Here you can see my Na-1 lamp that I recently acquired:
https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-260373Here are my questions:
1) Lifespan:
These lamps have a rated lifespan of only 500 hours. What happens at EOL? Do the filaments break or is it something else? My lamp is used, and already has a little bit of sodium in the lower envelope area, which I know is not really supposed to be there. Is this bad?
2) Argon:
In SOX lamps, I hear it is good practice to run them for many hours at first to make sure the argon doesn't get absorbed into the glass, because Penning mix is used to start the lamp. However, when I excite the gas in my lamp with a tesla coil, it is visibly purple, not the usual orange of penning mix. On Lamptech it says that there is argon and neon inside, but I suppose that there is a lot more argon than there usually would be in Penning mix because of it's purple color. Does this mean that I am not as risk of argon loss?
3) Burning Position:
On Lamptech it says that base-down is the burning position. But since the stand it comes with has the ability to go in any position, what would really happen if you burnt it horizontal or base up?
4) Date Codes:
I have never read a date code or dated anything lighting-related before. I understand that these lamps have date codes, but how do I read them and what do they mean?
Thanks so much!
