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outdoor Mercury Vapor lamp - starting to fail

967 views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  frenchelectrican 
#1 ·
Hi. We have an old (1970's-ish) outdoor lamp, automatic on/off. I think it's mercury vapor - the label says: USE ONLY MV-175 WATTS, TYPE H39 LAMP, 120V 60Hz AC Max 4.0A ...

It's been working fine for 40 or 50 years, but lately it sometimes fails to turn on, or turns on hours later than is should.
Any ideas why it would fail only intermittently?
 
#8 ·
They do last very long time however you still can get MV lamps but not the ballast they are no longer legit due the engery pact.


To OP ., If you want to keep simauir luminaire there is a metal halide verison it should have about the same light level as old school MV but only use about half of the power.

100 W MH is about the same as old 175 watter MV are and count the ballast loss that will add up fast so with MH it will actually about 120 watts or so depending on normal or high power facter ballast while common MV useally run about 225 to 250 watts.

Merci,
Marc
 
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