Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Client: St. Louis Port Authority
Size: $700,000
THE PROJECT
Retrofit of 418 eighty foot mast lights serving both terminals at Lambert. In detail the retrofit involved replacing 1,000 Watt HID lamps with 285 Watt LED fixtures while maintaining IES standards for compliant distribution of light around the airport and preventing interference with pilots and the control tower.
The Lambert Mast lighting retrofit project involved removing existing lamps and fixture hardware from the eight foot masts replacing the units with a custom LED plate. Tasks included rewiring the drivers and adapting new 3 LED modules into the existing lamps with custom lenses and drivers affixed to the head atop each mast. Access to the fixtures required use of an 80 foot lift on which crews of two JWs tied in for safety, were able to open, remove and replace the existing HID components with LEDs. The new 285 Watt replacements replace the original 1,000 Watt lights, providing Lambert with substantial energy savings with equipment with a working life thousands of hours longer than the originals.
OUR APPROACH
As a retrofit, the Lambert Mast Light installation involved swap of obsolete internal components of the fixtures with brand new LED modules with one-plate heads made it possible to replace the “guts” of the existing lights while avoiding much higher costs of wholesale replacement of perfectly functional fixtures. The approach brought the additional benefit of bringing full warranty protection together with the savings and performance associated with new LED equipment.
OUR WORK
The GECO team was able to obtain a clearance from the FAA, given that the 80 foot masts placed the lights technically within “flight space.” In addition, it helped that the design of the retrofit “package” from GlobalTech LED enabled us to swap in lenses that feature a “focused” effect that directs the lights away from creating a glare that might otherwise impact the vision of flight crews and key ground control personnel.
SUCCESS
With savings of at least 70% on the cost of lighting compared to traditional HID lamps with little to no subsequent maintenance due to the long life of the LED technology, Lambert’s retrofitted mast lights are expected to pay for themselves in about 2 years.