Old USA street lighting found in The Netherlands

[marcel]

Very rare in the Netherlands these fixtures. American street lighting fixtures have never been sold in The Netherlands. Is a General Electric M250r2.
Originally an HPS lamp belongs here, but adapted here for 230 Volt with a mercury lamp. Can these fixtures still be found in the states, or are they all LED lighting?

[Electronic M]

These are everywhere in the USA (literally rode past one in the passenger seat as I type this on my phone), though they are starting to be replaced by LED fixtures.

I imagine these are going to become scarce in my lifetime.

[MadMan]

Similar street lamps are still everywhere in the US. But mercury street lighting is pretty rare. HPS is much more common. Hence why a nighttime satellite photo of any city is almost always orange. LEDs are displacing a lot of HPS though.

Though I'm not 100% sure, the suburb my shop is in has very unique and decorative street lamps and their light is very white, definitely not HPS. Probably mercury/rectified mercury. Though some of the not-decorative lights are induction fluorescent.

[Telecolor 3007]

Mister Marcel, if you will visit this topic (thread) again, do you have any ideea what origins where this street lights? https://romaniadacia.files.wordpress...ania.jpg?w=762
https://bucuresticitynews.ro/wp-cont...45142187_n.jpg

This model of lamp, in different versions was used in some Europeanen countries: http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/oude%...s%20tb200.html
In Romania, the glass was fixed on the "plate" with clams found near the edge of the "plate".

[marcel]

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007

Mister Marcel, if you will visit this topic (thread) again, do you have any ideea what origins where this street lights? https://romaniadacia.files.wordpress...ania.jpg?w=762
https://bucuresticitynews.ro/wp-cont...45142187_n.jpg

This model of lamp, in different versions was used in some Europeanen countries: http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/oude%...s%20tb200.html
In Romania, the glass was fixed on the "plate" with clams found near the edge of the "plate".

The model that was then used in Eastern Europe, was made in the GDR, then East Germany. Mayby also be used in Romania.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/48610601@N07/8569609543
I don't know the others in the photos, maybe also something from Eastern Europe or then Soviet Union.
Here in the Netherlands no fixtures that are on the other side of the wall, there was no trade between west and east at that time.

[marcel]

Originally Posted by MadMan

Similar street lamps are still everywhere in the US. But mercury street lighting is pretty rare. HPS is much more common. Hence why a nighttime satellite photo of any city is almost always orange. LEDs are displacing a lot of HPS though.

Though I'm not 100% sure, the suburb my shop is in has very unique and decorative street lamps and their light is very white, definitely not HPS. Probably mercury/rectified mercury. Though some of the not-decorative lights are induction fluorescent.

Until the 1980s, most mercury lamps were also used here, from the 1980s to HPS. Now almost everything LEDs in the Netherlands. Many LPS lamps were also used here, in the U.S.A. few. I've seen this one on pictures from California. These LPS lamps start with red light and after 10 minutes bright yellow. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiHCl1vGij8 Video plays faster. Perhaps there are more states that have used LPS lamps, but haven't seen them in old movies or photos.
Frequently used LPS fixtures in the Netherlands.
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/oude%...80%20Watt.html
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/oude%...55%20Watt.html
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/oude%...triumlamp.html
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/oude%...20vintage.html

In the Netherlands, these fixtures were most commonly used in the early years. fluorescent tubes and mercury vapor.
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/oude%...armaturen.html
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/oude%...turen%202.html
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/oude%...turen%203.html
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/oude%...turen%204.html
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/oude%...turen%205.html
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/oude%...turen%206.html

[Telecolor 3007]

Originally Posted by marcel

The model that was then used in Eastern Europe, was made in the GDR, then East Germany. Mayby also be used in Romania.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/48610601@N07/8569609543
I don't know the others in the photos, maybe also something from Eastern Europe or then Soviet Union.
Here in the Netherlands no fixtures that are on the other side of the wall, there was no trade between west and east at that time.

The 1st link shows Wermarcht soldiers, so it was before G.D.R.
Yes, in 1955 no trade, but later yes. The "Philips" H.R.F. was imported in Romania 1st time around 1960 and they started to manufacture it here. There are some still extisting, both Dutch Made and Romanian Made

[nasadowsk]

Low Pressure Sodium is still seen out here. Not much, but it’s out there

[Jeffhs]

These photos may be the last we will ever see of mercury-vapor or incandescent street lights, since almost all new ones seen today use LEDs. The street lights outside my apartment (I live on the main street of a small village, so I see the streetlights come on every evening at roughly dusk) are probably LEDs, having replaced the old mercury-vapor lights some years ago. One advantage the LED streetlights have over the MV and certainly the incandescent lights is they do not wear out nearly as often as MVs/incandescents. It wouldn't have surprised me if the latter (incandescent) bulbs had to be replaced every few years or so, as these bulbs would stay on from dusk until dawn seven days a week. I remember seeing a few old incandescent streetlights burn out with a bright flash as soon as they were switched on; needless to say, these bulbs were probably replaced with LED bulbs as soon as possible.

[Telecolor 3007]

Man, in U.S.A. electricity must be really cheap if you can afford to use incadescent light bulbs for street lighting.

[old_tv_nut]

Jeff is confused. Incandescent street lights were phased out in favor of mercury vapor in the early 1950s. (Low pressure sodium and fluorescent were used in relatively few places.) Mercury vapor was later replaced by high pressure sodium.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

Jeff is confused. Incandescent street lights were phased out in favor of mercury vapor in the early 1950s. (Low pressure sodium and fluorescent were used in relatively few places.) Mercury vapor was later replaced by high pressure sodium.

I thought incandescent street lights were replaced by LEDs and no other kind, once the mercury-vapor and sodium bulbs were phased out for good unless, as you said, I have things mixed up. This would make sense to me, since LED streetlights must have been the next logical step up from incandescent bulbs. This was probably done when the incandescent bulbs eventually burned out; as I said in my last post, I have seen these bulbs burn out with a bright white flash when they were switched on (I remember seeing, on the street in front of my former home in a Cleveland suburb, at least one such bulb burn out with an unmistakable flash as soon as the bulb was switched on, leaving that part of the street dark, but I have never yet seen more than one streetlight burn out at the same time; I've lived where I live now for over 20 years, which may well be the normal life span for LP [low-pressure] sodium and mercury-vapor streetlight bulbs, even bulbs which are left on literally from dusk to dawn).

[MIPS]

Incandescent was rapidly phased out in streetlights as soon as mercury vapor, fluorescent and low pressure sodium became viable (around the 50's and 60's) as all three consumed considerably less power per luminous watt and lasted far longer than an incandescent bulb. Once High pressure sodium and metal halide lamps were introduced in the 70's fluorescent and a lot of mercury vapor was converted as both became the least efficient street lighting technologies. By the 80's Fluorescent, MV, LPS, HPS and HID were the primary exterior and street lighting technologies and Incandescent was long out of use for street lights.
The LED was technologically impossible to make in white until the invention of the blue LED in the 90's.
The white LED wasn't commercially viable until the late 2000's. LED's powerful enough and long lasting enough to survive in a street light didn't appear in volume until the 2010's, around which time almost everywhere had phased out fluorescent and mercury vapor had been banned in new installations along with the sale of replacement bulbs. Low pressure sodium went End of Life gracefully when Philips stopped manufacturing new bulbs and metal halide has been gradually replaced with LED.

[Electronic M]

LEDs still aren't the best for outdoor applications. In my neck of the woods route 18 past the Brookfield WI Von Maur (I think it's only around 3-4 years old) there's a section of LED street lighting it was originally all an orangie color temperature LED, but better than half have drifted color...Most have gone whiteish, but several have gone primary dark blue.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

LEDs still aren't the best for outdoor applications. In my neck of the woods route 18 past the Brookfield WI Von Maur (I think it's only around 3-4 years old) there's a section of LED street lighting it was originally all an orangie color temperature LED, but better than half have drifted color...Most have gone whiteish, but several have gone primary dark blue.

Orange? I have yet to see any LED (or other type) street light turn orange, even if the bulb is quite old. The streetlights in my area are on from dusk to dawn, seven days a week, so I would have expected to see at least one of those bulbs to be changing color (with some of them having failed) by now. I live on the main street of a village in northern Ohio, have been here 21 years, but I have yet to see any of the street lights change color. In fact, until I read the posts in this thread, I did not think it was possible for street lights to literally change color, unless there is something about LED or sodium street lights which would cause this once the bulbs are a certain age. I realize these bulbs last only X number of years; however, I wonder if the color change as the bulb ages is actually a sign that the bulb is about to burn out. If so, it would make perfect sense to me that these bulbs would be on their last legs after 10-20 years and would noticeably change color shortly before failing. The bulbs in your area must be slightly different if they turn dark blue, while most others are bright white.