Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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scott125
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by scott125 »

Norfolktolancashire wrote: Tue Jan 08, 2019 22:06 After watching the latest Billy Connolly programme, I noticed Glasgow has some old lights left.

Here's two..

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.87010 ... 384!8i8192
Glasgow has loads of older lighting stock. Some of which is 60 years old. Slowly they are replacing SOX on the side streets.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Worcestershire Wolf »

Although not in use anymore, these ones in Littlehampton have been left in place alongside their replacements:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.81424 ... 312!8i6656
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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Worcestershire Wolf wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 21:15 Although not in use anymore, these ones in Littlehampton have been left in place alongside their replacements:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.81424 ... 312!8i6656
This Revo Prefect in a Welsh village has survived for years after being replaced. Maybe it was too much effort removing it from the side of the house.

https://goo.gl/maps/PZaS7cLYWerdFWeS8
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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Looks like that TV aerial is using the bracket for support.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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Just out of interest this is how mercury appears when photographed indoors. In reality the light is 4200k pure white but the yellowed bowl and the camera makes it appear green. I have since changed the bulb to a 5000k 14w LED and the light output is maybe a touch lower but the lantern no longer burns your hand when touching it.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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Truvelo wrote: Fri Sep 04, 2020 21:43 Just out of interest this is how mercury appears when photographed indoors. In reality the light is 4200k pure white but the yellowed bowl and the camera makes it appear green. I have since changed the bulb to a 5000k 14w LED and the light output is maybe a touch lower but the lantern no longer burns your hand when touching it.
I'm too young for mercury, but what did it look like when it was commonplace? Was it ever used on motorways?
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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It gives off a cold pure white light. It's not like LED streetlamps which are slightly warmer. This video shows what I feel is an accurate rendition.

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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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Truvelo wrote: Mon Sep 14, 2020 10:16 It gives off a cold pure white light. It's not like LED streetlamps which are slightly warmer.
Why did they change to low pressure sodium if mercury lighting had good color rendition?
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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EpicChef wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 20:54
Truvelo wrote: Mon Sep 14, 2020 10:16 It gives off a cold pure white light. It's not like LED streetlamps which are slightly warmer.
Why did they change to low pressure sodium if mercury lighting had good color rendition?
Mercury isn't terribly good for you.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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Big L wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 22:12
EpicChef wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 20:54
Truvelo wrote: Mon Sep 14, 2020 10:16 It gives off a cold pure white light. It's not like LED streetlamps which are slightly warmer.
Why did they change to low pressure sodium if mercury lighting had good color rendition?
Mercury isn't terribly good for you.
But if it’s contained in a bulb then how can it be bad? Is it just inefficient?
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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EpicChef wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 23:06
Big L wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 22:12
EpicChef wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 20:54 Why did they change to low pressure sodium if mercury lighting had good color rendition?
Mercury isn't terribly good for you.
But if it’s contained in a bulb then how can it be bad? Is it just inefficient?
My memory goes back to journeys between our house in Sedgley and my grandparents' house in Penn Fields. We would head out along the A459 Wolverhampton Road, which was all sodium-lit, until we reached the Fighting Cocks junction with A4039 (still called that, though the pub has now gone and an Aldi stands in its place), where we turned left into Goldthorn Hill. This 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.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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EpicChef wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 23:06
Big L wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 22:12
EpicChef wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 20:54
Why did they change to low pressure sodium if mercury lighting had good color rendition?
Mercury isn't terribly good for you.
But if it’s contained in a bulb then how can it be bad? Is it just inefficient?
Because when the glass gets broken at the end of its life....
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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Chris Bertram wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 09:41
EpicChef wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 23:06
Big L wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 22:12
Mercury isn't terribly good for you.
But if it’s contained in a bulb then how can it be bad? Is it just inefficient?
My memory goes back to journeys between our house in Sedgley and my grandparents' house in Penn Fields. We would head out along the A459 Wolverhampton Road, which was all sodium-lit, until we reached the Fighting Cocks junction with A4039 (still called that, though the pub has now gone and an Aldi stands in its place), where we turned left into Goldthorn Hill. This 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.
By yellow-orange do you mean the bright yellow of LPS, or was this late enough to be HPS?
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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EpicChef wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 15:58
Chris Bertram wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 09:41
EpicChef wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 23:06 But if it’s contained in a bulb then how can it be bad? Is it just inefficient?
My memory goes back to journeys between our house in Sedgley and my grandparents' house in Penn Fields. We would head out along the A459 Wolverhampton Road, which was all sodium-lit, until we reached the Fighting Cocks junction with A4039 (still called that, though the pub has now gone and an Aldi stands in its place), where we turned left into Goldthorn Hill. This 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.
By yellow-orange do you mean the bright yellow of LPS, or was this late enough to be HPS?
Ah no, this was ages ago, so LPS.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

Post by Brenley Corner »

EpicChef wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 23:06
But if it’s contained in a bulb then how can it be bad? Is it just inefficient?
Have you never accidentally dropped or broken a bulb when changing it? Mercury vapour is potentially toxic.

That's why safer alternatives are always better to use .

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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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Chris Bertram wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 09:41
EpicChef wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 23:06
Big L wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2020 22:12
Mercury isn't terribly good for you.
But if it’s contained in a bulb then how can it be bad? Is it just inefficient?
My memory goes back to journeys between our house in Sedgley and my grandparents' house in Penn Fields. We would head out along the A459 Wolverhampton Road, which was all sodium-lit, until we reached the Fighting Cocks junction with A4039 (still called that, though the pub has now gone and an Aldi stands in its place), where we turned left into Goldthorn Hill. This 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.
Yes, I remember the contrast between mercury and orange sodium when I was living in Stratford-upon-Avon about 20 years ago. At that time on the housing estate where I was living the main access roads in and out were sodium and you could quite clearly see to walk around at night. As soon as you turned off into a side road into the mercury lit areas though the visibility was awful and you really could not see very well, it was all very dim and gloomy.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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Does this look like Mercury? (August 2014, LED replacements seen alongside)
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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EpicChef wrote: Thu Sep 17, 2020 18:04 Does this look like Mercury? (August 2014, LED replacements seen alongside)
Those are SON. Round lanterns like that on ring roads were never mercury. The original lanterns when that was built were SOX https://www.flickr.com/photos/71592768@ ... otostream/
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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Truvelo wrote: Thu Sep 17, 2020 20:17
EpicChef wrote: Thu Sep 17, 2020 18:04 Does this look like Mercury? (August 2014, LED replacements seen alongside)
Those are SON. Round lanterns like that on ring roads were never mercury. The original lanterns when that was built were SOX https://www.flickr.com/photos/71592768@ ... otostream/
Don't know why but round lanterns make me think mercury, likely because I've never seen a mercury light in real life, and because the shape of the lantern is dissimilar to most modern HPS-based lights that I've seen. I think that on many major roads, LPS was replaced with HPS as soon as such a replacement was economically viable. HPS is slowly facing the same fate with the advent of LED - and just as I miss LPS after so many years, I will certainly miss HPS too.
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Re: Is there any Mercury lighting left???

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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.
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