I signed the petition-I am confused-thought the ban on mercury lights,fixtures,ballasts was already lifted in the US.

I signed the petition-I am confused-thought the ban on mercury lights,fixtures,ballasts was already lifted in the US.

Just bulbs

9 supporters 

Keep in mind westy will last average 15 to 20 years at decent lighting level.  One  onnce westy used up the antiblacking agent. It will start forming black deposit
On the lamp. It will start to dim out and get dimmer
For rest of it lamp life.

Keep in mind westy will last average 15 to 20 years at decent lighting level.  One  onnce westy used up the antiblacking agent. It will start forming black deposit
On the lamp. It will start to dim out and get dimmer
For rest of it lamp life.

An antiblackening agent?

Yes that correct,  during it lamp life it leaves white deposit on the arc tube.  Until it get used up it will star
Sputtering emissive material off from electrodes
That what u see on normal modern MV lamps
That why westing house lasted so long
There a OV 20 prolly with orginal lamp
And it dont emit much light after 50/60 years
Of service 400 watt mv so green out that like 100 watt MV

Yes that correct,  during it lamp life it leaves white deposit on the arc tube.  Until it get used up it will star
Sputtering emissive material off from electrodes
That what u see on normal modern MV lamps
That why westing house lasted so long
There a OV 20 prolly with orginal lamp
And it dont emit much light after 50/60 years
Of service 400 watt mv so green out that like 100 watt MV

What if it had no electrodes, or the electrodes were pure Mercury, so they can't sputter?

If there no starting electrode then lamp cant start. Then it become a pulse start lamp, that what Iwaski Moon pulse MV is.  Also it have to have emitter. Think of
It as a High pressure short arc Fluorescent lamp
That sputters off the emitter during start up
This why arc tube becomes black. This reducing
Light ouput due sputtering on arc tube.

If there no starting electrode then lamp cant start. Then it become a pulse start lamp, that what Iwaski Moon pulse MV is.  Also it have to have emitter. Think of
It as a High pressure short arc Fluorescent lamp
That sputters off the emitter during start up
This why arc tube becomes black. This reducing
Light ouput due sputtering on arc tube.

I'm thinking of a Mercury rectifier, which used Mercury electrodes.

I have seen both clear andn phosphor MV lamps being sold at the Both Lowes in my area.Mercury vapor rectifier tubes-just that the Mercury is in vapor form in these tubes.The electrodes are the cathode-filament,and plate-usually iron or steel.These were used a lot in older broadcast transmitters.When overloaded the tube glowed like a mercury lamp-underloaded-hardly any glow.That is why I liked them-disadvantages-they could "arc back" from overvoltage-and their output sagged as the tube aged.When "plug in" solid state "tubes" became available-these replaced the mercury tubes.The open frame ones were fine-and you could repair them.The epoxy covered "tubes" had the bad habit of catching on fire if the diodes in them shorted.

I have seen both clear andn phosphor MV lamps being sold at the Both Lowes in my area.Mercury vapor rectifier tubes-just that the Mercury is in vapor form in these tubes.The electrodes are the cathode-filament,and plate-usually iron or steel.These were used a lot in older broadcast transmitters.When overloaded the tube glowed like a mercury lamp-underloaded-hardly any glow.That is why I liked them-disadvantages-they could "arc back" from overvoltage-and their output sagged as the tube aged.When "plug in" solid state "tubes" became available-these replaced the mercury tubes.The open frame ones were fine-and you could repair them.The epoxy covered "tubes" had the bad habit of catching on fire if the diodes in them shorted.

I thought all of the Mercury arc rectifier tubes had liquid electrodes.

The only Mercury rectifiers that had liquid electrodes-or anything like that would be the mercury arc rectifiers used for very high current applications-like electroplating,arc welders,locomotive traction motors and so on.They were also used as "crowbar" tubes in HV supplies.3 of our transmiters have these "Ignitron" type crowbars.If there is an overload-the tube shorts the HV supply to ground,discharging the supply filter caps and tripping the HV supply 4160V breaker.The tubes in or use are small sealed units-for larger uses they can be opened-mercury replaced-insides of the tube cleaned,and electrodes replaced if needed.As their name implied these devices had a third "starter" electrode-sort of like probe start HID bulbs.And with the serviceable arc tubes there was a vacuum pump to evacuate the envelope before putting the tube back into service.GE was big on these during the 40's and 50's.During the sixties these devices were replaced with silicon diode rectifiers and SCR's.Beleive the large glass envelope mercury arc rectifiers-common in UK had the pool electrode.These also had the starting electrodes.Maybe folks from UK can provide the information on these devices-seen them on YouTube video clips.

Can't we do more? There's only 9 supporters.

Hello? Anyone? We need help getting people to know about this!

Bump, does nobody care about this anymore?