Author Topic: How often do you like to run your HID lamps?  (Read 1317 times)
108CAM
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How often do you like to run your HID lamps? « on: June 23, 2022, 07:20:21 PM » Author: 108CAM
I usually like to run my HID lamps at least once every 2 months to ensure the gasses don't leak out and to make sure the gear still functions properly. The reason for my infrequent runs of my HID lamps is for 2 reasons, firstly due to how much power the large ones use and secondly because I'm trying to keep the lamps in working order for as long as possible.
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Re: How often do you like to run your HID lamps? « Reply #1 on: June 24, 2022, 11:11:27 PM » Author: joseph_125
No specific schedule, some are run daily on a timer, some once ever 2 weeks, some haven't been ran in years. Also a lot of my NOS bulbs have only been run once or twice or even never.

I do try to ensure each run I keep them on for at least a hour though, just to have it warm up fully. SOX I usually try to run for at least 2 hours.
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Re: How often do you like to run your HID lamps? « Reply #2 on: June 25, 2022, 10:31:08 AM » Author: Econolite03
I’ve only ran a few of my NOS bulbs like twice (or three times) just to test them out and for fun, but other than that most lamps I’ve never run. I’ve ran my 180W LPS for about 30 minutes, but don’t kill me yet.
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Re: How often do you like to run your HID lamps? « Reply #3 on: June 25, 2022, 10:36:33 AM » Author: funkybulb
When I do run my Hid lamps it will be running for that night
 And there peice paper with date last run and it running
 Hours time.  It could be any where from 20 watt to 2000
Watts.  It would cost me 1 dollar to run a MV for the night.
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Re: How often do you like to run your HID lamps? « Reply #4 on: June 25, 2022, 11:44:51 AM » Author: Rommie
As we have so many, we don't get to light all of them regularly, but we try to run one or two of each type as often as possible. We used to have a 'Lamp of the Day' feature at one time, but that seems to have fallen by the wayside, we'll try and get back into it.
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Ria (aka Rommie) in Aberdeen
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Re: How often do you like to run your HID lamps? « Reply #5 on: June 29, 2022, 08:56:53 AM » Author: bulb_tester2009
Start all MHs every half a month to two months, and operate for about 10 ~ 30 minutes each time (restart every 15 minutes after turning off the switch).
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Re: How often do you like to run your HID lamps? « Reply #6 on: June 30, 2022, 04:55:28 AM » Author: ultraviolet
every day of course, lots of our flood lighting is hid :)
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Re: How often do you like to run your HID lamps? « Reply #7 on: June 30, 2022, 05:55:05 AM » Author: dor123
I run my Philips ML 160W and my Osram HWL 160W SBMV lamps only at the winter, since they heats me up in the summer.
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108CAM
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Re: How often do you like to run your HID lamps? « Reply #8 on: June 30, 2022, 07:29:20 PM » Author: 108CAM
Nice to see the responses. Hopefully I can run my fixtures more often in the future when I obtain more replacement lamps
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Fluro starter pings combined with a 50hz ballast hum and blinking tubes is music to my ears.

Rest in Peace Electronic Lamp Manufacturers of Australia
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Bring back the AJF Zodiacs!

Total incidents since joining LG: 17
Lamps accidently broken or smashed: 14
Ballast explosions/burnouts: 3

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Re: How often do you like to run your HID lamps? « Reply #9 on: July 11, 2022, 05:41:39 PM » Author: arcblue
I'm not sure if it's bad for lamps to sit years or even decades unlit, but would guess ballasts that contain capacitors shouldn't be let to sit for many years unused. I suspect lamps can suffer in storage too, as I've had some spare fluorescents that wouldn't work when finally put into use. So, I'm planning to try to light spares/collectibles once a year for a few hours at at time. I do worry about my spare ballasts going bad and wish they were easier to hook up and run periodically.

In many cases collectible lamps are safer being installed in a fixture, as they are less likely to be dropped or broken. At least that has been my experience, or maybe I'm just...clumsy sometimes. I run my collectible fixtures & vintage lamps several times a year at least.

I think at least a 30 minute run is necessary but a few hours is better, especially with SOX lamps and maybe medium-pressure mercury lamps too. I don't like to run 400w and higher lamps for longer than an hour due to the electricity use though plus they are unnecessarily bright in a house.
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Re: How often do you like to run your HID lamps? « Reply #10 on: July 11, 2022, 05:59:50 PM » Author: Rommie
It's certainly not bad for the lamps in my experience. I've had old lamps that have been sat for 60 or more years unused and they fire up first time. Likewise, a ballast should be ok if it's in good condition and has been stored in a clean, dry environment. Magnetic lumps left in the bases of lamp posts for 60 years are probably a different story, though, having said that I have a 90W SOX leak transformer that by the state of it looks like it's been round the block a few times, but it works perfectly. Your mileage may vary, as the saying goes.
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Ria (aka Rommie) in Aberdeen
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Re: How often do you like to run your HID lamps? « Reply #11 on: July 11, 2022, 06:09:24 PM » Author: joseph_125
Yeah, I've never really had a NOS lamp fail to fire up completely. There were some lamps like some Sylvania 34w /CWX fluorescents where I had to coax them into starting on a single lamp ballast before they would start on a double lamp ballast but that's about it.

As for the ballast, magnetic ones shouls be fairly durable. You might want to check the capacitor though if it still meets specs if it looks like it's in rough shape. It's not that much of a concern for you in 240v areas where chokes are common but a bad cap on CWA gear can take the ballast with it.
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