As someone just getting into street light collecting, how hard is it to get a low pressure sodium fixture? I know a lot are being removed in southern California, but it seems they are not on the collectors market, period.

I ordered a UK lantern on eBay, but the globe arrived smashed so I've filed a claim to return it, and I will not be trying to get anything else shipped from overseas.

Maybe I'll have to be content with my 18 watt mini wall-pak.

There were a bunch of 18w wall pax on eBay for $35, but they all sold out.

Yeah, I got one of those Wal-Paks.

The seller has not responded to my return request. Do you guys think I should escalate it by filing a claim with eBay, or drop the issue and keep it in case I get another one that might have a good refractor but a bad bulb or gear?

Was the listing up in June? Dif it have a magnetic ballast?

Yes, it's a magnetic ballast. I got a full refund and apparently I don't have to send it back. I wanted to teach the seller a lesson about proper packaging more than I wanted the money.  I see lanterns from the UK for sale from time to time that are missing gear, so I'm going to stash it in a dark corner in the attic  rather than discard it.

I told my contact for traffic signals in California that if he see's any LPSV available there's people that would like them.

You now have the gear from the smashed Beta 5. Why not get a gearless lantern ?

I'd like to obviously. That seller has some gearless Phoscos but I won't be ordering from him again, obviously.

I have not shipped lanterns, but i did order LCD panels for laptops. I asked the sellers to pack the way i want and they arrived fine. Though i must say computer part sellers generally know better to pack than some stories i seen here

Is there a specific way to package these to survive shipping, or do you just hope that the shippers don't drop them upsided down or drop another heavy package on top of them?

You know, that's a good question. I think they are more fragile than MV lamps, so they are probably recommended to be shipped in pvc pipes cut to appropriate length, and then wrapped with bubble wrap before being enclosed in the pipe, like fluorescents. The thing with fluorescent lamps is the packing should be either...
------______------ or ______------______
- is bubble wrap
_ is exposed fluorescent tube

That is right, though i would prefer some low density wrap and not just emptiness. In addition the entre thing can be packed in external box, filled further from all sides with packing material (so if it is dropped on the corner, the hit does not transfer directly to the pipe)

When shipping a lantern with a lamp :

 - Pack the lamp with filling material fom all sides in the bowl of the lantern, when it is NOT connected in the socket. If not enough space there, remove the socket and stick it with more packing material in the gear compartment

 - Pack the lantern with more filling material in 2 boxes : Inner with high density fill, inside outer with lower density fill. Provide space between lantern and box or between teh boxes on all sides, so that whatever side it is dropped on, it will have few layers buffer between the outside and the lantern

 - Make sure stuff like gear assembly and ballast are attached well and won't detach and wreak mayhem in there. If anything is "flimsy" (such as - ignitor held on a plastic tab) pack around it so that it cant move



Good packing materials are for example shredded paper, stuffed paper, stuffed plastic bags, pieces of other packing materials etc. As bulk space filler try plastic bottles

As an update my second Beta 5 arrived. This time the socket was smashed, but the diffuser is intact. So I'm not going to file a claim and have enough parts to make one good one. This one appears to be sloppily re-geared (new looking Phillips gear attached with zip ties) and the "lamp support" is a piece of copper wire.

If anyone else wants to try this, I'd suggest asking the seller to package it extra good, the Global Shipping packages seem to get extremely roughly handled. And to package it sideways so when they drop a box with a bowling ball in it on top, the metal part of the fixture takes the shock, rather than the plastic canopy.