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Remote ballasting a 100 watt Mercury vapor fixture

Merry Christmas
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Solanaceae

Solanaceae

Member
Location
sangamon county, IL
Before I get told about how this won't be up to code and it is unsafe, this just an experiment for fun and to test what I've heard on lighting-gallery.net. I am going to try using a vossloh scwabe 100w 240v tanning bed ballast to run a 100w Mercury vapor lamp. I was told on LG that a 100w fluorescent tube and 100w Mercury vapor lamp can be used on the same ballast. I am mounting it inside of an intermatic waterproof hot tub timer box that measures 9"x 5.25"x 3.5". The ballast is 7.75"x 1.75"x 1". I am planning on mounting a junction box on the inside with a DPST switch that can fit in a standard j-box with a standard faceplate (I'll use metal.) Any comments?
 
Electric-Light

Electric-Light

Senior Member
You can remote ballast a probe start lamp as if it was an incandescent lamp on secondary of a transformer and it will operate fine.

Tony S said:
We used 1000W mercury vapour lamps on the plant. The ballasts and striking gear in a remote panel. The cable was forever failing due the HV impulse on start up.
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Pulse start like PS MH and HPS should not be remote mounted unless rated for remote mount and you should use approved cabling so that wires are not a shock hazard.
 
A

AdrianWint

Senior Member
Location
Midlands, UK
Solanaceae said:
I was told on LG that a 100w fluorescent tube and 100w Mercury vapor lamp can be used on the same ballast.
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Its actually the other way round.... the 100W mercury lamp came first. The 100W fluorescent lamp (which is still a discharge lamp) was developed to use the existing 100W mercury ballasts rather than create a whole new one.
 
Solanaceae

Solanaceae

Member
Location
sangamon county, IL
I was told by lg member funkybulb that I could run a merc vapor lamp on a fluorescent Ballast of equal wattage. I also saw someone use a 40/50w merc on a 40w preheat ballast.
The larger lamps need aid to start but 100w only needs the built in auxiliary starting electrofe at the base of the arc tube.
 
Solanaceae

Solanaceae

Member
Location
sangamon county, IL
norcal said:
In addition to the question above, why even mess with a light source whose time has been long gone?
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  • LEDs suck
  • HPS has a terrible yellow color with poor CRI
  • Induction is too expensive
  • MH has an explosion risk
  • CFLs suck as well
  • I don't care what the gov't says about merc vapor
  • incandescent spotlights are too inefficient
  • People still use candles, so why not?
 
N

norcal

Senior Member
Solanaceae said:
  • LEDs suck
  • HPS has a terrible yellow color with poor CRI
  • Induction is too expensive
  • MH has an explosion risk
  • CFLs suck as well
  • I don't care what the gov't says about merc vapor
  • incandescent spotlights are too inefficient
  • People still use candles, so why not?
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The only thing I like about mercs is their long life, otherwise it's time has passed, MH is a major improvement over MV.
 
Solanaceae

Solanaceae

Member
Location
sangamon county, IL
The Westinghouse lifeguards are also re known for an extraordinarily long life due to a special coating of the electrodes that sputters white instead of black, therefore reducing the loss of brightness. I've seen westy lifeguards do 25+ years and they are in use so long that their arc tubes still produce plenty of useful light and the phosphors go stale.
 
peter d

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
Solanaceae said:
  • LEDs suck
  • HPS has a terrible yellow color with poor CRI
  • Induction is too expensive
  • MH has an explosion risk
  • CFLs suck as well
  • I don't care what the gov't says about merc vapor
  • incandescent spotlights are too inefficient
  • People still use candles, so why not?
Click to expand...


I like how you think. :thumbsup:
 
peter d

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
norcal said:
The only thing I like about mercs is their long life, otherwise it's time has passed, MH is a major improvement over MV.
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I agree, but nobody is going to convince me that LED will be able to match the longevity of MV. I think the LED electronics and light module itself will be its major weak points.
 
N

norcal

Senior Member
peter d said:
I agree, but nobody is going to convince me that LED will be able to match the longevity of MV. I think the LED electronics and light module itself will be its major weak points.
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HPS used to be troublesome now it is pretty reliable so LED may be OK in the future but the fact that most LED lighting is ChiCom not holding my breath, other then the major East/West street near where I live (formerly 200W HPS) & the gas stations that have been retrofitted from MH, LED lighting seems to be dimmer then what it replaced,
 
G

ggunn

PE (Electrical), NABCEP certified
Location
Austin, TX, USA
Occupation
Consulting Electrical Engineer - Photovoltaic Systems
norcal said:
HPS used to be troublesome now it is pretty reliable so LED may be OK in the future but the fact that most LED lighting is ChiCom not holding my breath, other then the major East/West street near where I live (formerly 200W HPS) & the gas stations that have been retrofitted from MH, LED lighting seems to be dimmer then what it replaced,
Click to expand...

Like any other new technology, it sucks at first but then it either gets better or it goes away. Anyone who thinks that LED tech is not improving is not paying attention.
 
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