Author Topic: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions  (Read 4483 times)
IOT_1928
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Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « on: June 03, 2012, 07:29:09 PM » Author: IOT_1928
I can't find a 80w/100w MV ballast for a reasonable price, and is there and MH/HPS ballasts that can be used instead? I've heard that one can use a 70w MH ballast for 100w MV lights (w/o ignitor). How about the 80w MV? I have a 50w MH ballast, but it is electronic and has a built-in ignitor.
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paintballer22
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Re: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « Reply #1 on: June 03, 2012, 08:18:46 PM » Author: paintballer22
A 70w metal halide M98 ballast without ignitor will run a 100w merc.As for the 80w it will overdrive it a little, how much I do not know.
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Medved
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Re: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « Reply #2 on: June 04, 2012, 03:55:17 PM » Author: Medved
...As for the 80w it will overdrive it a little, how much I do not know.

About 20%. MV's (nearly all) have ~115V arc, the M98 feed that by 0.95A, what is 100W (power factor of the arc fed by sinewave current is about 0.9 due to voltage vs current shape mismatch).
So the lifetime of the 80W MV would be a bit shorter there, but it would have the output of the 100W...
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Ash
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Re: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « Reply #3 on: June 04, 2012, 04:57:45 PM » Author: Ash
You can probably add some more ballasting if you add another inductor (something big probably on the order of 400W mercury/HPS/MH) in series with the mercury lamp

This would probably only work for NPF circuits, where there is no capacitor in series with the lamp

Verify this with Medved i am unsure whether i got the "400W" suggestion right or missed
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IOT_1928
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Re: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « Reply #4 on: June 04, 2012, 05:58:30 PM » Author: IOT_1928
In Canada, all HID ballasts are HX/CWA, unlike Europe, where there are choke ballasts for MV lamps.
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Ash
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Re: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « Reply #5 on: June 04, 2012, 06:04:53 PM » Author: Ash
There are no hokes for 277V ?
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IOT_1928
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Re: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « Reply #6 on: June 04, 2012, 06:12:32 PM » Author: IOT_1928
I can't get 277v chokes. My suplier doesn't sell them. However, we do have HPS chokes, 35w,50w,70w,100w,150w.
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marcopete87
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Re: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « Reply #7 on: June 04, 2012, 06:44:58 PM » Author: marcopete87
for my 125W mv i used 2x58W fluorescent ballast.
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IOT_1928
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Re: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « Reply #8 on: June 05, 2012, 03:41:00 PM » Author: IOT_1928
Can a 50w M110 ballast be used to run a 80w MV (without ignitor)?
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Medved
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Re: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « Reply #9 on: June 07, 2012, 01:00:28 AM » Author: Medved
Can a 50w M110 ballast be used to run a 80w MV (without ignitor)?

Look for the current, the MV80W require 0.8A.
If the M110 is the same running spec as European HPS 50W, the current would be bit below 0.7A what mean the lamp would run at about 65..70W. The consequence would be longer warmup and a bit less of light.
But I don't think you would find anything better, unless you would wound custom ballast...
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WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
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Re: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « Reply #10 on: December 19, 2021, 05:32:20 PM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
About 20%. MV's (nearly all) have ~115V arc, the M98 feed that by 0.95A, what is 100W (power factor of the arc fed by sinewave current is about 0.9 due to voltage vs current shape mismatch).
So the lifetime of the 80W MV would be a bit shorter there, but it would have the output of the 100W...

From my experience, when I tested a European 80w mercury vapor lamp off a 70w M98 pulse start metal halide HX autotransformer ballast without the ignitor, the lamp current measured at about 0.78a since European 80w mercury vapor lamps have a 115v arc voltage drop whereas North American 70w M98 pulse start metal halide lamps run at about 85v 0.88a. The reason that the European 80w mercury vapor lamp was driven properly was because the higher arc voltage drop decreased the lamp current of the European 80w mercury vapor lamp.

 In that case, the European 80w mercury vapor lamp is NOT overdriven or underdriven, but close to full power. I will do a test to verify that European 80w mercury vapor lamps will run at full power on North American 70w M98 pulse start metal halide ballasts without ignitors in the near future.
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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.

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Re: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « Reply #11 on: December 20, 2021, 02:14:11 PM » Author: funkybulb
let cut all garbage here above.  First i would find a Magnetic High output fluorescent ballast that runs Two lamp F48T12HO the ballast will be spot on 0.8 A as F72HO runs 85 watt 0.8 A   It will be spot on to run 80 watt mercury lamp.  In order to run this lamp u need use one of reds and one of blue lead that will shunt the lamp in on a two lamp F48 ballast to drive 80 watt mercury lamp as it can drive a 85 watt HO F72T12 tube.


Now on CWA 100 watt mercury ballast it will drive 80 watt mercury lamp but trick is to reduce the uF to lower uF value slightly to bring lamp current down a bit.  Cause CWA ballast will shove the current to the lamp keeping it contant wattage.

 That just two ways going about this
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Re: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « Reply #12 on: December 22, 2021, 02:33:43 AM » Author: AngryHorse
Er….guys, why are we answering posts from 9 years ago?  ::)
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WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
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Re: Mercury Vapor Ballast Substitutions « Reply #13 on: December 22, 2021, 02:35:39 AM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
Sometimes i find it interesting to shed new light on old forums by posting what I understand about the question at hand.
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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.

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