SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

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Norfolktolancashire
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Norfolktolancashire »

trencheel303 wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 17:28 The M61 just off the Kearsley roundabout heading south (where the A666 comes off and carrying straight on it becomes M61) still has a healthy amount of 135 and 180 Philips MAs although some of them are now being switched off for example on the A580 road to Salford. Lots in other areas have already gone; Farnworth, Clifton and Kearsley in the last couple of years have lost a lot of their 135W stock.

The M61 SOX are still there!

www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.5377859,-2.39 ... 312!8i6656
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by liamf656 »

As of November 2018, Derbyshire County Council (and even the City Council) have SOX in large numbers, although it's rapidly being phased out. Neighbouring Staffordshire still have some SOX as do Shropshire in some areas. North Nottinghamshire may have some although the Holophane V-Max is largely used to replace SOX
Last edited by liamf656 on Tue Aug 18, 2020 00:32, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Worcestershire Wolf »

Still a few left scattered around Edinburgh City Centre. It almost seems like these have been missed off a replacement programme somewhere as it seems strange to me to have these left in a major City location. Not that I am complaining though!

Jeffrey Street:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.95120 ... 384!8i8192

St Andrew Square:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.95356 ... bfov%3D100
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by scott125 »

Worcestershire Wolf wrote: Sat Dec 01, 2018 14:03 Still a few left scattered around Edinburgh City Centre. It almost seems like these have been missed off a replacement programme somewhere as it seems strange to me to have these left in a major City location. Not that I am complaining though!

Jeffrey Street:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.95120 ... 384!8i8192

St Andrew Square:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.95356 ... bfov%3D100
Noticed that other night , strange , very old columns .
Glasgow still has plenty too , though South Lanarkshire , try finding any SOX in South Lanarkshire
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Divine »

Ay Up everyone. First update in a long time, life has been busy. I have been out on the roads a lot since I last posted in early 2018 time and have had time to observe :lol:

Kirklees has upgraded some more lights, but there are still quite a few roads lit by SOX.

Calderdale have began churning out LEDs and SOX is slowly disappearing. Rural areas seem to be SOX.

Barnsley haven't done anything new, unlit SOX lamps or faulty ones still remain.

Derbyshire haven't seem to have done loads last time I checked, still a lot of SOX remaining in rural areas.

Seems SOX is getting rarer and rarer nowadays :shock:
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by ManomayLR »

Divine wrote: Tue Jul 30, 2019 21:01 Ay Up everyone. First update in a long time, life has been busy. I have been out on the roads a lot since I last posted in early 2018 time and have had time to observe :lol:

Kirklees has upgraded some more lights, but there are still quite a few roads lit by SOX.

Calderdale have began churning out LEDs and SOX is slowly disappearing. Rural areas seem to be SOX.

Barnsley haven't done anything new, unlit SOX lamps or faulty ones still remain.

Derbyshire haven't seem to have done loads last time I checked, still a lot of SOX remaining in rural areas.

Seems SOX is getting rarer and rarer nowadays :shock:
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Raggit_Rich »

I was walking through Crawley Down today (nearest next village to me).

I think this is a Thorn Gamma SOX lamp but please correct me. This village is a bastion of mercury/SOX lamps if anyone lives in Sussex.

Thorn Gamma 2.jpg
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Jonathan24 »

I suspect one of Northern Ireland's longest sections of surviving SOX on a mainline road is here, with a further stretch a long bit along the road.

There is still plenty of SOX on side roads and housing developments but even these are slowly getting replaced with LED.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by scott125 »

Jonathan24 wrote: Sat Aug 08, 2020 22:35 I suspect one of Northern Ireland's longest sections of surviving SOX on a mainline road is here, with a further stretch a long bit along the road.

There is still plenty of SOX on side roads and housing developments but even these are slowly getting replaced with LED.
How old you reckon them colums are ? And how long have they had Thorn Alpha 4s?

Still some Thorn Alphas in Glasgow.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Jonathan24 »

scott125 wrote: Sun Aug 09, 2020 11:27
Jonathan24 wrote: Sat Aug 08, 2020 22:35 I suspect one of Northern Ireland's longest sections of surviving SOX on a mainline road is here, with a further stretch a long bit along the road.

There is still plenty of SOX on side roads and housing developments but even these are slowly getting replaced with LED.
How old you reckon them colums are ? And how long have they had Thorn Alpha 4s?

Still some Thorn Alphas in Glasgow.
I'm not entirely sure but they have been there as long as I can remember, so at least 20 years I would think, possibly longer. Quite a few of the columns are not in quite bad shape and so wouldn't be surprised if this is reasonably close to the top of a replacement scheme.

On a separate note, if SOX lamps are now no longer being produced, where are local authorities getting replacements from? In Northern Ireland, it's still quite common for SOX lamps to be replaced - are these being scavenged from other lanterns which have been removed as part of a replacement scheme? If so, it might explain why it's also become more common for a failed lamp to be replaced, only for it to fail again in a matter of months.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Patrick Harper »

Jonathan24 wrote: Sun Aug 09, 2020 11:57
scott125 wrote: Sun Aug 09, 2020 11:27
Jonathan24 wrote: Sat Aug 08, 2020 22:35 I suspect one of Northern Ireland's longest sections of surviving SOX on a mainline road is here, with a further stretch a long bit along the road.

There is still plenty of SOX on side roads and housing developments but even these are slowly getting replaced with LED.
How old you reckon them colums are ? And how long have they had Thorn Alpha 4s?

Still some Thorn Alphas in Glasgow.
I'm not entirely sure but they have been there as long as I can remember, so at least 20 years I would think, possibly longer. Quite a few of the columns are not in quite bad shape and so wouldn't be surprised if this is reasonably close to the top of a replacement scheme.

On a separate note, if SOX lamps are now no longer being produced, where are local authorities getting replacements from? In Northern Ireland, it's still quite common for SOX lamps to be replaced - are these being scavenged from other lanterns which have been removed as part of a replacement scheme? If so, it might explain why it's also become more common for a failed lamp to be replaced, only for it to fail again in a matter of months.
They aren't; they're using up lamps produced before the shutdown. The few authorities that don't have a PFI or mass replacement scheme are replacing the lanterns when stocks run out. It's a bit like the end of SLI/H in the late-80s, but on a larger scale. It's possible that production facilities still exist somewhere in China/SEA, but they don't affect the UK operations since no one is importing lamps from outside of Europe.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Truvelo »

From various lighting forums it seems some authorities have stockpiles of lamps bought before production ended. There are also LED replacement bulbs which are a direct replacement but require the ballast and igniter to be bypassed. Seeing a SOX lantern in daylight doesn't mean it's running SOX. I've even seen SON in a SOX housing.

As far as China is concerned a quick Googling reveals a number of firms still producing them but I have no idea of the quality.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Jonathan24 »

These are definitely SOX replacement lamps as they have the distinctive orange colour. Just thought it was unusual that there are a number of SOX lamps near to me which now need to be replaced for the second time since the start of lockdown and this is something which seems to be happening with increasing regularity. Is is likely that there are so many SOX lamps which fail only a couple of months into what should be a 3-4 year lifecycle?
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by ManomayLR »

Jonathan24 wrote: Sun Aug 09, 2020 14:28 These are definitely SOX replacement lamps as they have the distinctive orange colour. Just thought it was unusual that there are a number of SOX lamps near to me which now need to be replaced for the second time since the start of lockdown and this is something which seems to be happening with increasing regularity. Is is likely that there are so many SOX lamps which fail only a couple of months into what should be a 3-4 year lifecycle?
Signify (previously Philips) were the last European distributor of LPS bulbs and now they’re supplying LED replacement bulbs which I presume can just be screwed in instead of an LPS bulb?
What’s a ballast?
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by c2R »

EpicChef wrote: Sun Aug 09, 2020 18:08 What’s a ballast?
Coils that regulate the current.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by ManomayLR »

c2R wrote: Sun Aug 09, 2020 20:38
EpicChef wrote: Sun Aug 09, 2020 18:08 What’s a ballast?
Coils that regulate the current.
So then why do they need to be bypassed when using LED replacement bulbs?
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by c2R »

EpicChef wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 00:25
c2R wrote: Sun Aug 09, 2020 20:38
EpicChef wrote: Sun Aug 09, 2020 18:08 What’s a ballast?
Coils that regulate the current.
So then why do they need to be bypassed when using LED replacement bulbs?
Causing gasses to illuminate is a different sort of technology to light emitting diodes. In the case of the ballast, it prevents too much current being drawn (i.e. all of the available) which could cause the light to overheat and explode. There would also need to be higher current provided to help the light start, which the ballast can regulate.

LED bulbs on the other hand typically come with built-in circuitry that performs AC>DC rectification using diodes and resistors.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by traffic-light-man »

Ballasts are usually found in any kind of illuminating gas lamp (actual gas flame lamps excluded :P ), including domestic fluorescent fittings in the home, for the reasons C2R has mentioned already.

I spotted some LED replacements in SOX fixtures recently on the A58 between Bury and Bolton. From what I could tell, they were sat exactly where the SOX lamp would normally be, so I assume using the existing lamp holder but bypassing the bypassing the SOX gubbins. They had a fairly decent light output, but nowhere near as good as a purpose-built fixture IMO.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by ManomayLR »

c2R wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 07:03
EpicChef wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 00:25
c2R wrote: Sun Aug 09, 2020 20:38

Coils that regulate the current.
So then why do they need to be bypassed when using LED replacement bulbs?
Causing gasses to illuminate is a different sort of technology to light emitting diodes. In the case of the ballast, it prevents too much current being drawn (i.e. all of the available) which could cause the light to overheat and explode. There would also need to be higher current provided to help the light start, which the ballast can regulate.

LED bulbs on the other hand typically come with built-in circuitry that performs AC>DC rectification using diodes and resistors.
In the case of LPS, I know that the neon gas evaporates first, which causes the characteristic red color during the warmup phase. The hot neon gas causes the solid sodium metal to evaporate, and it's the sodium vapor at a very low pressure that causes the bright yellow.

HPS lamps are much more compact, and their somewhat lighter color is because other gases like mercury are present as well as the sodium, to give a whiter look on a wider spectrum of colors.

Why did LPS become so frowned upon and why are councils so desperate to get rid of them? I certainly will miss LPS when we lose it for good.
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Re: SOX street lights, which areas still have them?

Post by Patrick Harper »

EpicChef wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 17:18
c2R wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 07:03
EpicChef wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 00:25
So then why do they need to be bypassed when using LED replacement bulbs?
Causing gasses to illuminate is a different sort of technology to light emitting diodes. In the case of the ballast, it prevents too much current being drawn (i.e. all of the available) which could cause the light to overheat and explode. There would also need to be higher current provided to help the light start, which the ballast can regulate.

LED bulbs on the other hand typically come with built-in circuitry that performs AC>DC rectification using diodes and resistors.
In the case of LPS, I know that the neon gas evaporates first, which causes the characteristic red color during the warmup phase. The hot neon gas causes the solid sodium metal to evaporate, and it's the sodium vapor at a very low pressure that causes the bright yellow.

HPS lamps are much more compact, and their somewhat lighter color is because other gases like mercury are present as well as the sodium, to give a whiter look on a wider spectrum of colors.

Why did LPS become so frowned upon and why are councils so desperate to get rid of them? I certainly will miss LPS when we lose it for good.
I think you know this already and you are just dwelling on the topic at this point.
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