Any thoughts on these Metal Halides I picked up?

[bobforapples]

Hi, I picked up some Metal Halides from a local car dealership. They remodeled their showroom and went to LEDs. These are 250w each, the ballasts look good. I need new bulbs and a few starting caps. My garage addition is 26' x 42' The ceilings are about 19' tall. I think I'll have the height needed for the narrow lens.

I'm planning to do 6 lights, two sets of 3. Does anyone have similar fixtures? What color temperature bulbs do you use?

Thanks!

 

[Lx460]

 

[cybrdyke]

Free? Nice Score!!
How old are they?
FYI-there are 2 different kinds of Metal Halide lamp. Make sure you get the right one.
You wont have many choices in lamp color.
CD

 

[LXCam]

Like Cyb pointed out, you really won't have a choice for color. These aren't like fluorescent fixtures. What you do need to check is the voltage rating (s) on the transformer. Hopefully they are multi-taps which is what you need. They might be only 277V which will be a problem for you. Also as LX alluded too they draw some power. A 250HID fixture will draw around 285 watts. And depending upon the reflector design these might not work very well for the ceiling height, but you'll just need to find out. Worst case if it becomes too much of a spot light, you can probably find a deal (free) "low bay" reflectors to retrofit. Regardless, free is always good and no matter what they will put out some light. Figure 18ft spacing might give you around 50ft candles at 3ft which is considered "Classroom" lighting levels.

Good luck!

 

[bobforapples]

Yep, free. Don't know the age. Yep, they run on electricity. 6 of em will pull about 1800W. If I run them 16 hours a week, that's about 110kWh per month.... 7 cents per kWh round up to 10 cents for taxes... So it'll cost me $10 per month to run em. VS. spending about 1400 on LED equivalent fixtures. On one hand, I can spend the $100 for bulbs and have a $10 bill per month or I can spend a boat-load of cash and have a $5 bill per month. I'm having an internal struggle...... LEDs instant on, Metal Halide excellent color rendering, spend lots of money, buy bulbs instead. -All I know is my wife is sick of hearing about it!!

 

[bobforapples]

Figure 18ft spacing might give you around 50ft candles at 3ft which is considered "Classroom" lighting levels.

Thanks!! thats the type of info I was looking for. Yes the ballasts are multi-tap, 120 208 240 277. I was surprised that they had 18 of them installed 120v.

 

[LXCam]

Yep, they run on electricity. !!

Well hell, I'm glad we cleared that up


As you pointed out the energy savings takes a long time to pay it's self back going another route, specially when it's only a part time gig. Also unless you go HO's for fluorescent they just don't cut the mustard in cold weather. So anyhow I still suggest you check what voltage they run on. If you do some digging you'll find some generic transformer kits with lamp for $60-$70. The other nice thing is you can run a multi-vapor lamp which can be found cheap as long as it's a mogul base lamp.

EDIT: oop's looks like I jumped the gun on my response. LOL!

 

[cybrdyke]

Pros: Cost of fixtures=zero. About $100/yr to operate all 6. Good quality lamps will last 24,000-ish hours, which is about 25 years for you. Cost of lamps: approx $100. Not a bad looking fixture.
Cons: Color rendering on MH is actually only average or a little below average when compared to fluorescent or LED. Slow start up time. Potential for buzzing.
I think you gotta try them. Keep us updated!
CD

 

[walrus]

Their is a reason Metal Halide fixtures are coming out of businesses. I've trashed hundreds in the last year. The light quality compared to LED isn't even close. They eat electricity in comparison but your electric rates are way cheaper than mine so that might not matter. You have the ceiling height for them. They do last a long time although I question a previous posters claim of 24,000 hours for a bulb. The color of the light will change with time and the amount of lumens will drop with time also.

 

[cybrdyke]

They do last a long time although I question a previous posters claim of 24,000 hours for a bulb. .

Yeah, sorry 'bout that. 10,000 hours is their rated life.
CD

 

[Showkey]

Their is a reason Metal Halide fixtures are coming out of businesses. I've trashed hundreds in the last year. The light quality compared to LED isn't even close. They eat electricity in comparison but your electric rates are way cheaper than mine so that might not matter. You have the ceiling height for them. They do last a long time although I question a previous posters claim of 24,000 hours for a bulb. The color of the light will change with time and the amount of lumens will drop with time also.

+ 3 ^^^^^^^^^^
On everything..........lumens drop over time is high.
We replaced 50 fixtures and could not give them away. (They were high bay) not that the would be takers knew that.
Over time we had many transformer failures with a fair amount of smoke, heat and stink. I would never mount them near wood structure.

 

[bobforapples]

And all this is a moot point. Most of the ballasts or caps were bad. The ones that did warm up were too loud for my liking. I guess you get what you pay for! On to the search for new LEDs