Question?
Do you carry out installation of masts?
Answer.
We not only install masts, we can offer a turnkey package based on the customer's requirements – design, supply, installation, testing and commissioning.
Question?
Do you carry out maintenance to high mast lighting units?
Answer?
We offer a comprehensive maintenance package which complies with all statutory regulations not only on our own masts but on other manufacturers' masts as well. So if you have a mixture of masts, maintenance of them all is not a problem.
Question?
Will you travel countrywide to install or maintain masts?
Answer.
We have carried out maintenance and installation of masts from Porthleven Cornwall, to Sumburgh Head in the Shetland Islands. We have also carried out several jobs in mainland Europe.
Question?
What is the difference between illuminance and luminance?
Answer
Illuminance (E) - Is measured at a point on a surface. It is the quotient of the luminous flux incident on an element of the surface containing the point, and the area of that element. Illuminance is measured in lux. The orientation of the surface may be defined, e.g. horizontal, vertical, hence horizontal illuminance, vertical illuminance.
In plain English it is the amount of light you measure with a light-meter (photometer) at a point. In those clips you see of photographers standing by the model with their light-meter, or the umpires at a cricket match deciding on whether the light is good enough to play they are measuring illuminance. Horizontal illuminance is measured with the meter held upwards, vertical with the meter faced in a particular direction. Horizontal illuminance is almost always the one used, a couple of exceptions being lighting for a single television camera or at golf driving ranges.
Luminance (L) – Is the measure of brightness with which the eye perceives an illuminated surface from a certain direction. This measure is the luminous intensity per unit of visible surface of a light source (direct light) or an illuminated surface (reflection or indirect light). Luminance is indicated in candelas per square metre.
Again in plain English it is what you see, in other words the light reflected from a surface in a particular direction.
Question?
What is the best lamp for outdoor lighting?
Answer:
There is no such thing. Lamps have their plusses and minuses. A high pressure sodium lamp may have a very good efficacy and a long life but its colour rendering is poor compared with a metal halide lamp, which in turn is less efficient and does not last as long. It is a matter of horses for courses and a good lighting engineer will be able to give you the best advice for your scheme.
Question?
How high can you make a column?
Answer:
We have made masts for stadiums which are 65m or so at the top and we could go higher.
Question?
What is a rooted or flangeplated column?
Answer:
Columns can either be rooted, which means that the shaft continues below ground level and is placed in a hole which is backfilled (often with concrete having made sure a cable duct has been provided), or flangeplated, which means that a concrete foundation has been built with bolts protruding, on to which the column is fixed.
Question?
How do CU Phosco Lighting comply with the WEEE requlations?
Answer:
Phosco is registered with Lumicom, a not-for-profit organisation representing the interests of producers of non-household luminaires in the UK. Lumicom’s objectives are to meet the compliance needs of lighting companies under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive.
Under the WEEE Regulations, producers of non household luminaires in the UK must join a compliance scheme which, amongst other things, will be responsible for financing the costs of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE and setting up systems that:
1. Prioritise the reuse of whole appliances; treat WEEE using the best available treatment, recovery and recycling techniques; and recover such WEEE.
2. Report on the WEEE treated and the EEE scheme members have put on the market.
3. Declare compliance with the scheme’s obligation to finance the costs of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE.
4. Keep records of the amount of WEEE delivered to an AATF or an approved exporter.
Lighting columns are not covered by the WEEE regulations.
Question?
When designing a high mast lighting scheme what would be the maximum size of supply cable you should use to make off directly in a high mast column?
Answer.
We would recommend that you go no higher than a 16mm SWA cable, as the bending radius for a 25mm SWA cable makes it very difficult for you to get the cable around the back of the winch and make it off in the mast panel. Alternatively you could site a small feeder pillar adjacent to the mast and make off the larger supply cable in this, and then take a samaller feed cable from this feeder pillar to the mast panel.
Question?
What would be a budget cost for the installation of a concrete foundation base for a 25m high mast lighting column?
Answer.
It would cost approximately £5k, dependent on ground conditions
Question?
Why should I use a high mast not a base hinged column?
Answer:
CU Phosco High Masts offer significant advantages over the base hinged type of mast. Much larger and heavier loads can be carried - CU Phosco has supplied tilted head stadium masts carrying 130 no. 2kW floodlights.
In order to lower a base hinged mast an area at least as long and as wide as the mast and its luminaire array is required. In a busy car park, port or airport to create this much free space is difficult, and will have economic consequences in not being able to use that area for a considerable time to create the free space. In other situations such as road intersections, oil refineries and railway depots it may be impossible to lower the masts without hitting an obstruction. All CU Phosco High Masts require is a space at the base of the mast as large as the luminaire array which slides gently down the shaft to rest on the maintenance supports mentioned previously.
The power tool required to lower any CU Phosco High Mast is so small and light it can be carried to any site no matter how inaccessible. Base hinged masts require heavy wheeled hydraulic raising and lowering tools, trailer towed in the case of the heavier masts, and these cannot easily be conveyed to site and for some sites access for these tools is not possible at all. In addition different sizes of base hinged masts often require different tools. Each tool is expensive to buy and maintain and you must be sure to take the correct tool to site. If you purchase our heavy duty tool it will operate any of our masts, and its initial cost and maintenance costs are a fraction of those of hydraulic tools.
Base hinged masts, if left in the lowered position too long, take on an unsightly bowed appearance. This does not happen with CU Phosco High Masts.
