High work today on the farm!!!

I have 9 pole/night lights on the farms. I have be lax in keeping them all working. So when I started this morning after church I had 5 that did not work. Two are easy. I could reach them with the tractor loader bucket. Also all of my BOYS are chickens about heights. So the old man was the one in the bucket working on the lights. LOL. The tallest one is not the hardest one to do. One is on the side of the 90 foot silo. It is about sixty feet off the ground. I just use a climbing harness and climb the hoop rods on the silo. The wife freaks when I do that. LOL I had to climb all the way to the top of the 90 ft one this summer when the unloader cable broke and let the cable out of the pulley on the side.

The two that I hate the most are about fifty feet up on the ends of the old hay barn.
To do these I have to put the forty foot extension ladder in the bucket of the loader tractor so it is tall enough. So if any of you are OSHA inspectors don't bother to come out I am an unpaid labor source on the farm. LOL

So I put new bulbs and photo sensors on them all. Looks funny around the barn yard tonight. I am not used to being able to see everything in the dark. LOL. It will make the winter evening feedings much easier. Plus I have the cattle yard full for the first time in several years so I like being able to see well after dark. If any thing gets out it is easier to see what the dogs are raising cane about.

Was surprised that none of the local places kept the complete Mercury vapor light fixtures any more. They had a 65 watt fluorescent ones and metal halide 100 watt ones. The old 150 watt Mercury Vapor complete lights where not kept by anyone. Have any of you guys used the other two options: 65 watt fluorescent or the 100 watt metal halide ones???

I did find the Mercury vapor ones on Amazon for $90 each. That is about double what they where just a few years ago.

So the next time I need to work on the night lights any of you guys want to come and help????

Im not afraid of heights,but I find that working off a ladder hurts my old back now,didnt used to,but it does now!

My ploe light is owned by MidAmerican Energy. It is on their side of the meter and they 100% maintain it. The bulb went out one night and they were here the next day to fix it. It costs me $12 a month for 2 years then $2 a month from there on out. A real good deal for me! Just something to think about. The "good" pole lights are over $200 bucks new.

(quoted from post at 03:29:39 10/22/12) My pole light is owned by MidAmerican Energy. It is on their side of the meter and they 100% maintain it. The bulb went out one night and they were here the next day to fix it. It costs me $12 a month for 2 years then $2 a month from there on out. A real good deal for me! Just something to think about. The "good" pole lights are over $200 bucks new.

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I am on Aliant Energy. They are sky high on lights. Plus that utility company ones are usually High Pressure Sodium light. They give off a lot of light but it is a orange spectrum. I don't like it as you can't tell colors under them.

The mercury vapor light I have last a good long time. Usually 3-4 years. The whole fixture cost around $45 dollars a few years ago.

The biggest problem with my pole light is that they are all on buildings or silos. The power company will not put them there. Plus all of mine are on switches. If I empty a lot or something I can just shut that one off to save electric.

I didn't used to be afraid of heights at all but now at 64 I don't like it too much anymore.

I have a Mercury vapor on one end of the barn and a 300 watt light bulb on the other end. It takes a very long ext, ladder in the back of a pickup to reach them. I hate to think of replacing them at my age. Have two other neighbors within a quarter mile and none of us have them all night yardlights. Love it.

Personally I like metal halide. Can you cut down on the number of fixtures and go with a bigger fixture? I have a 400 watt MH that has been up since 1994 and the bulb has been replaced 1 time.

I believe it was about 2 years ago they quit making mercury vapor b-pack(that's what we call them) fixtures. What we've been replacing them with is 150watt metal halide ones. They have been pretty good so far. The new pulse-start ones are pretty slick, as they light a lot faster than what you are used to. We've tried different brands, but the cheaper ones from like Home Depot don't seem to last.

I hope that ladder is secured to the bucket, A belligerant Country used to have these pilots in WW11. I suppose if you had a competent loader driver he could catch you in the bucket before you hit the ground.
Insurance eases the burden on those remaining.

I don't have as big of an area and don't need them 60 ft in the air but I had 500 watt halogen floodlights. 1 lit up the frt of the barn/stall/driveway area like daylight (motion sensor first, but cheap lights = cheap sensors that weren't real accurate when trying to set them above dog heighth so went to a switch).. and one took care of the entire back of barn and stall area.
Electric is expensive and one quit, so switched the frt one to the same type of light just bigger with a 36 watt florescent bulb. Still lights up (maybe even better) and without the glare of staring into a headlight.
Then someone on here was talking about LED floodlights, I bough 5 ea 10 watt ones and Look Out Luther!!! Them things really light things up too. You can get them in 30, 50, and 70 watt on Amazon. 50 watt says it equals a 500 watt halogen and runs on an input of 100-240 volts.

http://www.amazon.com/Waterpoof-Sec...86460&sr=8-2&keywords=led+floodlights

Maybe it's time to slip into a little more modern times????? Besides, lighting things up better will help improve your mood and you won't be so crabby and argumentive :roll:

That's a pretty risky operation for an old guy. Maybe you should shop around for a used bucket truck with the appropriate reach. Otherwise, 1 fall could end it all.

Advise from a guy that fell sideways off a ladder, broke his wrist in 2 places and triggered latent leukemia.

And after you get a bucket truck, DON'T lend it to anyone. Think liability, think liability, think liability!

I can"t imagine all the postings about being afraid of height. Height won"t hurt you - gravity, on the other hand, scares the heck out of me! That"s what causes all the accidents!

I thought we were the only ones to put a 40ft ladder in the bucket of the loader. Doing tree work in town was one of the things we did that finally caused Dad to quit farming.
Ron

JDSeller, the MERCURY vapor lights are going away.....because of the MERCURY portion of their name....

Metal Halide is a fine choice for lighting. Neighboor has one of those outside fluorescents....seems ok. I like the Metal Halide fixtures myself. You will get a long life span from those.

I haven't seen them yet, but the word on the street is that there are LED security lights that are supposed to be a replacement for the mercury vapor lights. From what I have heard they are the same price too, with no bulbs to go bad.

I am converting to the florescent. 65W vs 175 vs 5 lights on at dusk and off at dawn every day adds up. I don't miss the 110 W in light output.

Mark

Heights never bothered me until I went up in a boom truck a few years ago. My stomach didn't feel so good. I even warned the people below me to stand aside in case I upchucked. That was the first day. Second day was a breeze. I won't do the ladder on a pole thing anymore. Too many inner ear dizzy spells in the past few years and I just don't feel secure up there anymore. Jim

Mercury vapors are going away. Get the same amount of light from the 100 watt metal halide. Its a whiter light vs the bluish light of mercury vapor. I would replace all your mercury vapor lights with metal halide when the go out. The savings on electricity would pay for them in under 2 years. The flourescents to me seem to have that bluish tint to them like MV. Light output is probably slighlty less than the MH.

I hate climbing a ladder for pole lights. I use a belt and climbing gaffs to climb the pole. Sounds like that wouldn't work for your lights though.

When my mercury lights gave up I put in 65 watt fluorescents. They light pretty good, they are a little dimmer than the 175W mercury that I replaced. It is not dark by any means. Plus for almost 1/3 the energy usage, I can live with it.

My exerience so far is they only last around 2 years. Hoping for direct replacement LEDs so I dont have to change out the fixtures.

Rick

Saw an advertisement in the USAirays magazine last summer for OEO Energy Solutions. They have metal halide replacement bulbs that use 50% less energy. Says a 120W replaces a 250W metal halide and a 180W replaces a 400W metal halide.
800/553-2112 or www.oeo.com

Know nothing about them but I have 16 400W metal halide's in my riding arena, might try these when the next bulb burns out.

Pfft. Just cobble together a ladder. Also look into <a href = "http://www.myledlightingguide.com/">LED lights</a>. Expensive but said to last a long time