HPS ignitor

[peter d]

If you remove the lamp from an HPS fixture, does this cause the ignitor to fire continuously and shorten its life? Or will the ignitor only fire with a complete circuit (lamp installed.)

I have a situation where an HPS light was vandalized. Both the shade and lamp were removed leaving the housing intact. I don't know how long it's been that way. I was simply going to replace the shade and lamp and call it a day, but now I'm thinking the ignitor might be bad too.

 

[nakulak]

seems to me the igniter could charge but not fire if there's no bulb (? just guessing -how's it gonna fire without a complete ckt) I'd stick a bulb in and see what happens

 

[LLSolutions]

I would think that the charge would not be dissipated, holding the charge longer than intended would cause premature failure. I've heard the same thing with ballasts going bad because a bad lamp was left too long.