Haha that's a really bad power factor! Consuming 15 amps with just ~400 watts, lol!! I'd suggest replacing the old bad capacitors with some modern polyester film motor run capacitors instead, they are awesome for lights. It's what I've used on some of my HID's! ❤ Beautiful lamps, love Mercury vapour a lot!
Wow. That's a pretty bad ass floodlight. Replace the condensers and throw in some new 400W probe start metal halides and you'll have football field lighting in your backyard and make you the Clark Griswold in town for Christmas. Lol I've read on some lighting forums that new probe start metal halides will work fine on a mercury vapor ballast of matching wattage, but have trouble starting and appear as EOL when in fact the lamp is still good for another several thousand hours because metal halide has a slightly higher starting voltage requirement than mercury vapor, which increases as the lamp is used to the point of exceeding the open circuit voltage of the MV ballast, while a MV lamp will run on a probe start or pulse start MH ballast with no problem. Other forums I've read say that probe start MH lamps will not work on MV ballasts, but MV lamps will work on MH ballasts with matching wattages. Have you had any experience with this and if so, how did it work out for you?
I've had good luck with mh lamps on mv ballasts of their respective wattages.. in fact the church I do lighting work for has a 175w westinghouse nema head street light on a pole with a sylvania metal arc 175w lamp installed... which I did myself. And on the other part of the building there are 2 MH prove start wall packs I put mercury lamps in and both are running great no issues
From what I have read on the Lighting-Gallery forum, some European collectors have said that they can get probe start metal halide lamps to run properly if they use a same wattage mercury vapor ballast in conjunction with a low voltage 2 wire parallel ignitor such as the Philips SI51 to help improve starting reliability over time in order to maximize the lamp’s usable life. The low voltage ignitor technique has been used in Europe because of the fact that a simple choke ballast is a way more efficient and economical ballast option compared to developing a dedicated autotransformer ballast with a slightly higher secondary voltage like what is available in North America.
@@worldwidehidcollectorusa3519 thank you for sharing your knowledge. I enjoy learning new stuff from other lighting collectors from around the globe In European countries, since they already use 230V, 50Hz power supplies or 230/400V 3 phase, as compared to North America's 120/240V, 120/208V 3 phase (or 277/480V only found in larger office buildings and large commercial and industrial buildings) it only makes sense they would use the simplest ballasts possible. Although I have to admit, I used to always wonder why other countries used preheat ballasts for 4 foot and larger fluorescent lamps long after the 2 lamp rapid start F40 ballasts became one of the most common ballasts in North America for decades, even lasting into the F32T8 electronic instant start era.
@@Sparky-ww5re As far as I know, preheat fluorescent ballasts are also way simpler than that of rapid start ballasts in terms of their design and the European ones have been wired in series with the tube. Just so you know, I think that a vast majority of countries in the world have adopted European spec lighting. It is also good to know that some Latin American countries and Japan have also been known to use a mix of preheat and rapid start ballasts well into the modern era. Sadly, whenever I have been trying to find knowledge about the unique lighting for the Japanese market, I have seen ZERO collectors native to Japan on LG or Facebook. In those cases, I have often relied on lamp catalogs, lamp spec sheets, Japanese lighting websites, and imported lighting equipment owned by me and other collectors to gain knowledge on Japanese lighting. For many of these sources, I often use Google Translate to read the information in English after taking screenshots. However, I have happily seen a few native Japanese lighting collectors on youtube such as FKT, shimo shimo, and MLZ; but virtually all their content is in Japanese. Even for the Japanese lighting youtubers, I also have to use Google Translate to read subtitles in English if I have closed captions turned on.
Nice lights. I hope you find fresh new bulbs.
Lâmpadas 400 Watts 💡💡vapor de mercúrio
Haha that's a really bad power factor! Consuming 15 amps with just ~400 watts, lol!!
I'd suggest replacing the old bad capacitors with some modern polyester film motor run capacitors instead, they are awesome for lights. It's what I've used on some of my HID's! ❤
Beautiful lamps, love Mercury vapour a lot!
Wow. That's a pretty bad ass floodlight. Replace the condensers and throw in some new 400W probe start metal halides and you'll have football field lighting in your backyard and make you the Clark Griswold in town for Christmas. Lol
I've read on some lighting forums that new probe start metal halides will work fine on a mercury vapor ballast of matching wattage, but have trouble starting and appear as EOL when in fact the lamp is still good for another several thousand hours because metal halide has a slightly higher starting voltage requirement than mercury vapor, which increases as the lamp is used to the point of exceeding the open circuit voltage of the MV ballast, while a MV lamp will run on a probe start or pulse start MH ballast with no problem.
Other forums I've read say that probe start MH lamps will not work on MV ballasts, but MV lamps will work on MH ballasts with matching wattages.
Have you had any experience with this and if so, how did it work out for you?
I've had good luck with mh lamps on mv ballasts of their respective wattages.. in fact the church I do lighting work for has a 175w westinghouse nema head street light on a pole with a sylvania metal arc 175w lamp installed... which I did myself. And on the other part of the building there are 2 MH prove start wall packs I put mercury lamps in and both are running great no issues
From what I have read on the Lighting-Gallery forum, some European collectors have said that they can get probe start metal halide lamps to run properly if they use a same wattage mercury vapor ballast in conjunction with a low voltage 2 wire parallel ignitor such as the Philips SI51 to help improve starting reliability over time in order to maximize the lamp’s usable life.
The low voltage ignitor technique has been used in Europe because of the fact that a simple choke ballast is a way more efficient and economical ballast option compared to developing a dedicated autotransformer ballast with a slightly higher secondary voltage like what is available in North America.
@@worldwidehidcollectorusa3519 thank you for sharing your knowledge. I enjoy learning new stuff from other lighting collectors from around the globe
In European countries, since they already use 230V, 50Hz power supplies or 230/400V 3 phase, as compared to North America's 120/240V, 120/208V 3 phase (or 277/480V only found in larger office buildings and large commercial and industrial buildings) it only makes sense they would use the simplest ballasts possible. Although I have to admit, I used to always wonder why other countries used preheat ballasts for 4 foot and larger fluorescent lamps long after the 2 lamp rapid start F40 ballasts became one of the most common ballasts in North America for decades, even lasting into the F32T8 electronic instant start era.
@@Sparky-ww5re As far as I know, preheat fluorescent ballasts are also way simpler than that of rapid start ballasts in terms of their design and the European ones have been wired in series with the tube. Just so you know, I think that a vast majority of countries in the world have adopted European spec lighting.
It is also good to know that some Latin American countries and Japan have also been known to use a mix of preheat and rapid start ballasts well into the modern era.
Sadly, whenever I have been trying to find knowledge about the unique lighting for the Japanese market, I have seen ZERO collectors native to Japan on LG or Facebook. In those cases, I have often relied on lamp catalogs, lamp spec sheets, Japanese lighting websites, and imported lighting equipment owned by me and other collectors to gain knowledge on Japanese lighting. For many of these sources, I often use Google Translate to read the information in English after taking screenshots. However, I have happily seen a few native Japanese lighting collectors on youtube such as FKT, shimo shimo, and MLZ; but virtually all their content is in Japanese. Even for the Japanese lighting youtubers, I also have to use Google Translate to read subtitles in English if I have closed captions turned on.
.23 is a TERRIBLE power factor. The higher the better. .90 or above is considered high power factor.