Philips 'Libra' 2565
Lantern acquired in November 2014.
Following Philips Lighting's acquisition of Indal Lighting in October 2012, it was only a matter of time before lanterns from the latter company's range would carry the former's branding. This Indal (WRTL in the UK) product is one such example. The Libra (particularly the 36 Watt variant, of which this example is) became the standard side road lantern for Derbyshire (excluding the City of Derby) towards the end of 2012; it replacing sister lantern the Arc (50 Watt SON version) on account of the reduced power consumption offered. The Libra's popularity in this role was relatively short-lived, however, as LED solutions began to gain popularity in the County towards the middle of 2014; again, on the grounds of reduced energy consumption, along with the theoretical reduction in maintenance visits.
This lantern is brand new and arrived in its original box. An indicator of the lantern's modernity is the presence of a 'QR' (Quick Response) code on the box's label; unfortunately, such 'mod cons' are lost on me - I have no means of scanning such codes...nor do I wish to own a device that does!
The lantern was positioned bowl-up within the box; a thin sheet of foam and some brown packaging paper was placed between the lantern and the flaps that made up the top of the box.
With the packaging materials removed out of the way, the fully-assembled lantern could be seen. Just visible on the top side of the lantern (as it appears here) is the lamp - these are nowadays often included with new lanterns for completeness during installation.
Removing the lantern from the box reveals its streamlined aluminium construction, and chunky stainless steel bowl clips. The lantern is not symmetrical; the clips exist on this side only, as the other side of the lantern carries hinges for the bowl.
This close-up demonstrates the operation of the rear bowl clip - in order to close it, the clip is simply pushed against the side of the lantern.
The lantern is roughly oval-shaped, with the rear section featuring a distinctive 'spoiler' arrangement.
The unused Zodion NEMA socket dates to January 2014.
Owing to the lantern's canopy being curved, a rubber spacer allows the flat-topped NEMA socket to sit level without compromising the integrity of the lantern's IP rating. Other lanterns include provision for a NEMA socket on their canopies by featuring a dedicated flat section of canopy. On the Libra, such an addition would detract from the lantern's daytime appearance on installations not requiring individual photocell control.
The transparent polycarbonate bowl allows the lampholder and end of lamp support to be seen. Notice that there are three positions available for the support to be attached - it is currently set at the position that is situated the furthest from the lampholder, in order to accommodate the 36 Watt lamp; however, the two other positions allow for 24 Watt and even 18 Watt lamps to be fitted - the latter type only being available as a 'special order' option in Britain. The larger '70' and '71' versions of the Libra (identified by the presence of an additional bowl clip and hinge, owing to the additional length) can accommodate 55 Watt and 80 Watt lamps.
The internal label is the first indicator on the lantern that this is a Philips product. Notice that the part code suggests that this lantern is configured to dim to 66 % output between the hours of 22:00 and 06:00; as we will see shortly, this code does not match the setup of the lantern's internal lamp control gear.
The '65' and '70' versions of the Libra can either be fitted side-entry or post-top by means of the 'trapdoor' adaptor. The '66' and '71' versions are for side-entry installation only.
Although the grub screws would require re-fitting, this is how the 'trapdoor' appears when set in the side-entry position. Despite the Philips takeover, the white plastic plate attached on the inside of the bowl and used to mask the supply cable connection to the lantern still carries the Industria logo; the forerunner of Indal.
With the bowl open, this previously obscured part becomes visible. Three options for the supply cable termination are available - as well as the method seen here, the supply cable can either terminate directly on the gear tray, or be connected to a more substantial terminal block than the type that this lantern uses, which will automatically disconnect the incoming supply as soon as the bowl is opened.
Pressing on the sprung stainless steel clip located at the front of the lantern allows the gear tray to swing downwards, in order to allow the lamp control gear to be inspected and/or replaced.
Although the lantern's label states that it is dimmable, with this electronic ballast fitted, this would not be possible, as this is not a dimmable ballast, nor is there any timing device connected that would be able to operate the lantern in reduced output mode for the required hours. The ballast seen here is likely to be original to when the lantern was assembled, however.
The Indal logo is still cast into the inside of the lantern's canopy, despite the change of ownership.
A small bag included with the lantern contains two black plastic inserts for use in controlling the lantern's light distribution (a full complement of inserts could be ordered in areas requiring additional light control) and two longer grub screws, for use when attaching the lantern to narrow-diameter (34 / 42 mm) side-entry brackets, as are common in the UK.
The lantern was attached to a wall bracket on Sunday, 27th May 2018. For completeness, I fitted the two black plastic baffle shields mentioned above, and swapped the supplied grub screws for the longer type, in order that the lantern would grip the 34 mm diameter bracket.
The baffles do not seem to do very much when the lantern is viewed from below...
From the front, their effectiveness becomes more apparent, however.
Lamp switch-on video:
Testing with my energy monitoring device revealed the following results:
| Test Voltage (V) | Current being drawn at full power (A) | Measured wattage (W) | Apparent Power (VA) | Frequency (Hz) | Power Factor | True Power (W) | Difference to rated wattage | Percentage Difference |
| 240.7 | 0.14 | 31 | 34 | 49.8 | 0.93 | 31.34 | -4.66 | -12.95% |
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