Sage-Tips

What is the difference between metal halide and mercury vapor?

Mercury Vapor (MV) lamps are most frequently used outside for parking and security lighting. Metal Halide (MH) lamps provide the best color rendering of all HID lamps; color rendition is almost as full spectrum incandescents.

What is a mercury ballast?

Ballasts are used to initiate and control the arc in mercury and metal additive curing lamps. Ballasts provide an instantaneous high voltage to strike the elements within a mercury vapor lamp, creating a plasma that, once initiated, is sustained by the ballast.

What is the working temperature of Mercury Vapour lamp?

Product & Operation Description During operation of the lamp the mercury vaporizes due to heating of the discharge tube (lamp body) and the gas between the electrodes approaches temperatures of up to 10000oC. The temperature of the discharge tube reaches approximately 800oC.

Is mercury Vapour lamp monochromatic?

There is no monochromatic light.

Are mercury vapor lights energy efficient?

Mercury vapor lamps are more energy efficient than incandescent and most fluorescent lights, with luminous efficacies of 35 to 65 lumens/watt. Their other advantages are a long bulb lifetime in the range of 24,000 hours and a high intensity, clear white light output.

Can you replace a high pressure sodium bulb with a metal halide?

Both Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium bulbs are part of the HID family of bulbs. These bulbs cannot be interchanged without changing their ballast, the regulating element in all light bulbs. Their operation is a bit different and they therefore require different ballasts.

How much power does a mercury vapor light use?

Compared with newer HID lighting, mercury vapor isn’t very energy efficient. The “efficacy”—or amount of light produced per unit of electricity consumed—is 20-60 lumens per watt. This is better than incandescent lamps (about 15-20 lumens per watt), but significantly lower than other HID lighting.

Is Mercury Vapour lamp monochromatic?

What is a con with mercury vapor light?

Phasing Out — Probably the largest con to mercury vapor lamps is that the United States government is phasing them out as a lighting option. In fact, the passing of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 banned mercury vapor ballasts in the US.

What is the function of the ballast in a metal halide lamp?

The gas in the MH arc tube must be ionized before current can flow and start the lamp. In addition to supplying the correct starting voltage, the ballast also regulates the lamp starting current and lamp operating current. (See ” What types of ballasts are available to use with metal halide lamps?”)

How does a mercury vapor light bulb work?

A Mercury Vapor with a transformer (ballast) build into the base. The bulb at left is just warming up, the bulb at right is after a few minutes of warming. This bulb has phosphor to help make the light more of a true white color. It can take several minutes to warm up.

How do hid tubes work?

There are no metal wires inside of an HID lamp, like you’d find in a standard incandescent. In fact this is the philosophy behind fluorescent tubes, neon signs, and compact-fluorescent as well. It’s just an arc being struck in a tube, then the arc mixes with certain chemicals to form an arc-stream to produce visible light.

What are HPS ballasts made of?

The arc-tubes of HPS lamps are very skinny and made from an opaque ceramic rather than quartz or glass like a MH or MV lamp would be. All 3 of these HID ballasts look similar, and for the most part, operate similarly. There are a few components to know when trying to troubleshoot these setups.