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  1. #1

    Default High voltage street lights.

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    Am I right in saying that in some parts of America there were special street lighting circuits that had a number of lights connected in series on a high voltage supply?

    If this was (is) actually done then was it done to save on the cost of a dedicated transformer for the lights?

    How was a light bypassed if a lamp failed, and was lamp changing an issue?
    Portable defibrillators were first invented to save the lives of linemen. Where's yours?

    www.bigclive.com

  2. #2
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    Clive, when I broke in 1000 years ago, we had series st lts that we called arc circuit. It operated at a constant 6.6 amps with a voltage from 100 to 10000AC. Most if not all has been phased out where I was. The only experience I had on it really was retiring it. As for bypassing a bad bulb, the build screwed into a socket that plugged into the head, the socket had what we called a "pill" which if the bulb failed the pill melted closing the circuit.
    "It is not the critic who counts:The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena" Teddy Roosevelt

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    Last edited by Orgnizdlbr; 03-08-2017 at 06:39 AM.
    "It is not the critic who counts:The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena" Teddy Roosevelt

  4. #4

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    Interesting stuff. Literally scaled up industrial Xmas lights. Even the film-shunt system is similar to how the Xmas lights work, in that it's two conductors separated by a thin insulating film (oxidised wire in Xmas lights) so that the higher voltage of an open circuit shunts the lamp out.

    They came up with some interesting techniques to shunt the lamp holders to allow live lamp changing.

    Just working on street lighting alone must have been an interesting job back then. Especially with mixed arc/tungsten/discharge technologies and the unusual circuit configurations.
    Portable defibrillators were first invented to save the lives of linemen. Where's yours?

    www.bigclive.com

  5. #5
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    Old carbon arc circuit. We called our series St Lt "arc circuit" cuz the old timers called it that.

    http://www.kbrhorse.net/streetlights...arc_lamps.html
    "It is not the critic who counts:The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena" Teddy Roosevelt

  6. #6

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    The lights of that era were definitely more stylish than modern ones. It would be nice to create LED street lights in a similar style.
    Portable defibrillators were first invented to save the lives of linemen. Where's yours?

    www.bigclive.com

  7. #7
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    I agree Clive, many years ago I did maintenance on decorative area street lights in a few wealthy Jersey shore towns. All the standards were UG fed converted from series to multiple. All were cast iron with octagon ornamental heads. Nice lights that parts can't be gotten anymore. All been replaced by ugly grey fiberglass poles with junk sodium luminaries.
    "It is not the critic who counts:The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena" Teddy Roosevelt

  8. #8
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    I my little part of the world places are converting to led lighting. In my town they retrofitted the led lights into the decorative fixtures downtown.

  9. #9

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    They're switching to LED street lights here on the Isle of Man. Notable when they swap one out in a row of high pressure sodium lamps and it's the dull spot of white light.

    Reliability has been poor. The electronic drivers aren't quite as rugged and water resilient as a traditional choke/ballast.
    Portable defibrillators were first invented to save the lives of linemen. Where's yours?

    www.bigclive.com

  10. #10
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    You would think they would seal them up a lot better especially going into a wet environment.

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