Hello fine people. Was thinking about getting a sox lamp or two and was wondering what it the best wattage to get as ballasts are very uncommon stateside and what are good cheap substitutes. Thanks for any help!

Hello fine people. Was thinking about getting a sox lamp or two and was wondering what it the best wattage to get as ballasts are very uncommon stateside and what are good cheap substitutes. Thanks for any help!

I have been finding that a magnetic 35/39w M130 MH ballast drives a 35w SOX lamp fine except that you have to look for a 35w 2 wire parallel SOX ignitor to import from Europe since the ignitors that come with these ballasts do not reliably start the SOX lamps all that well. In addition, you might try using a 70w M98 MH ballast and a 90w European SOX ignitor to run a 90w SOX lamp.

Hello fine people. Was thinking about getting a sox lamp or two and was wondering what it the best wattage to get as ballasts are very uncommon stateside and what are good cheap substitutes. Thanks for any help!

I think the best wattage you get is either 35w or 55w. As for substitutes, don't know much about those.

I think the best wattage you get is either 35w or 55w. As for substitutes, don't know much about those.

I did find that for my 35w SOX lamp, I managed to drive the lamp at about 0.53a when using my 35/39w MH ballast and that current reading is pretty close to the 0.6a these lamps are designed to run at. I did get approval from funkybulb that these lamps were safe on 35/39w M130 MH ballasts after learning to use an amp meter.

In terms of the lamps, 35 and 55w lamps are still reasonably priced. I believe 18w lamps are too if you're in the US.

If that ran the lamp ok, i could try getting one to also do 50w mv lamps. Got a recommendation for good igniters?

I recommend you getting a 18W SOX, you can run it with a regular 18W preheat gear with an S10 starter, but you will need a 120V SOX or a 240V gear and mains. Here's the schematic of how to run an 18W SOX on a fluorescent gear.

I recommend you getting a 18W SOX, you can run it with a regular 18W preheat gear with an S10 starter, but you will need a 120V SOX or a 240V gear and mains. Here's the schematic of how to run an 18W SOX on a fluorescent gear.

This setup only seems to work reliably on 240v gear as the setup I have used seems to kill ignitors on 120v mains.

I believe a Fullham Workhorse 2 will run a 18w SOX at almost spot on if you're ok with using an electronic ballast.

This setup only seems to work reliably on 240v gear as the setup I have used seems to kill ignitors on 120v mains.

It might work if he buys a 240V SOX and gear and running all between two 120V phases from the oven outlet.

I've managed to get a SOX 18 to strike on a 240v 20w choke before with a S10 starter. Running off a small step up transformer to get the 240v. A magnetic PL ballast with a similar wattage might also work. The PL ballasts have a small stepup in them as PL lamps a above 13w here need a autotransformer style ballast. So maybe one of those and a FS-4 starter in parallel with the lamp.

I believe FS-4 and S10 starters are fairly interchangeable with each other.

I have good success with a 70W HPS ballast in series with a 36/40 Watt fluro ballast and a hps N70 igniter.
I use 35 Watt SOX lamps.
Supply 240 Volts at 320 mA.

Hello fine people. Was thinking about getting a sox lamp or two and was wondering what it the best wattage to get as ballasts are very uncommon stateside and what are good cheap substitutes. Thanks for any help!

a fulham Workhorse 3 ballast works great for 35 and 55 watt Sox lamps.