I just ordered this to add to my collection:



If you look hard enough you can still find mercury fixtures.
It is a Heath-Zenith 100watt mercury vapor floodlight, SL-5675-WH, was only $52.00 and if you want one you can go here:

http://www.plumbersurplus.com/Prod/Heath-Zenith-SL-5675-WH-100-Watt-Mercury-Vapor-Flood-Light-White/102889/Cat/52

I am not sure but I think it comes with a clear lamp. If it does I am also going to get a coated lamp. I am re-starting my collection and I am partial to floodlights, I think because the way they look and the directionality of the light. Next up will be some HPS and MH flood fixtures and an LPS, if I can find one, just to round out the collection. I already have a Hubbell Minitliter II that is a 250watt MH/MV and this will complement it nicely. I am going to try to keep the fixtures at 175watts and under but I have always wanted a 1000 watt anything. I am also going to add, eventhough it is not HID, a 6" fresnel 750watt studio light just because I've always wanted one. Anybody else have the above light or have or like floodlights more than other fixtures?

Got it today. Came with a clear "Grandlite" brand lamp, never heard of that brand, I hope it's not a crappy lamp. Usually when I have seen this type of fixture it always comes with a coated lamp, so it's kind of cool it came with a clear one. It also has a PC on the side with a metal guard you can add on to reduce stray light from affecting it. It's a nice fixture and I like the size and shape of it. Beautiful blue/green mercury color at full brightness but I am still going to get a DX lamp. Here are some pics...

Warming up...



Full brightness...I forgot just how bright a small 100 watt Mercury lamp really is...



Heath-Zenith SL-5675_WH box...I ordered it from the sight above but apparently this actually came from a Home Depot as the shipping tag has that as a return address. The box looks like it may have been shuffled around on the shelf a lot and possibly opened but the light is in perfect-new condition with all the parts and instructions. This light is also available in a 70 watt HPS version too...



Here is the built in photocell on the lower left of the fixture. There is a metal shield that can be added to reduce stray light from causing the fixture to cycle off/on...



And here is a shot of the clear 100 watt MV off brand lamp. It appears crooked because the base was not glued perfectly straight onto the glass bulb....




So what do you all think of it? One of these days I will get pics of my converted Regent flood and Hubbell Miniliter II as well as some other fixtures I am going to buy.

Ok here is my Regent SFL type flood. Originally a 100 watt MV fixture I converted it to a 70 watt MH. This fixture was in service for a few years at my Dad's house until recently.

Here it is starting up...



Full brightness. The lamp has an almost black arc tube and it's light output is starting to diminish- time for a new lamp...



The 70 watt MH Advance ballast that is crammed into the fixture, the capacitor is under the socket and the PC is at the bottom right. The ballast just kind of floats in there right now and really the only thing holding it in place is the reflector...lol. One day I hope to get a smaller ballast in there. In the upper left hand corner you can see the lamp...



Here is the Philips 70 watt MH lamp with blackened arc tube. It's still pretty bright and slightly pink but I think it's on it's way out...



The super thick glass lens...



This one also has a PC...



I also forgot to mention I have a Hubbell 70 watt MH square flood, I don't really like these too much because of the shape and bulkiness but I am still going to keep it. Ironically, the ballast I put into the SFL was from another Hubbell square flood that I gutted. So eventually when I get some more new floods I will put up pics, guess I should start an album.

I think its a good flood, and the 70 watt MH one I like even better.

Are you sure the darkening is permanent and does not disappear after warm-up? Some time ago i was scared, then my MH lamp (ceramic Powerball) is already darkened, but after a while i tried to look, how the arc behave after starting and i was surprised, the dark "coat" inside the arctube slowly disappear, while the lamp was warming up, starting from clearly hottest areas of the arctube.

Are you sure that's not because the light slowly becomes intense enough to penetrate the black coating? I don't think the quartz wall gets hot enough to vaporize any tungsten deposits that may form there.

Gailgrove, which 70 watt were you talking about? Was it the converted Regent SFL in the pic or the square Hubbell I mentioned?

And the only thing I can tell you about the black arctube is I'm guessing it's just from use as it was on every night for 5 years. I will be converting the SFL to 100w HPS soon, and I'm also going to get a new 70w MH lamp for the Hubbell square. I know I could use this one but I want all my fixtures to have new lamps to start with. Haven't decided on the brand lamp yet.

Are you sure that's not because the light slowly becomes intense enough to penetrate the black coating? I don't think the quartz wall gets hot enough to vaporize any tungsten deposits that may form there.

It is for sure not because the light intensity, the coat was clearly visible to disappear, like foggy window in your car, when you blow a hot air onto the glass (OK, on the window the water really evaporate, in the lamp it is more complex).
The tungsten does not vaporize directly, but it react with halogens (there is slight excess of them, as their complement metal atoms are held "naked" in the arc plasma), the compound evaporate easily, travel into the arc and there it dissociate into bare tungsten and halogen (The "halogen cycle" known from halogen lamps). And to make this happening, the lamp has to reach given temperature and has to stay on it long enough for the halogen cycle to proceed.

Gailgrove, which 70 watt were you talking about? Was it the converted Regent SFL in the pic or the square Hubbell I mentioned?

And the only thing I can tell you about the black arctube is I'm guessing it's just from use as it was on every night for 5 years. I will be converting the SFL to 100w HPS soon, and I'm also going to get a new 70w MH lamp for the Hubbell square. I know I could use this one but I want all my fixtures to have new lamps to start with. Haven't decided on the brand lamp yet.

I was referring to the one with the pictures of it.

Ah yes the SFL. Those are neat little fixtures and the perfect, compact size for residential use. Too bad you can't find them anymore. It was available in white or bronze with either a 100w MV or 70w HPS, all included a PC built in. I think it may also have been available in a 70w MH version too, I seem to remember that when I special ordered this one from Regent. Cooper has a newer version I think but it is different?... not sure.