Metal Halide bulb in sodium lamp....

Existential Angst · 2012-05-16T23:58:01+00:00

Awl -- Guess what.... of course it didn't lite up! Seems like the sodium bulbs were mixed in with the metal halide bulbs, in the hardware store, and I was just looking for "70W".The Q is: Did it harm the ballast? The bulb was in there for a few minutes, while I mucked around (25 feet up in a tree), tryna figger stuff out, before I noticed the "MH" designation on the bulb... A short length of the glass stem glowed very slightly.So, I disconnected the fixture (70 W) from power altogether, until I can (hopefully) exchange the bulb.I doubt the bulb was harmed. Man, these things aren't cheap.... almost $22 for the metal halide bulb.These bulbs are really inneresting in design. Not sure what does what, but the insides are neat.I assume most of these bulbs are similar to regular ole fluorescents in principle, where the atom at hand needs to be vaporized, then ionized (ignited), then kept in a steady state current.

May 16, 2012 22 Replies

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Existential Angst 14 years ago

And, apparently, having the sense not to place sed thermometers over square miles of black asphalt... LOL

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Ed Huntress 14 years ago

Hmm. 'Sounds interesting.

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krw 14 years ago

...or heat exchangers.

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