Here, my city currently maintains whats left of their HPS cobras (100/150/250/400w)

I suspect they install Philips but whatever brand it is, they all seem to lose sodium within the first year and become mercury burners ( The lamps lose sodium and begin to turn white and then blue in a short time but they still start and run full brightness for many years ...as unintended mercury retrofits 

My utility, Southern California Edison, uses GE almost exclusively now but until the early 90s they installed a variety of fixtures including ITT/AEL, Westinghouse, Crouse-Hinds/Cooper, etc. They installed a few Coopers around 2002 though. These are the makes for HPS and MV fixtures, though they have very little MV left. For PSMH fixtures they use GE and Hubbell, and for LPS fixtures they use Spaulding Palomars. For LEDs they use GE Evolves and AEL Autobahns. For lamps, they have a mix but mostly Philips.

PG&E in northern and central California installs all three major makes in new installations (GE, AEL, Cooper) when it comes to HPS. For LED they use Crees. For past MV and HPS installations they used GE, Westinghouse, Line Materials/Mc Graw Edison, AEL, ITT, Crouse Hinds. PG&E does not have any MH and LPS in their system but some cities have them. For lamps PG&E uses mostly Sylvania.

SDG&E in the San Diego area has a mix of all three makes as far as HPS goes, and older MVs are GE, Westinghouse and Spaulding. For LPS they use Spaulding Palomars. Not sure what make of lamps they use. They don't offer LEDs yet.

Here, my city currently maintains whats left of their HPS cobras (100/150/250/400w)

I suspect they install Philips but whatever brand it is, they all seem to lose sodium within the first year and become mercury burners ( The lamps lose sodium and begin to turn white and then blue in a short time but they still start and run full brightness for many years ...as unintended mercury retrofits  

Sounds like a cheap knock-off to me.  I've used Philips, Sylvania, & GE HPS and none have ever had that problem.  Also sounds like the Ballasts are tired. 

I've seen so many modern HID lamps made by GE, Sylvania, and Philips not last that long while 1980s lamps lasted 30 years. You must have used good batches. And I've seen new lamps last a while in old fixtures as well.

Quote from: Lightingguy1994 on December 03, 2015, 11:34:12 PM

Here, my city currently maintains whats left of their HPS cobras (100/150/250/400w)

I suspect they install Philips but whatever brand it is, they all seem to lose sodium within the first year and become mercury burners ( The lamps lose sodium and begin to turn white and then blue in a short time but they still start and run full brightness for many years ...as unintended mercury retrofits  

Sounds like a cheap knock-off to me.  I've used Philips, Sylvania, & GE HPS and none have ever had that problem.  Also sounds like the Ballasts are tired. 

Yeah anywhere in my city, you'll see at least one HPS running full brightness with a mercury vapour colour, even on highways where 400w lamps are used.  I kinda like that feature, they still last for a decent amount of years usually. I'd like to find a sodium lamp that will burn like that

Yeah anywhere in my city, you'll see at least one HPS running full brightness with a mercury vapour colour, even on highways where 400w lamps are used.  I kinda like that feature, they still last for a decent amount of years usually. I'd like to find a sodium lamp that will burn like that

That is very strange.  I rarely see one of those out here. 

Here is a picture I just took of one of those mercury coloured HPS lights which happens to be right in front of my house. These are 150w and this one has been burning this way for more than 2 years

Edit: Sorry for the rotated pic, the thread absolutely won't post it in the proper orientation...very frustrating!!

Eversource:
AEL (Used to be Cooper)

NHEC:
GE as they have been

Unitil:
Cooper (Used to be GE)

For cities that still install HPS streetlights, AEL seems to be the most popular. That being said, the odd Cooper and GE will pop up from time to time.

I haven't been paying much attention to the models of LED streetlights so I can't really say which brand are they.

For cities that still use HPS: Cooper (formerly GE)

LED: GE and AEL

Same as fluorescent lover 40 for me, as we have the same utility.

HPS cities: Cooper (OVH and OVZ)
LED cities: GE (ERL1, ERLH)

GE until about 2018, then mostly Cooper and some AEL.

Over on this side of the pond it's the local councils that are responsible for installing and maintaining the street lights.

So here, it's mostly Leotek, except for a few areas where they have been using Cree fixtures for spot replacements or new installations.

My utility uses GE Evolves, I don’t like them.