We now have a date for the conversion of the Xcel wood pole lights to LED the project will start in November per an article in the StarTribune/

  Up here in St. Cloud the mass conversions started about a month ago with some of the main routes including MN-23, MN-15, US-10, and CSAH 75. Now that most of the main routes in the city are converted, the lighting on smaller residential streets is being converted. Not sure who this project is led by, but I will say i'm glad those horrible Durastars along Roosevelt Road are gone  .

I would happily take a Durastar over ANY kind of LED streetlight except a real LED cobrahead.

I hope they don't replace the AEL 115 outside the window on my bedroom, because it shines straight in and with the effects of LED streetlighting, I don't know what I could do (I can't put up shades or anything).

Don't worry, EXCEL will be using these on the cobra heads.  Just like they did here in Colorado.  They are working out well so far. 

That f can ballast looks interesting. Wonder how well it'll survive. Are these things made from cast metal or plastic/Fiberglas?

The AEL LED light we have at the transmitter site-215W have two of those F-can LED drivers.The waffle LED panels-two one driven by each F-can "ballast".Guess this is so you can still have light if one F-can unit fails-or LED unit fails-figure they both shouldn't fail at the same time.These lights must have temp switches in them-some were not on during the heat waves.The Phillips light shown looks like it has only one F-Can driver.

The AEL LED light we have at the transmitter site-215W have two of those F-can LED drivers.The waffle LED panels-two one driven by each F-can "ballast".Guess this is so you can still have light if one F-can unit fails-or LED unit fails-figure they both shouldn't fail at the same time.These lights must have temp switches in them-some were not on during the heat waves.The Phillips light shown looks like it has only one F-Can driver.

Seeing as how the cree streetlights reacted to the heat wave, I don't think these would do much better.

I hope they have at least fixed the issue with the nauseating effects cool white and daylight LEDs have. It's bad enough on the freeways but if those make it to my neighborhood I am not going to be happy.

Well we see a few days of high 90s low 100s here in Denver in the summer, and they've all held up well so far.  As for the color-  It's whatever the municipality specifies.  I made a big fuss over how strongly I dislike the daylight 5500/6500k colors that some cities have gone with, and I think that helped a bit with the big residential city I live in going with the 4100/4000k.  In fact when I brought it up, the 1 person from XCEL and 1 person from the local municipality both agreed, needs to be easy on the eyes, otherwise it defeats the purpose of good lighting.  Also it is more of a composite material.  Some metal in places, but hard composite in other places.  When I picked it up it felt very sturdy and not like some cheap aluminum or lightweight steel. It was made to take a beating, both storm wise and UV.  Given that this is coming from Philips, I'm banking that it will have good quality to it as they have a reputation to defend for being one of the best in the LED industry. 

Xcel seems to use Philips fixtures. Mn/DOT originally used them (primarily in the east metro area), but stopped because the current Cooper and American Electric models are significantly more efficient despite the lady that approves products liking the Philips.

Xcel seems to use Philips fixtures. Mn/DOT originally used them (primarily in the east metro area), but stopped because the current Cooper and American Electric models are significantly more efficient despite the lady that approves products liking the Philips.

Why can't they just use these? 
http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/public/en/lighting/products/roadway_lighting/_182921.html

I kind of scratched my head. These seems to maintain the bulk of HID luminaires for no reason (no need for reflector).
This model is only available up to 100 watts input, so they probably didn't want one manufacturer for residentals streets and another one for commercial streets. The models Mn/DOT uses have 130 watts input to replace 250 watt HPS< and 160 watt input to replace 400 watt HPS. (The Philips that were removed from the approved product list for being too inefficient were 190 and 215 watts.)

In many of the neighborhoods here we dont have cobra heads but rather- fixtures like these.  XCEL hasn't decided what they are going to replace these or the old GE flying saucer type with for LEDs so they are leaving them as-is 150 or 250 Watt HPS until they figure it out. 

Well let's hope they DON'T figure it out then. 

It's already guaranteed they will be replaced with LEDs.  As are most other municipalities out there.  It's just a matter of when.  Not a dang thing you or me or anyone else can do about it.  You don't have to like it, but it sure beats the alternative of not having any lighting at all. 

It's already guaranteed they will be replaced with LEDs.  As are most other municipalities out there.  It's just a matter of when.  Not a dang thing you or me or anyone else can do about it.  You don't have to like it, but it sure beats the alternative of not having any lighting at all. 

I would rather have darkness than the sickening effects of LED...