as for hte clear A19s....I think is because of lower demands......but one of my bigger pet peeves is in about 1999 or so I find out that Frosted A19 bulbs were going DOWN! and I liked them but the major 3 didn't really sell them anymore I believe.....

But fortuanlly a lot of dollar stores still sells the frosted ones!

Oh...those FAKE frost.....that pisses me off

I figured it was because of demand, but technically clear incands should be cheaper than soft whites. This is why it annoys me, and is technically WRONG.

And there are still real inside frost lamps. Feit makes real I/F lamps, and I believe some of the frosted fake W lamps are REAL I/F lamps. Annoying that no US companies still make them though.

1) Businesses with older fluorescent fixtures using bottom of the barrel 34w and 60w CW reduced wattage lamps.  They actually make your stystem less efficient.  You do in fact save power due to their lumen reduction.  You're actually better off delamping 1/5 of your fixtures before switching to reduced wattage lamps.

2) Electrical supply houses and hardware stores that save money/lower prices by stocking the cheapest Chinese lamps they can find.

3) A friend's apartment complex got their underpowered 22w circline fixtures (low ballast factor = another pet peeve!) in the hallways replaced with enclosed incandescent fixtures with screw in CFL's, instead of proper fluorescent fixtures.  Already they have deprecated quite noticibly, and several of the CFL's have failed early.  Why not at least use enclosed fixture quality CFL's?

4) The HPS parking lot lamp outside a local restaurant has been cycling over two years.

more to come...

1. Younger lighting columns being replaced before older ones. In my city I have seen a street lit with four year old columns have its columns replaced when there are still hundreds of columns dating back to the 1950s or earlier. The council is in debt, so they should be replacing columns in worst condition first, surely.

2. A luminaire in a street entirely lit with modern white light sources like CDM-T or PL-T lamps replaced by a luminaire running a monochromatic yellow low pressure sodium (SOX/LPS) lamp. Apart from the fact this means there is one yellow light in a street of white lights, council policy supposedly discourages the use of low pressure sodium.

3. The council not completing the job of column replacement. Whether it be not replacing an old column in a street of new columns, installing the new column but not removing the old one, or not finishing the painting of the column, you name it, the council does it. And it can take many months and even years to rectify.

4. The council removing the old lighting column before a new one has been installed and switched on.

5. Columns being spaced closer together than necessary. It wastes energy and offers little extra benefit, whilst increasing clutter.

6. The desire of lighting rural lengths of motorway when it is not necessary.


I think that's all for now.

1) Faked Chinese Schreder Onyx Eclatec Australe and Clip (www.innolight.ch)
2) Oversized Fixtures and tall Columns on small roads
3) Old towns lite with HPS lamps
4) Fixtures with a waps nest!!
5) Water ingress in a floodlight

1- Old fluorescent fixtures with pure YELLOW plastic covers - just remove them and allow the tube to shine!

2- Mixed 2700k / 5400k tubes in double fittings or continuous line installations.

3- Metal halide fixtures where the cover glass has been removed, the lamp is obviously old and ready to POP, in places where people pass underneath regularly.

4- DIY stores which sell series-wired twintube fittings, but do not sell the special low volt starters for them, despite the fact that they sell high wattage starters for fittings they don't even sell!

5- Flashing fluorescent tubes in places where you have to sit/stand under them for long periods (eg. doctor/dentist waiting room).

Agree with you Sparkie, I have to add parking garages where they have removed half the lamps, but the remainder are EOL. Also the lights are on 24/7/365, even in direct sunlight. Beancounters never heard of photocell?

Also the lights are on 24/7/365, even in direct sunlight. Beancounters never heard of photocell?

Maybe our government should target businesses who do this, instead of pursuing householders into oblivion.

I'll add another to the list:

The use of too many lights, or lights that are more powerful than necessary.

The use of too many lights, or lights that are more powerful than necessary.

I have seen such an installation! At a local supermarket, in the cosmetics row. At the top, there are two rows of the store's ceiling fixtures with dual 70w T8 tubes. Below these are three sets of suspended fixtures with 4x 'big PL' lamps (the thick, long ones. I can't tell the wattage since I always forget to take my sunglasses when I go there), with reflectors.

Then, under the shelves themselves are 4ft T5HO tubes ON EVERY SHELF LEVEL!
Naturally, it is not healthy for the skin or eyes, to remain in that area of the store for more than a few seconds!

There's a section of road in my city being relit where there are four times as many new columns (of the same height) than old columns. Only about half of the new columns have been switched on, and the street is lit excessively with those.

Here's a few of mine

*classic preheat and even some rapid start T12 fluorescent fixtures having the ballasts swapped out for T8 electronic ones.

*outlawing of MV lights 

*At the community college, 3 mercury vapor globe lights had their ballasts and bulbs switched to sodium vapor and I don't care for the orange color of HPS lights one bit.

*replacing well built old fixtures with cheap sheetmetal ones

Dave, what about the municipality not replacing lamps. Putting up new fittings and lamps, yet not being able to use the same lamp thoughout. You get one HPS, one MV, one MH, one not working( Ok that is more common), or the hundreds of dayburners because the council monkeys cannot figure out how to wire a photocell that comes prewired as part of the fixture.

Sean around here photocells are twist locks.....easy to take off and on :-D

Jace, the photocell is in a hubbel fitting, and comes pre-attached to the fitting, and pre wired inside. But the trained monkeys only read the first line, that says - for group use connect this wire here........ They then use it on a constant powered line. DOH!

Gotcha LOL!

Did you know that the reason my OV-12 was removed because it does not have a photocell and was a group remote photocell setup for many years from October 1962 to 2006 when it was removed! It was removed because a few months or so before, the Relay photocell controller (a relay that controls a group of maybe 10 or 20 streetlights) were removed and was wired up as hot......leaving the ones that had no photocell or the orginal lights dayburning!!!! But there were some newer lights on that group replaced long ago when orignal burnt out that had a photocell.....would go off......so the ones without photocells were removed and the ones that had a short on the top were replaced with photocell....thats how this light ended up to me.....