Hello,

I recently bought a Krypton arc lamp, the kind used to pump YAG lasers. It’s a Heraeus Noblelight lamp very similar to an Osram KBF 2500 except it’s rated for 4000W. The arc tube is 75mm long and 5mm diameter.

I want to run this lamp but not at full power because these things overheat and explode, what would be the easiest way to get a continuous arc running through it that gives some light? I was thinking maybe a neon sign transformer but those are AC and would maybe damage the electrodes since this is a DC lamp.
I also have access to DC power supplies up to 600V and MH ignitors and ballasts 400-850W. Thanks for any tips.

Can you post lamp/electrode pictures? I believe running it on a neon transformer briefly (for some seconds, just to get a picture) certainly would not harm, the electrodes should be very robust really, and the power is comparable to that of an ignitor running. Just do not abuse this as running arc lamps in glow discharge for long promotes sputtering.

You can build a high voltage bridge rectifier to run the lamp on DC off a neon transformer easily. Something like diodes from microwave ovens, or other cheap suitable HV diodes from Aliexpress comes to mind. But probably it is not necessary.

Thank you for the tip Roman. Will keep these things in mind. Here is a pic of the Lamp. Has the one sharp electrode as you see which is believe is characteristic of the DC lamp? But definitely these are quite big electrodes, at least 4mm.

Based on the electrode sizes, this lamp is certainly may be run briefly on a low current just to take photos. Probably much longer too, but of course hard to predict how much sputtering will happen. Depending on the quartz formulation, some UVC may be emitted even on a low current.

I recently learned, that some Schiederwerk ignitors, typically in use for entertainment metal halides, are capable to run on pure DC. That may be a way to run this lamp on higher current. Or it may be probably possible to ignite this lamp with an external electrode and a small pulse transformer/tesla coil, applying only a low voltage DC across the main electrodes, in the style typically done with xenon flashlamps.