Metal Halide to LED fixture replacement

NickVon

Well-Known Member
We are doing some renovations in our building and are looking to replace our Existing mismatched metal halide fixtures/lamps. We have 12, that we use as generic "non-show" Houselights/Worklights.

We tried a "corn cob" style LED lamp replacement (Ballast Bypass) on a single fixture the active fan cooling on it made an audible background noise for a fixtures situated 40 ft in the air. 12 of them would have been an unbearable amount of background white noise for the room when just working in the space/rehearsals etc.

We are looking at a Fixture replacement from 1000bulbs.com that places the active cooling above the ceiling which we think will be better for noise in the room.

The fixtures are mounted about 40ft in the air over the House seating. They are mounted in a wooden Slatted Ceiling with "attic" access to the top back side of anything we install.

Have any of you other venue folk made the move and have suggestions. our current 12 fixtures are 400w Metal Halide of varying color temps. we've never had all 12 matching and working at the same time So i'm sure we'll be happy with something like 17klm to 20klm from a 4k color temp new fixtures.
 
What lamp did you go with the first time? I've got 8 high-bay MH fixtures that we use (2 as ghost light, all 8 as work light). The MH ballasts are noisier than anything, I can't imagine in our situation fan noise would be any worse. I've thought about replacing them with some of the cheapo LED work lights you can find on Amazon, but these are 277v and I'm not certain the cheap ones would handle that.

-ED
 
we tried something like this. (though I though ours was "corn cob style" but maybe not. https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/204239/PLT-11163.html
We currently have 2x 50lb Ballasts on each light. and while they may make noise I don't notice them from down in the house.
The above linked lamp though had an audible wine from 40 ft away as the fan sound was focus down into the house from the "reflector assembly" of the Old MH fixture housing.

I spoke with a Lighting Rep in our area, and they have clued me in to http://www.aquariitech.com/products/axceleron/
Which seems to maybe fit my lumen output and energy efficiently bullets points but seem far more then; pull out old fixture, install new, wire up Ground, Neutral, Hot. (not to mention the size difference in our ceiling from the old relfector fixture holes to these guys. (though solvable). And I don't have a pricing cost on them. We don't have a price limit ion per fixture that i know of yet but was thinking/hoping for no more then about 150$ per fixture. MSRP
 
I think we'd need a corncob type with the reflectors we've got.

MVIMG_20181220_140024.jpg

The last time I seriously looked into replacing these it was either too expensive or too dim for what it was worth. We just had the ballasts replaced on a couple of them and our county electricians explored retrofitting since our school board is on a big LED kick at the moment, but they came up short with solutions too. I don't know that retrofit is going to be the best solution, at least with what is on the market at the moment, but like you said replacing brings on a host of other considerations too.

I'll follow this thread with interest though!
 
Might be totally out of your budget at $4500, but the Phillips ew reach powercore is an incredible fixture. You can get a bunch of different spread lenses for your use, but my experience is a single location.
One fixture on top of the disneyland hotel illuminates this entire gazebo area, and although not shown in my images, at night it's very well lit and the fixture never exceeds 40%. They're using it without any lenses, at its native 5degrees.
https://www.farralane.com/color-kin...MI6_P61piv3wIVh4jICh0NUQ4eEAQYASABEgIrm_D_BwE
Screen Shot 2018-12-20 at 12.00.12 PM.png Screen Shot 2018-12-20 at 11.59.59 AM.png
Here's the google streetview link so you can see how far away it is and how large the space is.
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.807...-k-no-pi-0-ya175.5849-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352
 
The architectural lighting industry is mostly of the opinion that whole fixtures vastly out perform retrofit units. Look at the real 'life cycle costs' and find that new units will last far longer, at greater efficiency and you'll come to the same conclusion.
 
Yes, I think I'm sold on Completely Replacement fixtures. (Retro-fit only in the sense that that the holes in our antique Ceiling or currently cut for "high Bay" style fixtures.) So just need to track down some Equivlant "Quiet" LED fixtures that can mount with out to much fuss in to the existing holes, so as to not to be out thousands for a contractor to do the work.
 
ANY LED should be physically quiet. Electrical noise varies a bit more but should be minimal with quality units.

Standard theory is to replace a 400W HID with a much lower output, due to a lesser lumen loss. 12,000-16,000 lumens is the likely target. Many basic fixture types (recessed, cylinder, pendant) with that output will have a smaller aperture than the typical high bay so your ceiling would be safe. Plugging the hole with a decorative something would be the issue.

I've used the Megalum https://www.hubbell.com/prescolite/...-Lighting/Recessed-Downlights/MD8LED/p/213002 series for that type of application. They aren't cheap but they can have incandescent grade DMX dimming. Replace your main house lights with them and you might get an energy credit to help pay for them.

Get someone to do a good photometric analysis before spending money. You'll also need an electrical contractor to do it legal and pretty.
 
Thanks @RickR those look like something to take a look at. Our Houselights Proper (that we use for shows) are sudo-historical (old) hanging chandlers that the college will not be removing anytime soon, as they are part of the historical look of the buildings interior. (I think their ugly and don't fit the room, and would like something more period neutral.)

Because of that we don't need these new "work lights" to dim, but it's always a plus. Do you know roughly what they run each just as a hardware fixture?

I've also been looking at some LED units by Aquarri and the ETC GDS line as well.
 
Most of these run $800 to 1500 depending on options like dimming. Note that in $ per lumen they are quite reasonable.
 

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