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I've just moved into a place with a pickleball court that has a QL 1500 Hubbell Outdoor Lighting fixture. Unfortunately, it's missing its bulb. I contacted Hubbell, and they told me the model (QL 1500) is discontinued, including its bulb (LMP-500W QTZ T3 120V Q500T3CL), with no replacement parts available.

I'm at a crossroads here and could use some advice. Is there a workaround or a compatible bulb I could use, or am I better off just replacing the entire fixture? Any insights or similar experiences would be hugely appreciated! Thanks!

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  • You'll save money in the long run replacing the lamp with an LED fixture. LED's should use about one tenth the electricity, and likely last 20 years. Also consider the nuisance of having to replace lamps on a pole!
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Nov 21 at 0:58
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    @DrMoishePippik, I beg to defer. None of my 120+ lights are lasting more than 7 years. And they are not cheap imports, and the supplier is replacing them under warranty. Leds are not green when you have to replace the fixture too. However they are more convenient as they require fewer replacements than incandescent.
    – Rohit Gupta
    Nov 21 at 1:06
  • @RohitGupta Usually it is the electronic drivers that give out, not the LEDs themselves. Too bad most are matched/combined sets.
    – crip659
    Nov 21 at 1:23
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    How many SE contributors does it take to change a light bulb?
    – A. I. Breveleri
    Nov 21 at 2:49
  • @crip659, unfortunately, none of the drivers have failed in my house, its always the led fixtures. I went the fixture way as it looked tidier. I am not making that mistake in my next house.
    – Rohit Gupta
    Nov 21 at 12:08

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TL;DR Replace It

Based on part #s, you have either a 1500W (based on QL 1500) or 500W (based on MP-500W). Those are halogen bulbs that produce a lot of light and a lot of heat. Heat is wasted energy when it comes to lighting (exception: EZ Bake Oven). And wasted energy is wasted money. (Ignore the environmental impact, just look at the $ and you'll switch anyway. Really.)

For replacement, do not look at Watts. That is energy. Look at lumens - that's light. A cheap 500W halogen work light produces 8,000 lumens. I found a 1500W halogen rated at 32,000 lumens. So that's the range you're looking at it, depending on whether this was really 500W or 1500W and other factors.

There are a lot of variables in replacement lights. One I found (from Lithonia) has 3 levels on each model. For example, ESXF3 with 8,500 lumens for 53W, 10,500 lumens for 69W, 14,000 lumens for 100W. The low-end of that compares well with a 500W halogen while using only 53W. At a nice round $0.15 per kWh (close to US 2023 average), 1,000 hours of a 500W halogen will cost you $75. 1,000 hours of a 53W LED will cost you $8. In other words, the cost of replacing the fixture will more than make up for the cost of replacing the fixture over the lifetime of the new fixture. LEDs themselves can last many, many thousands of hours. The driver circuits (convert higher voltage AC to lower voltage DC, handle dimming, color temperature settings, etc.) are more likely to fail. A good quality unit has a high (not guaranteed, despite 5 year warranties, etc.) chance of lasting tens of thousands of hours, and even the cheap ones can too, though they tend to fail sooner.

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