for? An outside project maybe?

pOOn

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Sanclem

Sometimes they make a loud pop. Vertical to cermic about 10 deg for one kick ass sharp, real sharp. Every time I see a street light thing I crindge. I have changed out a few, hot 480, 80 ft of the deck. Lots of balls no brains.

beeznutz

So are all you guys saying that I should just throw away the 480 volt fixtures and keep the bulbs??? or should I chuck all of the ****??? I just wanna be sure before I throw away something that might be useful!!!!

Sanclem

At $40 a ton for scrap sure, The bulbs are not wroth it because 400watters are only 18 bucks new at home dump. I would save the sockets with the wire that goes to with it. Wait you could paint them pink and us them for trolling for girls. Or paint them pink and put them in you friends lawn. Or the real fun one drop about 100 ft off the deck.

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beerlover

Sanclem i don't think your answering his question.

hey beeznutz, what i would do is ask your local hardware store about the light. just tell them you want to put the light out side to light up a basketball court or something gay like that. i'm sure they will have some one who knows about the light out-put and if you can rig it up to be just a plug in light.

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beeznutz

OK, thanxs Beerlover for the serious answer, I appreciate your advice.