The leak is possible to recognize only via such stain formation, we are talking about very tiny amount of sodium, it leaked as a gas and so slowly it haven't formed significant discharge in the outer (then the tube would be completely black or even heat shattered).
And yes, it is not a normal EOL for a HPS, but rather a defect in the arctube, so vast majority of lamps does never reach that state.
But I would say it is not that uncommon defect, have seen not that many lamps as a few people here (who are doing maintenance of some lighting as their job), but have seen already a few such failure. They were early faikures, so way before the lamp life was due...
|
|
|
Logged
|