Ballasting mercury lamps with incandescent / halogen lamps « on: July 02, 2022, 06:30:33 AM » Author: HIDLad001
I want to build an area light that uses a 175W mercury vapor and a 300-500W halogen tube for ballasting. I have seen it done before, and self-ballasted lamps operate similar to this. But is there any way I can do it on 120V? Will I need a transformer to step it up?
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	Re: Ballasting mercury lamps with incandescent / halogen lamps « Reply #2 on: July 02, 2022, 11:26:21 AM » Author: HIDLad001
For the transformer, I would need to know how much my setup draws, and then calculate the amperage using Ohm's law. Luckily, I have a 240V socket in the workshop, so its shouldn't be hard to find out that information.
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	Re: Ballasting mercury lamps with incandescent / halogen lamps « Reply #3 on: July 02, 2022, 11:36:13 AM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
However, you will need an even higher mains voltage like at least 380v if you want to resistively ballast North American 1000w H36 mercury vapor lamps and 700w H35 mercury vapor lamps using incandescent lamps as the ballast.
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Desire to collect various light bulbs (especially HID), control gear, and fixtures from around the world.

DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.

	Re: Ballasting mercury lamps with incandescent / halogen lamps « Reply #4 on: July 02, 2022, 11:48:56 AM » Author: HIDLad001
Quote from: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA on July 02, 2022, 11:36:13 AM However, you will need an even higher mains voltage like at least 380v if you want to resistively ballast North American 1000w H36 mercury vapor lamps and 700w H35 mercury vapor lamps using incandescent lamps as the ballast. I have no plan in using those wattages. I will only be using low wattages, like 175W.
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	Re: Ballasting mercury lamps with incandescent / halogen lamps « Reply #5 on: July 02, 2022, 11:51:50 AM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
It is a true fact that most HID ballasts in North America actually do contain transformers in them because most HID lamps cannot reliably run on plain 120v mains using a simple choke ballast alone except for North American low wattage high pressure sodium lamps.
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Desire to collect various light bulbs (especially HID), control gear, and fixtures from around the world.

DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.