Metal Halide Lights

Good answer with respect to how hard they are on the lamp. A five minute off time does nothing except to shorten the life of the lamp. Oh, I take it back. You do stop consuming power for 5 minutes but that is pointless.

With respect to turning off the engine at a stoplight, that is exactly what my Prius does. It does so in traffic jams, and frequently when I am operating on stored electricity. Passing by the gas stations (that I no longer need to visit so often) is exhilarating!

True about your Prius, just not in my Tacoma...Yet?

Out of curiosity, I Googled "Idle stop systems" and found: Direct Injection Idle Stop Another approach to Stop-Start uses no battery power at all. Instead of cranking the engine with an electric motor or a combination alternator/starter to restart it, the Mazda "i-Stop" system uses Direct Injection to kick start the engine. When the engine shuts off, the engine management system keeps track of the exact position of each piston. It can then restart the engine by spraying fuel directly into a cylinder that is just at the start of its power stroke and firing the spark plug to ignite the mixture. The resulting combustion starts the crankshaft turning and starts the engine in about 1/3 second. This trick only works if the engine is warm, so a conventional starter is required for cold starting. But the Direct Injection I-Stop approach approach works just as well for idle stop as a high voltage hybrid system, and it can be used on any gasoline or diesel engine with Direct Injection. BMW uses a similar system on its 2012 model 328i. From: aa1car.com :stop-start systems

Cars designed to turn off at the lights, do of course save energy, but always make me "jump" as the motor is turned off!!

They also require that the starter be of a far better quality to handle the extra starts. I also find that the start is mechanically much "quieter" on such cars that I have driven....maybe because of a better quality......?

Normal business.....as you probably already knew!!

EXACTLY!!!

Over a year I drive 100, mostly different cars with different "extras".....

I still jump each time.....getting old!!

You will save more energy if you leave them off for two hours etc. etc.

I agree, completely bogus, likely a rumor started by lamp manufacturers in order to sell more lamps!

Considering the time it takes to be able to re-strike the MH lamp when turned back on, if you add the 5 minutes to the re-strike time, even a pulse start lamp and ballast will have to be off for 10-12 minutes, much longer if it's not a pulse start. So if you can be in the dark for that long, why are you bothering to turn the lights on at all? Just give everyone who needs to be in that area a battery powered head lamp flashlight (torch). They'll need one every 45 minutes anyway...

I think s/he will save lots more energy by leaving them switched off all the time.

....and the lamp life will be infinite.

dumb idea

Yes it will save energy however lamp life will be reduced resulting in premature expensive lamp failure.

A stupid idea that won't save money.

I think those lights made in China and they need some rest(or sleep)

Tell them not to believe everything they are told on April 1st.

Live in the dark and save all energy in the world.

When light it on then it is for a reason. Switch it off when you don't need it. But don't scream "energy savings - switch off the light" when you need light to see what you are doing.

You need a better class of friends, but how will you be able to tell?

I came here expecting some fun from such a dumb question by an Anon OP. Aren't they a fair target anymore? Has P.C. come to CR4? Where's Lyn when you need him?

To the OP;- Yes! and what's more you will save TWICE as much energy if you turn them off for 10 mins and a whopping THREE times as much savings can be had for the small inconvenience of stumbling around in the dark for as little as 1/4Hr. By the way these lights aren't in a switchroom are they?

Jim

IIIIII

Sorry to disappoint you with our helpful, on-topic responses. Try checking the forum tomorrow for new questionable questions (or start your own if you like).

I think whom ever is directing your friend is a candidate for a glass belly button. The time and effort of someone to walk a round to do the switching cost more then the savings. Then again maybe there just finding something for him to do. Or get him out from under foot. Has nothing to do with savings.

If you want to save energy replace the lighting. The new high output fluorescents will save you more. If you can get away with 5 minutes of non illumination then maybe more can be done. Motion sensors can be used with flourescents to turn them on and off. Motion sensors do not work well with HID. The bulbs need a cool down period and are slow to illuminate.

Better idea dont switch them on at all but he may consider switching on only when necessary.

Some good stuff about HID's here. Turning them off for short time is not recommenced by anyone I know. If you check out the spec on the fixtures, you will likely find that the power consumed by the ballast on start up outweighs any savings you would have with a 5 minute down time.