HID Lighting

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electricalsolutionsofwny

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I am new to this forum so first thank you in advance for taking my question. I recently removed some high bay light fixture from a warehouse I was working in and they were 400 watt MH highbays running at 277 volts. But here is the weird thing they were lamped with 1000 watt MH lamps, and the were working and seemed to be brighter than the 400 watt lamp that was supposed to be in the fixture. My question is WHY was this working, how efficiant was this set-up and what would be the wattage consumption of this fixture.
 
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jeremysterling

Senior Member
Location
Austin, TX
Welcome to the forum.

I am no lighting expert. Metal halide lamps should have power delivered to them within 10 percent of rated wattage after warming up. Under-powering metal halide lamps can cause very severe arc tube discoloration.

Did you check to see if the ballast had been retrofitted to an ANSI M47 (1000W ballast)?
 
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jeremysterling

Senior Member
Location
Austin, TX
That is pretty good lamp life.

As far as your original question, if you did an amp-clamp reading and exact voltage on the supply you might get some numbers that could help an engineer figure why your set-up is working.

A 1000W lamp is pretty bright when properly ballasted. If you had 277V on the 277V tap of the 400W ballast, I would have guessed your lamp would be rather dim.

Sounds like someone hit on a workable combination.

I googled and found adjustable HID ballasts for grow lights. You can choose lamps from 250W to 1000W.
 
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electricalsolutionsofwny

Member
I took a reading: at 277 volts with the correct lamp (400 watt) the light is pulling 1.68 Amps
With the incorrect lamp (1000 watt) it pulls 1.98 amps.
I just cant understand how the 1000 is working as well as it is and for as long as it has.
 
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