Splendid

The Japanese produced fluorescent lamps with a green glow in the dark coating.

This is good to know. Another thing I've wondered... is it possible to run those kind of Metal Halide lamps on ballasts that use mains electricity?
It seems as if those kind of Metal Halide lamps are made specifically for vehicle use only, but I know I could be wrong about that.

They were. Because for general lighting they would be way too expensive, inefficient and short lived.

The automotive application has way more frequent starting, then there is the instant output requirement. Plus they need to be quite geometrically precise in the arc positioning.
These features cost a lot of money, lower efficacy and shorter life, but are not needed for general lighting.

On the other hand in car headlights they do not make that many total hours, so rated bulb life is in the 1000 hours ballpark is sufficient for car use, but totally unacceptable for general lighting use.


One consequence of the Xenon buffer gas is quite high ignition voltage, above what standard MH ballasts are not able to support. Dunno if the lamps with integrated ignitors (with superimposed igniotors in their base, like D1S) would work on a sinewave ballast OCV, there is a chance they will be actually able to work. But these weren't that common as the systems having ignitors within the ballasts.

So best way would be to really use the 12V DC power supply and then the original automotive ballast for them. Just make sure it is able to deliver at least 10A, at least for a short time, the ballasts tend to draw that power for the warmup boost function. Also don't forget the ballast efficiency during the boost does not have to be that great, so their input current at the 12V could really be in the 10A ballpark.
With most "aluminum brick" power supplies you may crank up the voltage by a trimpot (up to 16V at least), that way you get more power from them, as the overload protection uses to respond to output current and not the true power, but the HID ballast really draws the power, so at higher input voltage their input current will be lower.

I remember getting an Advance F20T12 trigger start ballast from a Home Depot store in the USA that also required a circuit interrupting lampholder.

Home Depot, no never got one there...but Hugh M Woods(a store now long since out of business), yes I bought a couple of those ballasts(don't remember brand). I never used them lampholders - just going with a standard one instead(I don't remember the stores even selling the interrupting type)
Also I've had various 1xF40 fixtures that had those...my tendency was to get rid of the circuit interrupting lampholder because they suck!

You can power the automotive ballast from an external power supply

No worries!

Canberra is its own council entirely (ACT Government), and Transport Canberra and City Serices (TCCS) owns the streetlights but hires a contractor to maintain the streetlights, the current contract is held by Omexom. I've previously reached out to TCCS about acquiring used streetlights, but unfortunately am not able to get them. I am somewhat in contact with someone from Omexom, but probably wouldn't be able to get one through him.

Try messaging Troy's Street Light Colection on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/auststreetlights/ ), he's usually quite generous with his lights and may have one spare.

Other than them, there's no other way to acquire one that I can think of, being a lantern from the 60s and 70s.

I've got metal hat off the top of one, and most of the diffuser, but it's smashed up pretty bad and is held together with tape.

FYI I've got an HW 877 (rebranded as Philips, but has the British Eleco part numbers) in my collection that you can view here. https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=7956&pos=35&pid=256961

Hit me up anytime for any other streetlight identification!

Hope this helps.

The afterglow is not about the lamp itself, but about the various yellow/green/orange stripes and markings in areas like emergency corridors or so (the markings on various obstacles, edges of stairway steps, various safety stickers,...).
The point is, the emergency fixture should not illuminate only in visible, but also in some UVA, so that the safety markings would work as designed when illuminated only by those emergency lights.

@RRK
But shouldn't that only apply to instant-start ballasts? A partially inserted tube on an energized TS/RS ballast shouldn't be able to strike and kill you like it would on a IS ballast because both cathodes aren't warm. Unless maybe the OCV is high enough to strike on only one heated cathode, but that sounds unlikely.

The "not striking" is just not reliable enough to base a human safety on it. It normally does not strike, but some mains spike or disruption (e.g. someone switches some load ON or OFF,...), or even static electrical field outside of the lamp and it strikes with cold cathodes anyway.
For lamp life it is enough such cold starts won't happen too frequently. And that is the criteria how the systems specifications are designed. Not that it should NEVER cold start.
So if you need to ensure people won't get zapped via the discharge in the lamp, the system needs to have some interlock mechanism in it, ensuring the voltage is applied only after the lamp is fully inserted.
For instance the sockets commonly used in Europe for bipin fluorescents allow the lamp to be inserted only when the slit is vertical, but then the contacts to the lamp are not connected. You need to twist the lamp in them to connect the power, but then there are no exposed prongs anymore.
Or electronic ballasts need to sense the presence of at least the cold side filament before they start.
And generally the short pins makes the risk of touching them when manipulating the lamp in live fixture somewhat lower.

With the long pins the risk of someone touching them when manipulating the lamp is way too high, plus the required starting voltage way too high to be really dangerous, the sockets require explicite cutout contacts/switches in the sockets...

Hi, I am looking for a Raymond Industries Wyt-Ray post tops or even just the diffuser. Picture provided to clarify what I am looking for.

Oh that makes so much sense because yes we are in Australia. We are in Victoria. Do you have any ideas where we might be able to find these to purchase? What LGA they are in maybe and I will reach out to that council?
Thanks, this is thr best information we have recieved to date.