POST LIGHTS – any ideas for a better job
POST LIGHTS – any ideas for a better job?
Post lights are on my plate this week. We have a lighting walk with an HOA board coming up and I am looking for a better way to install and maintain these, if there is one. Der Bear needs some answers. Head for Breaktime.
This HOA has the usual 3″ thin wall steel tubes set directly in concrete. The splices are done inside the tube. They rust out at the base, by way of the concrete and over they go.
Is there a better material for the post? P80 PVC?
(I suggested actual HDG pipe, but given cost, I doubt it will get used.)
Better way to isolate the tube from the concrete – without making it possible for the brats to pull them out of the mounting?
Sleeve them in PVC or set PVC sleeves and then grout the post in?. That way you save the concrete base for reuse. We did a number of cell site fences that way.
The ToolBear
“Never met a man who couldn’t teach me something.” Anon.
Replies
smallish (18' high) streetlights were installed about a month ago in a neighborhood I'm doing. The poles are fiberglass. They are not set in concrete, but rather just buried ~4'. Done by a sub of the power company - I guess they know what they are doing :-) I'm sure it is to power company specs. Generally speaking, the power company doesn't play around...
I've spec'd out direct bury fiberglass light poles on quite a few streetlighting projects and they seem to be working out well. They do tend to be a little more flexible, so big ones can sway in the breeze, but they're not going to rust out. A couple popular brand names are Whatley and Shakespeare.
Matt and all -
Thanks for the ideas. I will shoot a copy to the HOA prez.
The fiberglass pole sounds interesting. I will have to get off to that site and see what they have. Of course, we are up against Installed User Base here - 186 units.
Mounting on a stub - like that. What material did they use for the pole and the stub?
Is it BratProof? Vandalism is now a way of life. Too little spanking of these kids. The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.
Recently did a 20 lamp project, and the homeowner liked this setup very much. Plant the PVC with a sweep in the form, pour concrete, run wire, slip the poles over.
That certainly has the look of what I see at a lot of these projects. I will quess - 3" tubes (steel or alum.) for posts? Thanks for the pix. Saved them to the project file.
What kind of PVC is that - P80? Assume the lamp post slides over it and I think I see a box mounted at the base of each light in the second pix.
How stiff is the post over the stub-up?
Do your splices up inside the poles? Seen them done that way and with external boxes (which are subject to galvanic corrosion) Any access ports on the poles? The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.
check out NorthEastLantern.com...the posts themselves do not get directly buried, rather are bored out at the bottom and slip over a section of pvc pipe which is buried. Thinking about using them here at the house. Pretty neat installation.
Why not concrete posts?