Thinking of replacing burnt lamps in your parking lot and need access to an electrician with a bucket truck? Maybe your lamps have been replaced but lights won’t come on? With over a decade of experience, AC Electric has the tools, bucket truck and know-how to resolve your electrical needs.
When it comes to your lighting, don’t trust it to any ordinary handyman. HID fixtures require exact lamp type replacements in order to avoid damage to the ballast. Although a metal halide lamp will work with a high pressure sodium ballast, the voltages are different. A HPS lamp will require a voltage range from 2500-4000V to spike across the electrodes since the arc tube does not have the space for a starting electrode; whereas a probe-start MH lamp only requires a maximum of 600V. Or, the newer technology pulse-start metal halide is replaced with a probe-start lamp which has similar characteristics to a HPS ballast. Too many times have we found where this scenario has happened and arrived to a shorted ballast, and on some occasions, a broken bulb.
Aside from the basics, HID lamps and PCB-containing ballasts should be recycled according to EPA standards. Mercury in metal halide lamps can pose a serious health risk; and, the sodium in high pressure sodium lamps are a highly volatile substance—when exposed to air the sodium may explode. The sodium lamp should never be disposed of in a garbage can or dumpster. There have been many cases of garbage trucks catching fire when the lamp breaks. Sodium lamps also contain mercury.
AC Electric has been assisting its commercial customers with re-lamping, re-ballasting and trouble shooting of their parking lot and garage electrical and lighting maintenance. With our knowledge in this field and the possession of the tools and a bucket truck required to handle almost any service call, it’s no wonder AC Electric has been the preferred electrical contractor in NE Ohio since 1999!