Here is my new SON fixture with a lamp (I want SOX, but SON always crosses my path, but, I cant complain, I am lucky I even get something)

A company had it installed to light something

But when that space was converted to a parking lot, there was no need for a light there

So they took it down: https://images2.imgbox.com/47/e9/cOaHgZOk_o.jpg

They offered me the whole pole, I even had space to put it at, but sadly, the pole was 8m, and I couldnt transport it 50km, it wouldnt fit in my car, couldnt even strap it to the car

I did think of shortening the pole to 1m, to be a size of a regular lamp, but even that was not possible, because the pole is thicker at the bottom (it has 3 sections of thickness) so you cant just cut it and weld it back

So I had to part with the pole, and only took the fixtures

They are 150W fixtures made by Siteco: https://images2.imgbox.com/f9/b3/0iZwV7XE_o.jpg

And they are with me now: https://images2.imgbox.com/da/cc/kjZQbTXA_o.jpg

Here is how I store them (they take less space, hope its ok): https://images2.imgbox.com/26/5b/krrS8paq_o.jpg

I didnt yet power them, because I am afraid

You see, because it took sometime so to get in touch with the right people, the fixtures were sitting in the open (like the first picture shows), for about a month and water got in them

So ballast rusted: https://images2.imgbox.com/7b/3c/hM6VHzWw_o.jpg

Is this ok, I realy dont want to replace the ballast, because its 60€ and I would need 2, because both ballasts are rusted

Ballast probably is fine. They can get much more rusty and still work. But do make sure that you don't leave the ground wire unconnected!

The main risk is, the rust occupies more space than the iron did, so the rusty core tends to expand. That may put under stress the winding, so much the insulation between turns may break. Therefore the need for good grounding, as the risk of the core getting energized and so posing shock hazard is greater than with not rusted ballast. Grounding (PE connection) takes care of that shock hazard.
Second risk may be overheating due to the interturn short, so somereasonably rated fuse (about 2x the normal input current, slow blow) on the input takes care of that.

Otherwise until it fails, it will work normally,there is no other degradation.

A pro approach is to check circuit insulation resistance between line inputs and ground. Better with a proper 'megger' meter having an elevated test voltage, about 1kV. It has a better chance to catch insulation deterioration early. If the circuit has a significant leak, say below ~10megOhm, I'd try to dry the ballast thoroughly, if still not help, replace it. 150W 230V chokes are not particularly rare or expensive to get.


 

All wired up and working (I did wait a couple of days for the ballast to completly dry out

https://images2.imgbox.com/fc/1a/kv2V9qTY_o.jpg


https://images2.imgbox.com/0a/88/x9NETnUM_o.jpg

Now what I find interesting is that its not as orange as I hoped for (on camera it looks orange/yellow), while to the naked eye, if u look direcly at the bulb, it looks like a very hot steal rod, just before it melts (like white, but not quite), not pink, since the bulb looks quite new (stil can read the 150W writing on it, but writing is a little wiped away)

While if u look what the bulb iluminates, soroundings are orange like, like this: https://images2.imgbox.com/32/a1/clFFHSh6_o.jpg (behind the door is the lamp, and I actualy managed to capture correct color)

The bulb is Osram Navilux, maybe this has something to do with the color

You see HPS lights that we have on our street are more orange, why is that?

This should be the same fixture as we have on our street

PS: if I look at the bulb, then for a couple of seconds I have a hard time reading anything on my phone and my eyes hurt

Why I find this wierd is because if I do the same thing with my 250W Osram one (inside a floodlight fixture), this doesnt happen

Your lamp looks pretty normal to me. They produce a golden light. I'm not used to them looking orange at all.

Make a diffraction grating spectroscope (plenty of plans online, you just need a CD/DVD and some cardboard) and see if you can find mercury vapor lines in either your lamp or the lamps outside. In most HPS lamps there is mercury vapor adding a small amount of blue and green light to the spectrum, and the associated lines are easy to recognize.
However, since in the entire EU mercury based lamps of *any* type are being phased out, there are now also fully mercury free HPS lamps that will lack these spectrum lines.

Use a halophosphate lamp to get to know the mercury spectrum lines.

If, however, you're somehow overdriving your lamp, the light will get whiter due to the higher pressure inside of the lamp. Conversely, if you underdrive it, it will become more monochromatic. On startup, HPS looks like LPS for a few moments because the pressure hasn't built up.

Nice thnx, will flurescent lamp (I have 1 18W, 1 32W, and 2 (the longest u can getW)  work, they are all coolwhite (does it have enough mercury) so I could get to know this mercury spectrum lines


I do know that my HPS lamps, starts like blue with a little orange, while hps lamps on the street, start completly white, then become orange

I do love the first LPS phase my hps lamp goes to while starting up, I wonder how do I force it to stay in this phase?

I do have 250W HPS lamp (and ballast), and also a few 400W HPS lamps (no ballast)

If I stick my 400W hps inside my 150W HPS ballast will this force the lamp to not enter HPS phase and emit monocromatic light?

I dont want to destroy my ballast or cause my lamp to explode

PS: if u compare LPS phase to HPS lamp, to a real LPS lamp. Is the color and light the same?

Nice thnx, will flurescent lamp (I have 1 18W, 1 32W, and 2 (the longest u can getW)  work, they are all coolwhite (does it have enough mercury) so I could get to know this mercury spectrum lines

If they are marked CW, 33 or 640 they will do fine.
Triphosphor tubes include too many other lines.

I have to add something - i have some SON 50w mercury containing lamps according to the carton. I can, however, not at all find the mercury lines with my Little Garden spectrometer. I am trying to find my diffraction grating one. Either way, the mercury seems to not really add anything to the color of the lamp. It's so little that even if i hook up a bare arc tube to a ccfl inverter, i can not see the mercury lines. I will have to get the professional diffraction grating spectroscope from work and re-check if you can still notice them when warm.

I do love the first LPS phase my hps lamp goes to while starting up, I wonder how do I force it to stay in this phase?

Your only option is to underdrive them. You can safely reduce power by about 30-40% (so a 400w lamp on 300w would be okay, or 200 on 150) but there is no guarantee that you'll reach your goal. Furthermore, if there's mercury in them, you'll still have some color rendering from having blue and green light. need to verify this, first impression is that it doesn't really matter much

If I stick my 400W hps inside my 150W HPS ballast will this force the lamp to not enter HPS phase and emit monocromatic light?
I dont want to destroy my ballast or cause my lamp to explode

Underrunning lamps will never make them explode. However, with such a dramatic reduction in power, it may happen that the cathodes won't heat up enough and therefore get damaged.

PS: if u compare LPS phase to HPS lamp, to a real LPS lamp. Is the color and light the same?

Somewhat, but efficiency is much much lower.
Advise: go to the DIY store and grab some paint color sample cards if you want to compare how things look. These are not printed with the CMYK process but are actually pigments.
In the attachments you find my Philips SON 50w about a minute after turning on (no color rendering) and a few minutes after turning on (some color rendering, not quite fully up to temperature).


I'll say it again: brand new LPS lamps AND drivers are available from https://voorraad.dbl-verlichting.nl/
Furthermore, GP20Na spectral lamps are available from Aliexpress (same price) though you need a choke that can limit current to 1A at 15 to 20v. A 100w 230v fluorescent tube ballast comes close but doesn't quite cut it. You'll need to combine different chokes, but you'll end up spending as much or more than when you just buy a new production sox lamp that will likely also last longer than the spectral lamp.
I just ordered a GP20Na though - i'll post here once i have a working system.

When you underdrive a brand new HPS lamp, it would reach SOX color. Only used redded out HPS lamp, where the sodium-mercury ratio is more to the side of the mercury, will show the mercury lines when dimmed and won't reach SOX color?

GP20Na also does yellow (does it also color change when it starts up?), would love to see a video of ur setup

Hmm never heard of them, nice

Although I prefer SOX due to color change when starting up, best thing is that they are still being made: http://www.glowobject.com/

Although not sure about quality

Will get SOX as soon as I found a nice fixture, thats not a streetlamp

Will try my 400W lamp on my 250W floodlight and hope it stays yellow

GP20na is low pressure, so it's yellow and stays yellow. There is some other starter gas in there, because it starts on mains voltage and does not need an igniter, but that has very little influence on the color rendering.

It is meant as a spectrum lamp, so the amount of light you get out if it is much less than from a SOX18, but enough to function to light up a dark corner of a room.

The lamps that glowobject sells are also sold by DBL i think.