I use LED almost exclusively around my house. However I have a 70 watt metal halide open rated 3200K ED17 bulb in a halogen torchiere my mother purchased late 1991 or sometime 1992 when I was a toddler. I have the ballast, capacitor and ignitor in a metal 8x8x4 junction box sitting on the floor with lamp cord rigged to the ballast, did the conversion in 2014 when I got my first apartment. Roughly equivalent to a 300 watt halogen with less heat and easy on the power bill although the bulb does get pretty toasty and I don't run it on a timer while on vacation. My 4th grade niece gets a kick out of watching the bulb fire up turning from the blueish mercury vapor to the beautiful 3200K light that fills the room.
There are actually some HID fixtures that do not use any capacitors at all. The 175W H39 mercury vapor yardblaster fixtures often designed for residential applications use no capacitors at all.
The ballast isn't a transformer, it's an inductor, to interact with the AC, to limit current. As such it doesn't have an "output voltage", the drop across it is dependent on its value, the frequency of the supply, and the resistance of the arc in the tube.
I replaced over 200 500 watt halogen bulbs in hanging pendant fixtures 35ft from the floor, with 20 degree LEDs from GE, dropped to 12 watts each. Had to combine the circuits from 4 fixtures each, 50 circuits, to just 4 circuits because the old dimmer packs wouldn't load up and dim properly, flickering, because of the low amp draw and no resistive load.
A mercury vapour lamp is a very poor quality (CRI) light source, and the green colour you see in the camera is correct. However, our eyes adjust their internal white balance to match the light source, so you wouldn’t normally notice it.
Metal halide (MH) and pure mercury lamps are different. MH lamps can have CRI 80+ which is considered as good, better ones have CRI 90+. It depends of make and model. Some may have quite specific spectrum (like grow lamps) and thus poor CRI. As a side note (seeing the lamp standing vertical), I remember MH lamps may have specified working orientation and it is good idea to follow that. Even in the demo unit like this.
I’ve never measured them. To the naked eye, I think it’s very hard to tell the difference in brightness. I do perceive that the led corncob is more harsh to look at, though
LED technology is still somewhat in its infancy and is only getting better and more reliable. Those Corn LED lamps are also available in IP 65 ratings, so they are suitable for damp and wet environments. Although, I am not a big fan of those lamps that have built-in cooling fans. Those type lamps are also available without cooling fans and use passive cooling to keep the lamp cool. HIDs are way more interesting than LEDs, but less efficient. It’s sad incandescent, fluorescent and HID lamps are being banned in some states, and the bans will most likely continue to the remaining states. At some point, future generations will be nostalgic for LED lighting when the next lighting source type is being introduced to the public. This whole LED hate craze is due to the current generation of lighting enthusiasts love for nostalgia. They are only being critical of the current flaws of LED technology to validate reasons to keep the incumbent lighting technologies they grew up with alive. That will all change once LEDs fully take over and the technology improves.
Metal halide lamps are around 5x more efficient than incandescent bulbs, LEDs around 10x. So, LED is 2x more efficient than MH. I still use ceramic MH lamps as plant lights during wintertime (compensating short and dim daylight).
@@TheSickestNick Low pressure sodium was best for street lights in my opinion. im a trucker and cant stand the new leds at night. too white, too dark and far too much glare.
I use LED almost exclusively around my house. However I have a 70 watt metal halide open rated 3200K ED17 bulb in a halogen torchiere my mother purchased late 1991 or sometime 1992 when I was a toddler. I have the ballast, capacitor and ignitor in a metal 8x8x4 junction box sitting on the floor with lamp cord rigged to the ballast, did the conversion in 2014 when I got my first apartment. Roughly equivalent to a 300 watt halogen with less heat and easy on the power bill although the bulb does get pretty toasty and I don't run it on a timer while on vacation. My 4th grade niece gets a kick out of watching the bulb fire up turning from the blueish mercury vapor to the beautiful 3200K light that fills the room.
There are actually some HID fixtures that do not use any capacitors at all. The 175W H39 mercury vapor yardblaster fixtures often designed for residential applications use no capacitors at all.
The ballast isn't a transformer, it's an inductor, to interact with the AC, to limit current.
As such it doesn't have an "output voltage", the drop across it is dependent on its value, the frequency of the supply, and the resistance of the arc in the tube.
400w metal halide is better since the light is quite close to sunlight! Every time I turn it on I always catch huge moths!
I replaced over 200 500 watt halogen bulbs in hanging pendant fixtures 35ft from the floor, with 20 degree LEDs from GE, dropped to 12 watts each. Had to combine the circuits from 4 fixtures each, 50 circuits, to just 4 circuits because the old dimmer packs wouldn't load up and dim properly, flickering, because of the low amp draw and no resistive load.
It’s pretty awesome how much more efficient these LEDs are!
A mercury vapour lamp is a very poor quality (CRI) light source, and the green colour you see in the camera is correct. However, our eyes adjust their internal white balance to match the light source, so you wouldn’t normally notice it.
Metal halide (MH) and pure mercury lamps are different. MH lamps can have CRI 80+ which is considered as good, better ones have CRI 90+. It depends of make and model. Some may have quite specific spectrum (like grow lamps) and thus poor CRI.
As a side note (seeing the lamp standing vertical), I remember MH lamps may have specified working orientation and it is good idea to follow that. Even in the demo unit like this.
My HPS doesn't take a capacitor for some reason
That’s odd… but I’ll be honest, I haven’t worked a ton on high pressure sodiums so maybe that’s actually normal??
@@TheSickestNick I think the higher wattage HPS like my 150w fixture requires a capacitor to regulate the voltage
so which one is brighter? did you use a lux meter to measure them?
I’ve never measured them. To the naked eye, I think it’s very hard to tell the difference in brightness. I do perceive that the led corncob is more harsh to look at, though
In europe we only need an ignitor and an inductor for MH lamps😂
That’s neat
So i guess that if it is exposed to weather it will get RUSTY?
That whole contraption? Absolutely. I don’t think my rid would last a week outside…
LED technology is still somewhat in its infancy and is only getting better and more reliable. Those Corn LED lamps are also available in IP 65 ratings, so they are suitable for damp and wet environments. Although, I am not a big fan of those lamps that have built-in cooling fans. Those type lamps are also available without cooling fans and use passive cooling to keep the lamp cool. HIDs are way more interesting than LEDs, but less efficient. It’s sad incandescent, fluorescent and HID lamps are being banned in some states, and the bans will most likely continue to the remaining states. At some point, future generations will be nostalgic for LED lighting when the next lighting source type is being introduced to the public. This whole LED hate craze is due to the current generation of lighting enthusiasts love for nostalgia. They are only being critical of the current flaws of LED technology to validate reasons to keep the incumbent lighting technologies they grew up with alive. That will all change once LEDs fully take over and the technology improves.
As someone prone to nostalgia, I agree with you
Metal halide lamps are around 5x more efficient than incandescent bulbs, LEDs around 10x. So, LED is 2x more efficient than MH.
I still use ceramic MH lamps as plant lights during wintertime (compensating short and dim daylight).
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Thank you!
You don't like white light? You must not like LED light then. I prefer white over warm white
I might be kinda weird, but I prefer the old yellow high pressure sodiums in street lights. The white LEDs hurt my eyes in the dark…
@@TheSickestNick I can understand that, my mom is sensitive to light as well
@@TheSickestNick Low pressure sodium was best for street lights in my opinion. im a trucker and cant stand the new leds at night. too white, too dark and far too much glare.
@@TheSickestNicksame thats exactly why i hate led street lights, long live sodium
hate led's
I’m surprised how many people don’t like them