I was just wondering, For those that have done any work with streetlighting, Is it common to omit fuses in each fixture or for the entire circuit?
Today we had one of our guys replace the photoeye on a fixture in the city and had its innards "vaporize" on him, not to mention it wiped out the photocell socket.. ( I can get pictures of the socket and possibly whats left of the eye if anyone wants to see it)....

Noticed its quite common for streetlights to be connected right up to the street buss with no fuses whatsoever... I was just wondering if thats common everywhere or is this PoCo being cheap and dangerous?

A.D

I've used these, installed in a "Quazite" box several feet from the pole.


http://www.bussmann.com/library/bifs/2126.PDF

In New Zealand on the older streetlight circuits ( early to mid 1970's ) no individual fuses were provided for the individual streetlights to save on costs.

A 32 or 63 Amp back up fuse was controlling the S.L. section at a whole, with a S.L. fault either the fuse blew or the wires blew clear of the choke or autotransformer in the S.L. fitiing.

The common practise we adopt now, If for any fault location or maintenance a non-fused older S.L. pole is encountered a 6 or 10 Amp HRC fuse is fitted to provide some close protection for the lamp and not take out the whole S.L. supply.

The newer S.L.'s are now these days all fitted with an HRC or MCB for individual protection. ( 1980's onwards )

We use a pilot system here fed from the substations via a master lightcell.

please submit the photo to an ECN moderator for publishing.

regards

Raymond RODALCO

Lack of fuses caused a death at a bus stop here in San Diego a few years back. High Voltage street light circuit xformed to 110v for bus stop lighting. The high side, 4,800v, shorted to the case of the xformer energizing the ground wire to the bus stop bench. No fuse= electric chair. Rod

Thank ypou for your responses!
Yes I wasn't sure what the norm was or should be... I have seen weatherproof fuseholders in most of the new "decorative" lights but none on the traditional wooden poles where everything is run overhead..
I do have "whats left" of the photo eye in my posession and the actual streetlight head is in the Garage.. as soon as I get Photos of it I will send them off so you all can see!
A.D