Subject: [Shop-talk] Outdoor metal halide lights...it's not the bulbs

From: Scott Hall via Shop-talk <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2019 23:35:46 -0500

To summarize thus far:

It wasn't the bulbs. Those lights, and some other stuff in the backyard 
are controlled by their own breaker box...in the basement storage area, 
behind a shelf, behind the HVAC system...that I found when I was 
re-lighting a water heater pilot.

*Then* one of the light switches literally on the other side of the 
house has to be switched, and those fixtures light. I can't imagine why 
that switch is where it is, but both fixtures lit. They do not seem to 
be motion-sensitive. You just go down a flight of steps, across the 
house, into the storage area, and remove the built-in shelving some 
idiot built in front of the box, then the light switch even farther back 
in that room can be used to turn on those lights. Imagine my delight. I 
just thought the pool bulb was burned out, and I didn't even know those 
rocks had lights under them. Neato.

I left them on for a few hours, admiring how the backyard looked 
suspiciously like a baseball stadium and wondering what the previous 
owner was doing back there. Maybe literally playing baseball. God knows 
you wouldn't have any visibility issues.

Turned off the lights, went to bed. Next day, the left roof fixture 
won't light. Well now it's a mission from God.

Excellent suggestion made here was taken, 42-foot extension ladder 
rented, bulb swapped. It's not the bulb. Or at least the bulb I bought 
looks exactly like the bulb that came out and is rated at 400 watts, 
which is what the old bulb and the fixture says. The old bulb does not 
appear damaged. Perhaps there's a fuse or breaker in this thing. Before 
I disassemble the fixture, the hive mind will be consulted.

The fixture's front cover unscrews and flips open. Under it is this 
(well, this below the bulb housing):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DEe84KmqUuxmO5A2mRlRWYdK1pR3Qidj/view?usp=sharing

The sticker on the left side looks like a wiring diagram:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M7q_VBTcsc88Or6MxjO5Achscw-P-mn4/view?usp=sharing

Might those things in the lower left quadrant be fuses? There is another 
metal plate cover under that sticker under which could live something 
user-serviceable. But before I start screwing with stuff 40 feet in the 
air, you know, I should at least ask. Or offer to video it.

Any thoughts welcome. Thanks.

(I think that ladder is the very definition of 'attractive nuisance'. I 
have to return it tomorrow morning, but oh the things I could access if 
I bought one! So easy to paralyze or maim myself so quickly! Of all the 
equipment I've rented, this may be the one thing I'm not completely sure 
they should let homeowners have access to. It's the first thing I've 
done that I found myself actually thinking, "this could go very bad, 
very quickly, if I'm not very careful.")

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