Hello,

This is the first time I've posted in this forum, and will confess right off the bat that I'm no expert or even a novice for that matter when it comes to lighting, especially in hobby terms.  It's clear that there is a great depth of knowledge here, so I hope that you wont mind me fielding this question. 

We recently bought a new (to us) house.  I've been slowly making improvements and repairing things on the outside and I've come to a dilemma.  Behind our garage we have a Norelco Security Light that as far as I can tell is identical to the one from this post:

http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=2308&pos=35&pid=63347

The light is in pretty good condition, despite being 30 years old or so with the exception of the ballast and plug for the photo control.  Are there suitable replacements for these?  I suppose I could just go buy a new light, but I kind of enjoy bringing things like this back from the dead if it's feasible.  I do like the way these mercury vapor lights look and sound and I'd really prefer to restore it, but I'll trust your judgement if you think I might be wasting my time.  I've attached a couple photos below of the components in question.

Thank You!
-Ryan Folk
Osceola, IN

Electrically this will need a complete and total rebuild. How you rebuild is up to you, I think the wires on the lampholder overheated, otherwise you would be able to save that. You can re-build this for HPS, Metal Halide, Mecury (with metal halide components), or even incandescent (don't exceed 200 watts) depending on the components. Incandescent would be the easiest and HPS being the most complex of your options.

Thank you for the reply!  Assuming I go with the MV option (using MH components) would the capacitor and ignitor be necessary?  All of the 175W / 120V ballasts I see for MH lights have these included.  I have seen a few older replacement units for sale that are just the ballast and lampholder - I'm guessing those would also work, just harder to come by?

Thanks again!
-Ryan Folk
Osceola, IN

mercury vapour don't needs ignitor, but they are banned, so you can't get the ballast.
capacitor is for industrial application, where VAR are counted; however i suggest to use also in your home, because it reduces current flowing in wires.

i suggest to use 70W MH with internal shield, because they are cheaper and quite efficient.
they require ballast, ignitor and capacitor to lower VAR

Hey and Wellcome !



Mercury lamps work on the MH ballast of same wattage without the ignitor (just skip it, connect the lamp directly to the ballast in systems where the lamp wire is going from the ignitor). The capacitor can be connected to the ballast in several ways, including :

 - Straight to incoming Hot and Neutral, parallel to everything else. In this the capacitor is optional

 - To 2 wires coming from the ballast which are there for the capacitor. In this you must connect the capacitor

 - In series with the lamp. In this you must connect the capacitor as well

The way its done depends on the type of ballast, different types of ballasts (HX, CWA, ...) are wired in different ways

If you have to install the ballast in the lantern aim for the 1st option - The lantern head is tight as it is, and even ifyou manage to get the capacitor in there, capacitors dont like high temperatures. In the 1st option you can skip the capacitor completely. In all others, you'll have to pull a new 3 wires+earth or 4 wires+earth cable between house and lantern just to wire the capacitor remotely.....

But i'd consider installing remote ballast in a box in the house (where there is much more headroom for fitting components, ballast won't be heated by the lamp so will last longer, and no water leaking around the photocell will drip on the ballast and blow it up as it did here). The photocell can be wired as well from the lantren to the ballast box (using a common 4p+e cable for the lamp and photocell or separate 2p+e for the lamp + 3p+e for the photocell cables)



Anyway if you install the ballast or capacitor remotely youll need cable with higher voltage rated isolation since the internal wiring after the ballast may have way highre voltages, on the order of 300-500V between any wire and earth (our European standard 240v cables are rated to 600v, i expect your 277v cables to be rated to something like that and therefore suitable as well). Wire gauge can be minimal as all currents there are under 3A

Use glass fiber sleeves on wires of the input cable in the lantern head, ceramic terminal block to terminate them as far from the main heat sources as possible, and high temp isolated wiring (silicone+glass fiber or the like) for all the internal conncetions

I dont know which types of ballasts may or may not be available there or what the code says about wiring remote ballasts or ballast components - you'll have to get the replies of USA members for those answers

Ballast is still available on eBay,  most of them in those fixtures uses Hx ballast, and u cannot  remove the cap
On CWA ballast as the cap help regulate the current to the lamp.  If u are force to used a CWA metal halide probe start or pulse start ballast. It best to slide the
Cap in the fixture arm , that way cap be away from
The  ballast, probe start is comparable with  mercury lamp. Pulse start metal halide u need 150 watt ballast
With the 3 wire ignightor removed , to correctly run a MV 175 watt lamps.

Last of all stock up on few good MV lamps before the become long gone after 2016 MV lamp bans

I didn't know of any MV lamp ban coming around. I knew the ballasts were banned and that in 2016 the 500 watt linear halogens were being banned.

If this were mine, I would either convert it to metal halide, HPS, or Incandescent. The incandescent conversion is the easiest as all you need to do is ditch the ballast (and cap) while replacing the lampholder and the photocell socket. If converting to incandescent, I suggest using a ceramic pulse rated medium base lamp holder in case you decide to convert to HPS or PSMH in the future.

In my application I would install this lamp (a socket extender may be needed): http://lightbulb.aerolights.com/item/aero-tech-bulbs-made-in-the-usa-20-000-hours/-a-series-light-bulbs-made-in-the-usa-20-000-hours/200a23-cl?&bc=100|1012|1045|1002

Some good mercury lamps will last for quit a while. Or add ignitor and convert to 6500K daylight MH

Thank you everyone for your replies, I'll see what I can do with one of these options.  I'll try to share my (hopefully successful) results once I get some parts together and some time to work on it.

Thanks!
-Ryan Folk
Osceola, IN