@@johnjunior5421 Yes, definitely a phosphor coated lamp.

@@johnjunior5421 I have seen a few clear 125W mercury vapor lamps before but they are rather hard to find. 125W ballasts would usually underdrive most North American 175W H39 mercury vapor lamps. I think eBay Germany seems to be a good place to find some European clear mercury vapor lamps since I have imported a Narva 80W clear from there.

And the Philips SON Clear that has a built in ignitor? I plan to get a similar mercury bulb but I think it will work with a European 125w mercury ballast if the bulb is also a European phosphor coated bulb they are not as nice and GE used to make 175w bulbs like this

@@johnjunior5421 As far as I know, you could easily import a North American 175W H39 mercury vapor lamp and use it with a European 150W high pressure sodium ballast without the ignitor. You can search “H39KB-175” on eBay.com for the USA version.

I found a 100w bulb which is exactly the wattage with the HPS ballast I have, but this bulb is a bit expensive generally green mercury bulbs but I think it's reasonable as they are very few, thanks a lot anyway!!

And greetings from America, I'm from Greece 😊 I don't know, have you ever seen SOX, I've seen some very few and rare ones that stayed red, luckily white mercury lamps and HPS lamps are quite common here, but most are LED, I have them but never tired of gas discharge lamps! well done for the collection, collect as many as you can because in 2027 they say they will be banned and i feel a bit annoyed and angry as these lamps are from our childhood and tradition and will be gone forever 🥺 😡😤! that's what I'm doing now that I have quite a large collection of HPS and fluorescent and mercury 🙂 we have become collectors, be good and take care of these lamps and only the good LED ones😊lol

@@johnjunior5421 I personally love magnetic ballasts since I enjoy their hum and also love photographing the beautiful flash patterns that many discharge lamps produce whenever they run on magnetic ballasts. In some cases, some magnetic ballasts seem to operate a very wide variety of lamp technology choices such as fluorescent, mercury vapor, metal halide, high pressure sodium, and low pressure sodium on just one single ballast. Additionally, I really enjoy watching fluorescent tubes blinking to life on preheat ballasts as well.

By default, mercury vapor lamps normally do not need an external ignitor unless they are well worn and stubborn to start. In one case, I have a heavily used mercury vapor lamp that never started on its own. Because of that, I decided to use a low pulse voltage 2 wire parallel ignitor like you see in this video, but it did not start the lamp. In the end, it was able to get it to successfully strike using a high voltage superimposed ignitor, but it struggled to start.

But for this to happen, i.e. for the internal igniter to wear out, many years must pass because mercury lamps do not burn easily, they just lose a lot of brightness over the years, so the same will happen to HPS lamps with an internal igniter!

From what I understand, virtually all 70W pulse start metal halide lamps in the world are interchangeable with each other. In terms of using European 70W high pressure sodium lamps on electronic 70W pulse start metal halide ballasts, i think your best bet is to only use external ignitor European 70W high pressure sodium lamps.

You mean HPS without built in ignitor?

External ignitor lamps mean lamps without built in ignitors. You can tell them apart if you see an “E” inside a triangle. Lamps with built in ignitors have an “I” inside a triangle instead.

Yes I know the auto starter bulb with electronic ballast can even be damaged, all the HPS I have are with an external igniter! so will it be ok? Thanks a lot for your time

@johnjunior5421 Definitely yes.

I got it from a deceased relative’s house. When I first got it, I originally ran only mercury vapor lamps in it. Since it now has an imported Philips SI51 low voltage 2 wire parallel ignitor installed, I have been using it with 175W M57 probe start metal halide lamps every day.

@@kenytha5 As far as I know, they are White high pressure sodium lamps and I am aware that they often require dedicated electronic ballasts.

what about F42T12

Oh yeah, I forgot about the F42T12 slimline. Also there were F60T12 F64T12, and F84T12 slimlines made in addition to the standard 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 footers. I can't ever recall seeing a slimline shorter than 72 inch though. I have seen F60T12-HO used in older grocery store walk in coolers, though. I'd imagine the oddball lengths of 42, 60, 64 and 84 inches were used almost exclusively for signs or vending machines, rather than for general illumination. Even in Kmarts and Walmarts before the days of LED, at least in all the ones I've been in during my younger years, would often finish an end row in a 4 or 6 foot T12 strip otherwise lit exclusively by F96T12.

Interestingly, the 32W lamps and the Japanese 30W energy saver counterparts are all virtually interchangeable throughout the world in terms of size and electrical characteristics while the Japanese 20W lamps are their 18W energy saver counterparts are the same size as and electrically similar to the 22W lamps used in most other countries in the world. However, the Japanese 40W lamps and their 38W energy saver counterparts have a slightly smaller diameter than the 40W lamps used in most other countries. It is certainly interesting to know that the British 60W circline fluorescent lamps are the exact same physical size as the 40W circline fluorescent lamps used outside of Japan even though their power ratings and electrical characteristics are different. Although the 60W circline lamps might be considered the highest power circline lamps for use on magnetic ballasts, Japan does have the 68W FHD70, 83W FHD85, and 97W FHD100 double tube circline lamps for use on dedicated electronic ballasts only. Additionally, the largest circline fluorescent lamp in terms of diameter that I know of are the Japanese 41/58W FHC41 circline lamps, which have a diameter of 447mm while the 40W circline lamps outside of Japan have a 400mm diameter instead.

reducing preheat current of the VHO tube’s cathodes.

@@worldwidehidcollectorusa3519 oh ok

In my opinion, the wattage technically doesn't really matter as long as the voltage, amperage, (avd) arc voltage drop, and (ocv) open circuit voltage, are the exact same or just about.

These fluorescent tubes have an operating current of about 800mA. In fact, my circuit consists of a pair of North American 14-20W choke ballasts and a North American 13W PL choke ballast connected in parallel just so you know.

Certainly something you don’t see every day since T12 high output tubes like these are often used on rapid start ballasts and commonly used for lighting signs.

​@worldwidehidcollectorusa3519 what would I need to power a 35w F24T12 tube?

@@kenytha5 So far, My estimate is something like 5 4-8W T5 choke ballasts in parallel but I have not tested that setup yet, but hope to someday.

​@worldwidehidcollectorusa3519 Another question, I want to use an Advance 14uf 120v cap for my s76 reactor ballast but it's made by Universal and the cap is only for Advance ballasts, is there a solution around it?

@@kenytha5 As far as I know, I think the most important thing to pay attention to is the capacitance in microfarads and the minimum capacitor voltage the ballast requires rather than the manufacturer. I think you should be fine, but otherwise, a simple choke ballast can usually operate just fine without a capacitor.

I have known that there is largely no such thing as a dedicated ‘metal halide ballast’ for the common lamp wattages like 50W, 70W, 100W, 150W, 250W, 400W, and 1000W since low wattage metal halide lamps have been designed with the high pressure sodium specifications in mind, but for the 250W, 400W, and 1000W metal halide lamps in Europe, some of those metal halide lamps have been designed for operation on mercury vapor ballasts and others have been designed for high pressure sodium ballasts. Because of the fact that the 250W, 400W, and 1000W metal halide lamps in Europe have been designed with these different electrical characteristics in mind, you might end up destroying lamps and ballasts if you end up using the ‘sodium ballast’ compatible metal halide lamps on the mercury vapor ballasts of using the ‘mercury ballast’ compatible lamps on the high pressure sodium ballast. Because of these common lamp mixups, some companies notably Philips and Venture have designed ‘dual gear’ lamps like the Philips HPI Plus lamps to be either compatible with mercury vapor or high pressure sodium ballasts of the same wattage. So, in that case, ballasts rated for 50W, 70W, 100W, 150W, 250W, 400W, and 1000W are not usually dedicated ‘metal halide ballasts’ in those situations. Additionally, it is also good to know that in a North American environment such as the USA, low wattage high pressure sodium lamps between 35W S76 and 150W S55 are usually NOT interchangeable with same wattage metal halide lamps because they are all designed with an arc voltage drop between 52-55V instead of 85-100V unlike the European high pressure sodium lamps. Because of this, us North Americans usually have to use dedicated ballasts for the low wattage high pressure sodium lamps with the exception of the 150W S56 high pressure sodium lamp, which can also be used on the same ballasts as 150W pulse start metal halide lamps. It is also good to know that in North America, we also have the 1000W S52 high pressure sodium lamp, which is also NOT interchangeable with most European 1000W high pressure sodium lamps because the typical European 1000W high pressure sodium lamp has a 110V arc tube while our 1000W S52 lamp has a 250V arc tube instead. The lamp that I used in this video is a European 70W high pressure sodium lamp that I imported into the USA and it runs perfectly on the 70W M98 pulse start metal halide ballasts we have over here.

@@worldwidehidcollectorusa3519 well in my school I saw some 250w metal halides in 250w mercury highbay fixtures, but they all work fine which there is a total of 8 fixtures and 4 of them is running a metal halide

I do not think these particular retrofit lamps are compatible with CWA ballasts since they appear to be saturated vapor lamps due to the fact they do not have a bluish white color during warmup like unsaturated vapor lamps like the Iwasaki Sunlux Ultra Ace, Super Ace, and Philips Retrolux lamps. Additionally, I think the excessive OCV from a 400W M59 probe start metal halide CWA ballast might damage the internal ignition components of this particular retrofit lamp. Fortunately, with my HX autotransformer ballast, I was able to run it with confidence, but the 400W H33 mercury vapor HX autotransformer ballasts are extremely hard to find in North America. They might be okay for a short term test run on 400W M59 probe start metal halide CWA ballasts, but I would not recommend using these retrofit lamps with those ballasts in long term installations and would rather use 400W H33 mercury vapor HX autotransformer ballasts for them instead.

The Philips SI51 ignitors I got were from a Chinese eBay seller from what I recall.

The lamp was undergoing a hot restrike.

Although the lamps seem to work fine on mercury vapor ballasts when new, they may become harder to start when they age. It’s interesting that yours did start without any external ignition components.

The starter was simply wired in parallel with the lamp.

Interestingly, the highest power tanning bed fluorescent tubes have a very similar operating current compared to North American 175W M57 probe start metal halide lamps and 175W H39 mercury vapor lamps. That was why I decided to use these Philips BodyTone starters in my experiment.

The lights flicker when turning on because they are fluorescent lamps running on preheat ballasts with starters.

Here in the United States, I have also ran imported European 36W T8 tubes on 40W T12 preheat ballasts before, but with mixed results. From my experience, the European 36W T8 tubes do best on single lamp 40W T12 preheat HX autotransformer ballasts, but they sometimes have problems running on some 2 lamp lead-lag ballasts and run smoothly on other 2 lamp lead-lag ballasts. These results were from my past experiences of running those tubes in my 40W T12 preheat fixtures and ballasts designed for use in North America. Although I love preheat fluorescent fixtures, the 40W T12 preheat fixtures are particularly rare in the USA due to the widespread adoption of rapid start 40W T12 fixtures. Interestingly, there have been 2 foot 18W T8 fluorescent tubes sold in the USA, but they were primarily intended for use in appliances and were largely only available in low CRI halophosphate cool white versions. The tubes that I have used in this video were imported directly from the UK via a British lighting equipment website as they are triphosphor versions.

wow you are really a scientist in this subject, you have a lot of information that really amazes me!!! you know way more about light bulbs than i do!!!😮

The fixture itself was originally intended to replace incandescent lamps in schoolhouse fixtures that originally used shades with 4 inch diameter fitters. I sourced it from eBay. If you search stuff like “vintage fluorescent” or “antique fluorescent”, you may be likely to find one of such fixtures. Additionally, you would also need to use a schoolhouse ceiling fan light kit with a 4 inch diameter fitter. You may also need to remove the lampholder from the ceiling fan light kit and also the 2 prong plug from the fluorescent tube adapter and run the wires through the ceiling fan light kit in order for the mounting bell to firmly attach to the ceiling fan light kit.

The ballast used is a North American 50W M110 pulse start metal halide HX autotransformer ballast wired up like a preheat fluorescent ballast.

@@worldwidehidcollectorusa3519 oh cool

The lamp being used is a 100W H38 mercury vapor lamp.