Difference Between Pulse Start & Probe Start Metal Halide Lamps « on: July 30, 2022, 04:31:59 AM » Author: 108CAM
Been trying to figure this out ever since I got into lighting. Metal Halide lamps seem to come in many variations but the difference between Probe Start & Pulse Start is my biggest unanswered question.
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	Re: Difference Between Pulse Start & Probe Start Metal Halide Lamps « Reply #1 on: July 30, 2022, 04:53:02 AM » Author: dor123
Probe-start MH lamps have a starting electrode, similar to mercury lamps, and don't requires an ignitor. Pulse-start MH lamps don't have a starting electrodes, and requires an ignitor to start, similar to HPS lamps.
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	Re: Difference Between Pulse Start & Probe Start Metal Halide Lamps « Reply #2 on: July 30, 2022, 05:04:24 AM » Author: funkybulb
That correct the MH lamp is easy to spot if lamps have starting resistor and third starting electrode.   While pulse start dont have them and a wire on each end of arc tube
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	Re: Difference Between Pulse Start & Probe Start Metal Halide Lamps « Reply #4 on: July 30, 2022, 01:40:41 PM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
In some cases, probe start metal halide lamps can start reliably without an ignitor if the ballast’s OCV is high enough. However, if the ballast’s OCV is too low, an ignitor would be needed to start a probe start metal halide lamp reliably, but would need to use a low voltage ignitor like 750v-1000v since higher voltage ignitors like 3kV or 5kV ignitors would destroy a probe start metal halide lamp’s starting probe and/or resistor when the lamp undergoes hot restrike.
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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: Difference Between Pulse Start & Probe Start Metal Halide Lamps « Reply #6 on: July 30, 2022, 02:16:39 PM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
Never knew that the bimetal switch would prevent arcing outside of the arc tube while the lamp was hot. I was just sharing that in Europe, probe start metal halide lamps are often used with mercury vapor ballasts and 750v-1000v 2 wire parallel ignitors while in North America, probe start metal halide lamps are often used with dedicated high OCV autotransformer ballasts to allow for reliable starting without an ignitor whatsoever at all. However, I often see that many people on LG often advise against using a high voltage ignitor to start probe start metal halide lamps. I wonder why that is.  I am not trying to be ignorant of any information that is being presented to me. However, I do appreciate it whenever I learn something new.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2022, 02:24:12 PM by WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA »		Logged

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: Difference Between Pulse Start & Probe Start Metal Halide Lamps « Reply #8 on: August 01, 2022, 12:38:16 AM » Author: Medved
Quote from: Max on July 30, 2022, 02:13:51 PM That's incorrect (are you and dor123 related?). The bimetal switch that is found in all MH lamps built with an ignition probe prevents this risk of arcing outside the burner while it is still hot. The explanation I have seen so far was, the high electrical field between the probe and main electrode during operation would trigger electrolztic decomposition of the sodium salt and so bring the reactive sodium ions into contact with the quartz (more over around the rather fragile seal area). The bimetal switch shorting the auxilary to the main probe potential eliminates this field. If the breakdown in the outer were an issue, you could not operate MV lamps on the higher OCV MH ballast (in the US), such arcing would kill the MV's within a short time, should it be really a problem. And for the "pulse start" term it is meant the lamp need a HV (so above 1kV pulse) ignitor. The ignitors for probe start lamps on 230V mains series reactors are just 750V, so low voltage. But it is true mainly at high power ratings (with their rather low buffer gas cold pressure) the breakdown voltage becomes quite low (with only small "push" in the form of finetuning the gas composition), so the 750V ignitor is able to reliably ignite lamps even without the starting probe.
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