Better lighting

Brent does the honors using
Star Rental's 45-foot lift.

The Northwest Railway Museum collections care work space now has brighter lighting that saves money by using less power. Thanks to an energy conservation grant from Puget Sound Energy, the high intensity discharge metal halide ("HID MH") lighting installed in the Conservation and Restoration Center ("CRC") during its construction in 2016 has been retrofitted with new light emitting diode ("LED") bulbs. Now, lighting is brighter than ever before!

Bob and Kyle "Re-manufacturing"
light fixtures.

An industrious crew of participants removed the light fixtures from the ceiling, removed the HID MH electrical ballast and rewired the fixture, screwed in new bulbs, and rehung the fixture from the ceiling. Bob, Kyle, Gary, and Arnie worked under the direction of Brent, a retired industrial electrician.  Just two days were required to remove, modify and reinstall 24 light fixtures.

A re-manufactured light fixture flickers
to life 30 feet above the floor.

The old lighting served the Museum well, but was always a little dull due to the high ceilings.  And LED lighting is up to six times more efficient than traditional lighting, and even compared to HID MH lighting there is a significant reduction in energy consumption.  For the CRC, a 400 watt HID MH bulb was replaced with a 110 watt LED, which still resulted in a net increase of light intensity.  And this "bright" idea will improve the quality of all the work performed in the CRC because to see what you are doing is, well, pretty important.

"Vanna" Arnie models a
new LED module, which
is roughly 17 times brighter
than an old fashion 60 watt
bulb.

The new bulbs look like over-sized cobs of corn.  They are covered with dozens and dozens of miniature LED bulbs. The bulbs screw into the same sockets as the original bulbs, and can operate over a wide voltage range, from 110 volts to 277 volts. Each bulb emits more than 14,000 lumens, and has a life expectancy of more than 50,000 hours.

This lighting retrofit was a relatively small but impactful project.  It is reducing operating costs while improving the overall lighting conditions in the CRC, and is a further example of the Museum's commitment to the King County EnviroStars program.  Many thanks to Arnie, Bob, Brent, Gary, and Kyle for their efforts installing the new lighting, to Puget Sound Energy for a grant in support of the project, Ryan at Platt Electric in Preston for their excellent service, and to Star Rentals for a great price on a 45-foot lift.