175 watt mercury vapor yardblaster with coated bulb

[Toshiba9068]

Do you still get the high contrast with a coated bulb?

[firealarmtech]

i also prefer coated 175 watt MV bubs because of the color but i like 100 watt MV bulbs clear

[sodiumvapor222]

Nice video man!

[zenith1111]

Hahaha... The color from Mercury vapour really irritates me! Metal Halide for the win! :P

BTW, when the outer bulb breaks, there is no gamma radiation, there is ultraviolet radiation! UV light causes skin cancer and blindness, gamma radiation is ionizing radiation and would cause radiation poisoning and would take a very short time to cause a very painfull death :P

[wilkes85]

I remember mercury vapour streetlights!!

That's cool, I remember watching the streetlights turn on, they'd start out orange and eventually turn kinda bluish white.

I totally forgot about that until I saw this video!

Too bad they don't use these lights anymore, I hate the orange ones so much.

[JonThm]

gamma radiation is a sign we are doing nuclear fission or fusion

[avm316]

I personally like coated mercury vapor lamps better.

[RJARRRPCGP]

The coated ones, typically start purple and then turn white. But the coated ones tend to be purply even when warmed up.

[jmartis2]

The pinkish color after power up is the discharge taking place in Argon, then the Mercury starts vaporising and the color shifts.

[form109]

the pink color is Caused by the Red Phosphorus Converting that UV to Visable Light.....not the Argon.

[jmartis2]

yeah I have noticed it too. I just thought that sounded logical because argon has a pinkish color and is used to fire the discharge in the bulb (and because I have never looked at the arctube directly).

But you are right, the arctube glows blue after ignition so it must be the phosphor emmisions.

[form109]

The Argon does make Pink Flashes when the lamp starts...these are Visable in a Clear Bulb.....the Flashing of the Arctube also coincides with Flashing of the Phosphorus in a coated Lamp.

[Iluvbadgers]

actually coated bulbs start up pink and then to a pinkish white

[rompn4x]

I used to try different MV and HPS bulbs out back when I worked at OSH in the electrical section. The coated bulbs I think are easier on the eyes and create less glare then clear bulbs.

[form109]

Coated Mercs also have a Better Color.

[form109]

my first yardblaster was a regent 175 watt mercury vapor,i recently went to a hardware looking for another one,much to my dismay the mercury vapor ones have been replaced with high pressure sodium and flourescent one'si bought the hps one because i like hid lamps better,this new yardblaster is a Lithoria one it uses a 70 watt high pressure sodium lamp,which i just recently shattered,i really dont like the color all that much,the contrast is absolutely horrible and the color is irritating.

[bamaslamma1003]

You can thank your US government for that. According to an asinine piece of legislation called EPACT, mercury vapor lamps are now banned because they are "inefficient." Magnetic fluorescent ballasts are next on the govt's hit list. Phasing them out for electronic viruses...ballasts.

[oerugaddr]

Home Depot sells a Lithonia 100w metal halide lamp that you might prefer. The color is much better than hps. It's a clear bulb with very intense spots but it's a nice white light.

[form109]

Did the Bulb have a Clear Arctube with White at the Ends?

[oerugaddr]

Yeah. That's it.

[form109]

those Metal Halide Lamps particulary the Quartz ones can have a Short Lifetime and explode.

[Germannio]

Obviously this is a colour corrected lamp using an Europium activated Ytrium vanadate coating. It can be seen the characteristic red colour from the fluorescence of this phosphor during the heating of the lamp. I don't like these ones by the lack of green in its colouration. Vanadate mercury lamps casts a noticeable pinkish white light that fully changes the green-blue light of pure mercury arc.

[memomota]

hey man how did u wire it?

2 phases of 127 volts each?

or 1 phase 220?

[fiesta1117cc]

I dont know about the electrical system in the USA but in England its all 240volts both lighting & power. To wire a mercury lamp in England all you need is a ballast & capacitor you can buy them in any electrical shop. Dont wire it up wrong or it will go bang.

[rompn4x]

its all 110 or 220v 60hz in USA

[printingpresspat]

Metal halides are an interesting bulb. We just got done relamping a room (a good 200 lamps)with new ballasts and bulbs for lower wattage and the new bulbs give off a God aweful shade of a yellowish green and is very harsh. The old lamps were a whitish color. Some of the old defective bulbs gave off a green color (I liked those) some gave off orange. I like MV so much better. I like the videos.

[fiesta1117cc]

I have a 70w sodium flood light lighting up my garden. My mate has given me a 80w mercury vapour lamp which lights up well on the 70w sodium fitting & i prefer the mercury lamp to the other sodium lamp i have but is there any danger of the 80w mercury lamp over loading the 70w ballast?

[MrHappyPants6000]

Mercury Vapor lights are not meant to run off of High Pressure Sodium ballasts, unless it's some kind of conversion bulb. MV lamps are great for lighting yards but are worthless as a grow light for a garden, if that's what you're using it for. Stick with the sodium or use Metal Halide or the newer Ceramic Metal Halide in that case.

[danagol1985]

I love mercury vapour lamps, but the clear ones are better imo.

They give a more spooky green light. Im gona get a 100w one for my room instead of nasty filimant lamps

[DavidFromAE]

I also like the clear ones better. Do you have a fixture with a ballast or are you going to get a self ballasted one?

[danagol1985]

I was going to get a self ballasted one, but then i found out alot of the light is from an internal filimant, and thy also have an annoying immediate warm up time. So ive ordered a 80w opal merc vapour lamp (only available), 80w ballast, and an 8mf capacitor. I will place all of thin in a cheap enclosure, and have the enclosure between the lamp shade, and ceiling mount. i have got bayonet cap type (hope its regular BC size!!!)

[danagol1985]

@DavidFromAE wow, sorry for the way slow reply!

I have it all set up now. I use a standard ES lamp-shade, and an external ballast wired in series with the lampshade. The ballast is in the loft.

Up until about a week ago, I had a colour corrected 80 MV lamp. However I managed to find a clear one on ebay, so i purchased that.

Now I have a clear MV lamp in my bedroom.

[logster1203]

@danagol1985 What kind of lights do you use mercury vapors in?

[danagol1985]

@logster1203 I don't fully understand your question. If you mean what room is it fitted in, then the answer is the ceiling of my bedroom.

If you mean what kind of lampshade do I use, then its an old (at least before 1996) black mesh lampshade. It has a standard E27 cap fitting.

I have the ballast wired in series, and I put the ballast in the loft, where it is out of sight.

[cheetor5923]

I know its nitpicking... But a exposed arctube of a MV light emitts UF radiation, not gamma rays(that comes from Nucular decay)

[BassmanII]

Note the key word is "exposed". The outer glass is enough to shield the eyes/skin from UV radiation.

[Deathcoil1000]

May I ask if there is any difference beetween mercury wapor lights and metal-halide lights?

[turgi65]

Yes there is...Metal Halides offer better quality of light and are more efficient/brighter for a given wattage.

[jfrog1983]

Exactly! The HX ballasts have a flash pattern consisting of a uniform flash with a small dark spot in between where the sine wave of the AC cycle crosses zero. A CWA ballast however has a flash pattern consisting of a flash that starts out bright and then goes dim and then you see the AC zero crossing as the usual dark spot. High power factor fluoro ballasts have that same flash pattern.

[jecwhiz]

You know they actually strobe in real life, but they do it so fast that a human eye, it's harder to see........you can make flash patterns using the camera, you would see that one same mercury vapor lamp would make a different pattern on a HX ballast from a CWI ballast!