Ok, before I get started, I have to say, yes, I know I am probably going to have to climb up there and take the light down for further inspection.
But I am hoping to get some idea of what to be looking for when I get there. LOL
I have a high pressure sodium yard light. (Kinda yellow/orange light. No the normal blue.)
For the past week it has been acting strange. It comes on when it gets dark.
But it has been coming on, getting bright like it should, then turning real dim for a while. Then it will go back to being bright. Then back to dim, etc.
It never actually goes out, just gets really dim.
Any idea what is causing this ?
I believe the brand is “sentry”.
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.
Free Sancho ! (When you buy Gunner for 3 easy monthly payments of just $1.50)
Replies
P.S.
I did climb up there and unscrew the bulb, clean up the base, and replace it. Didn't make any difference.
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.Free Sancho ! (When you buy Gunner for 3 easy monthly payments of just $1.50)
Sounds like the ballast is going bad to me.
Could be.And that is actually what I am afraid of.If that is the case, I'll probably be in a situation of "might as well replace the whole thing"...
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.Free Sancho ! (When you buy Gunner for 3 easy monthly payments of just $1.50)
My understanding is that it's trying to start and either not fully succeeding or not believing that it succeeded. So it drops back into the mode where it runs the heater. I'm not sure where the "logic" for these units is located, whether in the bulb, the ballast, or in a separate unit (perhaps part of the electric eye).
Another possibility is that some glare from the lamp is getting back into the electric eye and causing it to switch off very briefly, after which it goes through the whole startup cycle again.
Yes.It seems that if it was the ballast or any other standard thing, it would either alwys be bright or always dim.Also.. it is not actually going off. Just goes real dim. Then after a while, will come back on bright again.I am experimenting tonight. I'll explain in my response to Tim...
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.Free Sancho ! (When you buy Gunner for 3 easy monthly payments of just $1.50)
Unscrew the sensor on top and replace it ot make sure its got good connection. I went through this last week.
Since there is no readily apparent logical pattern to when this thing is bright, and when it is dim... I am going with what is most accessible first.As I said, I removed the bulb, cleaned it up, and replaced it.Today, it was the sensor.This one cannot be unscrewed. Well, not unless I take the light down off the pole, and set it on the bench. The sensor is built in.I am experimenting tonight, though.At dusk, I got up there and cleaned off the sensor. Then, I put two layers of aluminum tape over the sensor.After a couple minutes, the light came on, and stayed on. It also got bright, as it should.I am going to leave the tape on for a couple days. Of course, that'll mean it will stay on for the whole time, but that is ok. I'll keep watching to see if it gets dim, or stays bright.If it stays bright, I'll know that light must be being reflected to the sensor somehow.But one thing bugs me about the sensor idea.If it was the sensor, it seems to me that the light would come on. Or it would turn off. I don't think it would come on, and stay that way for a while, then get dim... Then bright again. It would have turned off, instead of just going dim...DanH, is it possible the sensor is getting just a little light, and this "logic" is just sitting there trying to make up it's mind for a while, whether to turn off, or go back on again ??? Thereby staying just partially on ???
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.Free Sancho ! (When you buy Gunner for 3 easy monthly payments of just $1.50)
Its still in the sensor .
You can unscrew the new ones and change them. So you might have to change lights. Ive put three up lately too. I love um . They must have seen a need to make the sensor replaceable. I havent seen the replacement though.
I found it hard to believe the light is as cheap as it is ; 24.88 walmart , and farm supply store had them on sale for 19.99. Bulb included.
Im putting one on my shop next replacing the two spot lights on motion.
I think I could actually work under one of those things.
Tim Mooney
Edited 3/8/2005 7:43 am ET by TIMMOONEY52
Got mine at lowes.65 dollars when I bought it. They are now 85 dollars.The only other place I have seen one is the local lumberyard. It's over 100.00 there.I'm pretty sure that even the bulb is going to cost more than your whole light did. I haven't even seen the bulbs.The light is still bright, and has stayed that way. I'll leave it another couple days, I think. Then maybe put some flat black paint on the reflector thingy beside the sensor.From the sounds of the rest of the posts here, though, it really is starting to sound like the bulb.
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.Free Sancho ! (When you buy Gunner for 3 easy monthly payments of just $1.50)
My guess would be that the sensor is failing and that the failure mode is sensitive to heat. When it first gets dark and the lamp is cool, it turns on, more or less like it's supposed to, but maybe not as bright as it should. When it heats up, the heat aggravates whatever is wrong with the sensor, so it shuts down, not all the way down, but enough to let it cool off. One way to check this would be to check the cycle time when it gets dark at night and then again just before it starts getting light in the morning.
The reason it gets dim is because it's going through the warmup sequence. It will warm up for a fixed time regardless of whether or not it's just been on.
It might be the bulb itself. I just mention it because nobody else has.
But you seem to have some luck with taping over the sensor with aluminum foil. Any Air Force bases near you?
~Peter
Here's looking at Euclid.
ROFLOLNo air force bases.Must be them dang UFOs.I'm figuring the bulb alone if going to cost plenty. I hope it is just the sensor. If so, if I have to, I can leave the tape on it, and just turn it off and on with a wall switch.
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.Free Sancho ! (When you buy Gunner for 3 easy monthly payments of just $1.50)
It's those men in black helicopters. They're trying to adjust the light levels so they can get better pictures of your movements at night.
I know I'm paranoid.But am I paraniod Enough?
At this point, I almost wish the black helicopters would come around all the time. LOLFirst of all, with all the thefts... And then there's the other troubles.Last night, I was almost swarmed by a bunch of hoodlums.At least 8 yoots. All late teens, early 20's. They got themselves off the road and stuck out here because they were going about 4 times too fast for the road conditions here.Car went completely off the road. They were extremely lucky it didn't just keep going, over the cliff...They got it back on the road, amid enough cussing, fighting, and yelling, to equal the first couple of days of actions in Iraq.As they were about to start piling back in I said, "You wouldn't have that problem if you didn't drive so fast."BABOOM !Whacko yoots all over the place.I said it in conversational tones. They had to be at least 300 feet away. I didn't think they'd hear me, but didn't really care if they did...They started swarming toward my place. Yelling, cussing me and everyone who lives out here. Throwing things. Etc.I thought I was going to have to shoot someone.If they'd actually come up the driveway, I would have started shooting when they were about halfway up...8 kids that age, angry, mobbing... you shoot, because if they get close enough, and get started, they won't stop until yer dead.They are "customers" of the crackhead neighbors I have who cook meth and such up here....Yeah... I could do with two or three of these lights. LOL (And probably a handgun too.)Sometimes living alone, really sucks.
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.Free Sancho ! (When you buy Gunner for 3 easy monthly payments of just $1.50)
when it gets bright don't put yur sunglasses on 'cause it's bright... that's what makes the light look dim...
so with the glasses on it's dim and ya take the glasses off and it goes bright...
it's too bright so ya put the glasses back on... now it's dim again...
so ya take the glasses off and it's bright again...
too bright ya say so ya put the lasses back on...
geeeze...
just make up yur mind which ya want...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
I had this same problem with mine. Had many of the same thoughts as those posting to you. Guy at the electric supply house told me to try changing the bulb first. If that didn't work I could just return the bulb.
Replaced the bulb and it has worked fine ever since.
Good luck,
Shoe
And Unc, and Dan...Youse guys are convincing me that it is most likely the bulb.I have been up there, next to it when it comes on. Several times. It does go throgh the loud hum, warmup time, where it is dim for about a minute. Then comes on bright and works it's way to it's brightest.And when it is dim, it is humming loudly just like it does every time it comes on, and is still dim.Although at this point, it is still up in the air. Because leaving the tape on the sensor has caused the thing to stay bright, and not go dim, the whole time it has been on.All this talk of heat and such brings me back to another thought I had. I am wondering if I will find the thing full of spiders or something when I take it down...What with all the thefts here, I need to have this light working. If I end up having to replace it, I think I'll try to con Timmy up there, into getting me two or three for the price I pay for one. he he he It would even be worth the extra shipping.; )I think if I get up there and take it down, I am going to try to figure out a way to mount it so it is easier to get down from there. LOL
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.Free Sancho ! (When you buy Gunner for 3 easy monthly payments of just $1.50)
>> What with all the thefts here, I need to have this light working.Why? It didn't prevent any of the previous thefts. >> ... a way to mount it so it is easier to get down from there.You do that and they'll steal it.
ROFLMFAO !!!Once again, you show impeccable logic.; )The light will obviously not stop the thefts. I never said it would.But it does give me the advantage of being able to see the thief, if I ever have occassion to be out there when they are here.Plus, I do think that without the light, they would already have stolen a lot more than they have. The light at least makes them uneasy with the thought they might be seen.It will also provide light for cameras if I ever get some of those.Etc.And yer right, if I make it too easy, they are liable to steal that too !! LOL
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.
If the lights off, they cant see your stuff, and they wont think you have anything worth protecting with a blinding bright light. Get some big black dogs and leave them roam your black yard and nobody will come around.
Too bad I can't walk in my yard for another 5 months...
Well, if it is the bulb, I suppose I'll find out in a few days when it finally burns out. LOLStill, like I said, it has stayed on, without getting dim, since I covered the sensor. Seems if it was just the bulb, it would have gone on cycling...I've locked the stuff up. To get to it, they have to be under the light...Got one big black dog. I swear she helps them carry stuff away...I thought they let you out already...
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.
Still, like I said, it has stayed on, without getting dim, since I covered the sensor.
I misunderstood the situation. If covering the sensor causes the light to stay on, then the bulb probably is not the problem, (but just might be). I think the light from the bulb is reflecting off the rear view mirror of your car. Back it up a few feet, you'll be good to go. If not, check for a crack in the sensor that lets light in to the photocell. I probably would have shot the flippin flashing light off the pole by now with a 12 gauge.
Those bulbs do get real flakey when they get old, so I'd probably try a new one anyway.
I thought they let you out already...
I'm on house arrest now...
Well get your maid to wear the ankle bracelet.There is a sort of reflector above the light sensor. It partiall blocks light from directly above, and at the same time, reflects light from the direction that you choose.I will either completely remove that reflector, or I will paint it flat black. Probably go with the paint first. Take me a couple minutes to do that.But I am going to keep an eye on it for one more night, at least, and see if there is any change.Matter of fact... Maybe I will go out there when it is good and dark, and take the aluminum tape off, and see what happens...
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.
Say, I just got a catalog yesterday from a place called e-conolight.com. I have no experience with them so I don't know if they're good or bad, but they sell various kinds of exterior light fixtures for pretty low prices. For instance, they sell a regular old yard light, a 175 watt mercury vapor lamp with a photocell, complete for $34.90. The web address is http://www.e-conolight.com/Product/EFamily.asp.
Thank you, Stuart.In my experience, although that mercury vapor lamp may be cheap to buy, it costs a lot more to run than my high pressure sodium. (I had a mercury vapor first.)And that mercury vapor is the only dusk-to-dawn photocell light they have.I guess I should do a google on the high pressure sodium...: )
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.
Wally world has MV yard lights for $9.00 here, and they arent hardly worth that much. I'd stick with sodium. By the way, the bulb is shot, happens all the time. They dont burn out, the erode to the point that they cannot maintain an arc.
i think this says it all
I need a tinfoil hat because I am asking for information about a yard light ???
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.
How's about anonomously tipping off the poleleece about the meth lab? They may enjoy picking off your "guests."
Already did.Does no good. They won't even come out and look.Seriously.And they as much as said so.Best bet I have is to catch them cooking, and call the fire dept. They WILL respond, and when they do, the police have to follow.
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.
luka i thought you might put them to use somewhere else
sheesh touchy people