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Background
LEDs require proper thermal management in order to get the life you expect.
Lighting in its past forms involved hot bulbs that heat up to hundreds of degrees, so using original fixtures for LEDs requires new thought.
It's not easy to place a 130 Watt heater inside a cubic foot box and cool that heater to below 80° Celsius. But that is precisely what's required in order to get back from the LED all that you paid for.
Why Retrofit?
Designers reached a thermal ceiling with convection cooling inside a Cobrahead housing. Rather than find a thermal solution, they moved away from retrofitting. LED streetlights now typically have a dedicated heat exchanger as the exterior
housing. This makes sense technically, but expense for the design and the new housing, and disposing of the old, is passed along to the end user. What is the best environmental choice?
A retrofit program addresses at least several issues: 1) it retains a familiar appearance; 2) it saves the cost of a new LED streetlight housing; and 3) by using the Cobrahead housing,
there is no storage or disposal issue. Die-cast Cobrahead housings are proven and may last for decades.
Suppliers of complete new LED streetlights might argue that old Cobraheads are cheap; there's little to save.
However, until they price their housing for that same amount, you will save hundreds of dollars per light when acquiring only the LED components.
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Technology
LED luminaires need all the lumens they can get, and that requires cooling. The proprietary thermal management system used in this Cobrahead retrofit product allows maximum luminous output and coolest LED operation.
This technique is not simply a convection heater sealed inside the enclosure. Instead, in addition to heat dissipation at the bottom side, it makes a heat exchanger from the entire die-cast outer surface.
This cooling method allows the 100+ Watts necessary to really replace 200 watt or higher HPS streetlights, and allow the LEDs to last more than 50,000 hours.
Installation
The LED system is field installed by one man, easily performed from a bucket or lift truck. Installation may typically require 15-minutes or less.
Removal of the existing HID components (bulb, reflector & ballast) is required, and that time depends upon condition of those components. The
existing photocell may be re-used if desired.
Getting Started
First, we get an accounting of your Cobraheads: brand, wattage and quantities.
This accounting permits more universal components and the most economical retrofitting. We may need a Cobrahead sample if a model isn't already on our list.
Next, we write the proposal, select a retrofit Contractor, and proceed with your program.
Please contact me for more information.
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