suzukir122
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I'm thinking about purchasing socket splitters and SB PAR38 Metal Halides.  Could using SB PAR38 MH with socket splitters, prove to be a bad idea? Let me know your thoughts. I've been thinking about doing this for a long time, but I've been VERY reluctant. |
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LampLover
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| I think it really depends on the quality of the socket splitters. If you are talking about one of the newer Chinese made cheap white plastic ones I would say "NO Way" to that idea, however if you have one of the older USA made one that are made out of heavy duty bakelite with the brass contacts I say Go for it. I think it also depends how hot the screw shell on the lamps socket can become. I have a Philips 100W 4K CMH and the max permitted base temperature is 190C or 374F. I don't think one of those Self Ballasted ones will get that hot but it is something to think about. I think with a quality socket splitter it should be fine.
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LED Free Zone!
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A nice daylight CFL
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As long as the base don’t get to hot and also the wattage is not over the limit of the splitter I say GO FOR IT  |
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Down with the halogen bulbs
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wide-lite 1000
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| I agree , those SBMH lamps with the internal electronic ballast don't seem to get very hot. The 2 I have don't anyways .
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suzukir122
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| See that's the thing... I've seen tons and tons of cheap Chinese made socket splitters on Ebay, and it's so bad, I can tell that they're cheap by looking at them through photo's. I've seen only like 2 "new old" socket splitters, but those were the 2 socket versions. The ones I'm looking for are 3 sockets.
Are there any vintage 3 lamp sockets out there for sale that I could use? Something that would look great hanging from a ceiling fan, basically.
I know SB PAR38'S don't get too, too hot, but I'm being VERY cautious here.
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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Ash
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| If this works, it will act as a twin arctube lamp - Starting one lamp at a time (random or the easier striking one), and change if you attempt to hot restrike
Where this could fail :
1. MH lamps produce more heat at the lamp itself (some of which dissipates through the lamp base etc, so gets to the adapter) vs. Incandescent. If a Plastic socket is rated for Incandescent lamp of some power rating, it may not be able to deal with the heat of a non Incandescent lamp of the same or even somewhat lower power... The fairly big envelope of a reflector lamp does help dissipate the heat better though
2. The adapter will be subject to ignitor output voltage - Momentarily (and likely to clamped down voltage levels) in a normal lamp striking, but continuously to full voltage in case of a hot restrike. An adapter that does not have adequate clearances between the contacts inside or that somehow got contaminated, could arc over. Once the arc makes contact with the Plastic body of the adapter, it will electrolyse the plastic in its path and create a conductive path, from which point it will very likely turn into a flaming mess
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joseph_125
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| I believe the OP is asking about using self ballasted MH lamps so you can use regular non pulse rated equipment with them. I have a some socket adapters ranging from the cheapo off brand eBay/Amazon specials to name brand but modern Leviton adapters. I personally would only use LED lamps with the eBay/Amazon specials but I think something like a modern Leviton will be fine with two SBMH PAR 38 lamps. I'm not sure about other brands but the Levitons I have still have full metal screw shells instead of threaded plastic with a small contact for the shell.
Unfortunately the modern Levitons are only available as a 2 lamp splitter.
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Ash
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| Then no problem, also the ballast compartment of the lamp will also separate the lamp heat from the socket (the ballast dissipates much less heat). Well, as long as the adapter maintains proper contact at all
And in this case, it will work normally and not as a twin arctube lamp
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dor123
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Other loves are computers, office equipment, A/Cs
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| If the lamp is self-ballasted, then there is no reason for the socket to be exposed to the pulses of the ignitor inside the lamp.
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I lives in Israel, which is a 220-240V, 50hz country.
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Binarix128
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220V AC 50Hz, NTSC
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| I think there's no problem, most of the plastic sockets are rated for at least 60w incandescent, so the heat of the lamp will not destroy the socket, just choose a good one, there are chinese ones that melts even with a 40w inc. If the lamps is PAR, the UV light will not reach the socket and desintegrate it.
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suzukir122
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hmm... well... I'm guessing this isn't a bad idea? Even with the cheapo Chinese splitters? So far Leviton might be where I go with this plan... but I might not do this at all if Leviton only provides socket splitters with 2 sockets. And yes, I'm talking about socket splitters and Self Ballasted Metal Halides. (PAR38) No other special equipment, from what I understand, would be necessary. That's one of the upsides to this strange idea of mine. lol
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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tolivac
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| Where do you get the SB MH Par38 bulbs-would like to add some to my collection and possible use in PAR fixtures above the garage.
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suzukir122
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| @Tolivac, you can get SB MH PAR38s with ease on Ebay. There are plenty of them for sale. However, if you're looking for
the non 120v versions, you'll have a much tougher time finding them, although 240v versions do exist!
The only 240v SB MH that I know of are 25w ones from Philips.
With the 120v ones, you can find 23w (GE), 24w (Sylvania), and 25w (Philips)
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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sox35
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@Tolivac, you can get SB MH PAR38s with ease on Ebay. There are plenty of them for sale. However, if you're looking for
the non 120v versions, you'll have a much tougher time finding them, although 240v versions do exist!
The only 240v SB MH that I know of are 25w ones from Philips.
With the 120v ones, you can find 23w (GE), 24w (Sylvania), and 25w (Philips)
Indeed, the 240V ones are quite rare actually, they were not made in the quantities that the 120V versions were. I did find a couple, but I had to get them from Germany  |
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suzukir122
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| @Sox35, yep it was you whom I spoke to about this before. Switching to Germany Ebay would help in finding 240v SB MH PAR38's.
In terms of socket splitters... I'm still unsure about purchasing any. My goal is to find a 3 lamp socket splitter that I can
install into my ceiling fan in my bedroom. After that, I'd screw in 3 MH PAR38's into that socket splitter.
Here's another stupid idea of mine: I'll be adding powder, possibly even baby powder, to the glass surface of each SB PAR38. My goal is to
soften the brightness. I've done this before with my previous SB PAR38 MH.
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend
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