photocell light control

[karter]

Hi guys , hope you can help. A friend with a car park illuminated with a 250W sodium lamp switched by a dusk till dawn Zodion photocell has been having problems. About six months ago the lamp blew so he fitted a replcement, lamp still did not work so he replaced the photocell,like for like,it worked for a time and then stayed on permanently.He changed the photocell again and the same thing happended.when I saw him today the lamp was on,but he tells me it now stops on all day and goes out when it gets dark.Do you think it may be 2 faulty photocells or some thing else at fault.I am not a sparks but have a very basic understanding so I isolated the power and had alook . Turned and lifted the photocell head and looked at connections which seemed OK.Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated . Thanks

 

[Lectrician]

Not a time clock in the circuit aswell is there? Hiding in cupboard.

Is it just one flood?

 

[wesj]

,lectrician No timer in the circuit and only 1 flood wired from MCB to photocell and then to flood.Thanks for your quick involvment.

 

[Paper Spark]

Did the replacement lamp have an in-built ignitor?
It's possible that the light fitting doesn't have an ignitor, it's required to provide a high startup voltage for the lamp to strike.

Look for the letter I in a triangle somewhere on the lamp body, if there's none there then it's the wrong lamp.

 

[karter]

Thanks Paper spark ,will have to check that but if no starter will that mess up photocell like described?

 

[Spark123]

I wouldn't have thought so, if it is the type of photocell I am thinking of they are 3 wire, L, N, Ls, just push into the base and rotate through a few degrees to lock. Not much you can do with them other than make sure they are suitably rated for discharge lighting and making sure they are pointing in the right direction, though I doubt the direction would have this effect.

 

[Lectrician]

Lights not in view of the photocell is it?

Odd why it is on during the day.

 

[dannyboi2003]

definitely two faulty cells, the first one probably wasn't suitably rated for the SON floodlight and it failed (they are designed to fail in the "on" position so streets are not left dark at night) and the behavior of the second again sounds like its faulty. Its not going to be a fault with the gear in the SON floodlight as it wouldn't fire up at all if there was.

Best thing to do is get a known working cell thats rated for the flood light, Zodion cells are normally rated at 1000w which even when de-rated for a sodium light is more than within the cells limit. The best cell i can recommend if your able to get one is a Royce Thompson Oasis 1000, i've got a few myself and they are very accurate and reliable.

All the best
Dan

 

[securespark]

Do make sure it's oriented correctly.

 

[Taylortwocities]

You mean pointing towards the Chinese takeaway?

 

[streetlighter]

Zodion cells are cheap crap and will either dayburn or come on when energized and never switch on when covered over, Maybe ive just had a bad experience with them or used a bad batch. I always recommend Royce Thompson photocells as they are good quality units. The type of cell that plugs in is called a NEMA cell.