Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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ManomayLR
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by ManomayLR »

Chris5156 wrote: Fri Sep 18, 2020 08:44
Chris Bertram wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 09:41This was mercury-lit, and the difference was quite startling - the blue-white mercury lighting was very much dimmer than the yellow-orange sodium version. So yes, low efficiency was the key reason for phasing it out, regardless of whether the colour rendition was better or worse.
When I was a kid, we would regularly visit Filey for weekends away or even holidays, and at that time North Yorkshire still had a lot of mercury lights on minor roads, so Filey was full of them. I remember them being almost green in colour, so the colour rendition was much better than LPS but the actual appearance of the street when lit by mercury was slightly strange. They were also not very bright. The overall effect was sort of dingy.
I frequently refer to our pothole-rich road under HPS light as "a scene out of a horror film", but if it had mercury, I presume it would make it a SET for a horror film!
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Truvelo
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Truvelo »

Green light is caused by polycarbonate bowls turning yellow by the radiation that mercury bulbs emit. All my mercury lanterns have yellow bowls like the one in my avatar apart from the glass one which isn't affected.
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BugsBunny
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by BugsBunny »

On a lovely morning walk I spotted this quite remarkable find. On Richmond Grove, next to Islington Town Hall stands about 7 columns, 6 of them sporting Thorn Gamma 6’s with a wide hat top. What’s remarkable about them is that all hit one of them are but mercury vapour bulbs, one of them has been switched with an LED corn bulb, of which you can spot in the first picture. There are also some more Gamma 6’s and an unidentified globe lantern on a footpath connecting to the rest of Richmond Grove which is public, they are operational and all run LED corn bulbs too. A pretty amazing find in itself to find operational mercury, but standing next to it is a forgotten SOX survivor! It appears to be the same set up as another survivor across town which I’ve posted on here before, IIRC, as well as SABRE and Lighting Gallery. Unlike that one which is operational though, the base of this column has been gutted which means it almost certainly doesn’t light at night. What’s incredible is that the Gamma 6’s must have been a replacement for a bunch of concrete columns in either yhe 1970s or 1980s, which means this lantern has been standing derelict for 40-50 years. It’s in brilliant condition despite this, and the bulb doesn’t appear blackened at all. The Gamma 6’s, bar the LED retrofits, all have shockingly poor light output despite clean bowls. The bulbs probably haven’t been changed for a good 20-40 years. All but one was dayburning, suggesting that it finally gave out. That one can be seen in the background of the first picture. The one in the forefront is actually on, it’s just so dim! Also in the background you can spot a replacement Industria 2015 which was also dayburning with a SON-T bulb. StreetView images suggest they’ve only been on for a few years as the 2008/2009 view shows them all off. I imagine these will last a while seeing as they’re slowly being corn LED retrofitted.

Apologies for poor quality. I had issues with being able to upload the pictures due to size constraints.
C804BBDB-70D5-4488-92A3-549F23C03FB5.jpeg
4FA8B4A7-8256-4314-9B1E-5DACF7B544DE.jpeg
A933E405-0FDE-4E4D-8A98-5CD0E4916104.jpeg
I was 12 when I made this account in 2013, therefor I am not liable for any strange or awkward comments made then :)
dansgas1000
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by dansgas1000 »

I drive past two street lights often which I believe look to be Mercury but I am not 100% sure. Can anyone identify these? Thanks

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3673309 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3671182 ... ?entry=ttu
Jonathan24
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Jonathan24 »

dansgas1000 wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2024 14:13 I drive past two street lights often which I believe look to be Mercury but I am not 100% sure. Can anyone identify these? Thanks

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3673309 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3671182 ... ?entry=ttu
They certainly look like mercury, with that distinctive greenish tint.

The Department for Infrastructure have published a list of every single street light in Northern Ireland, including location, height and type of lamp. I've only scanned down through some of the lists and very quickly at that, but it seems there are still a few mercury lights in NI, mainly those which are used to light up pedestrian crossings.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Truvelo »

Jonathan24 wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2024 21:04
dansgas1000 wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2024 14:13 I drive past two street lights often which I believe look to be Mercury but I am not 100% sure. Can anyone identify these? Thanks

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3673309 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3671182 ... ?entry=ttu
They certainly look like mercury, with that distinctive greenish tint.
They are Eleco HW918's which are exceedingly rare to see still in use these days.
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Jonathan24
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Jonathan24 »

Jonathan24 wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2024 21:04
dansgas1000 wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2024 14:13 I drive past two street lights often which I believe look to be Mercury but I am not 100% sure. Can anyone identify these? Thanks

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3673309 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3671182 ... ?entry=ttu
They certainly look like mercury, with that distinctive greenish tint.

The Department for Infrastructure have published a list of every single street light in Northern Ireland, including location, height and type of lamp. I've only scanned down through some of the lists and very quickly at that, but it seems there are still a few mercury lights in NI, mainly those which are used to light up pedestrian crossings.
Oops, forgot to add the link...

https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/pu ... location-2
dansgas1000
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by dansgas1000 »

Interesting, thanks for the replies. On further investigation, only one of the lamps is working now, and there are a total of 3-5 on that stretch of road, but good to see them still up. Even SOX is getting pretty rare around here now.
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