Hi everyone, I made an adventurous move and bought a 35 watt Philips SOX lamp on eBay.  It was a good price and I know these are really unique and awesome looking lamps that are quickly being phased out by LED.  This Philips lamp was made in Scotland, home of my earliest ancestors. 

As I consider what I'll need to fire it up, I would like to ask for your assistance.  What kind of ballast and/or ignitor will I need?  Is there any special equipment needed for SOX lamps?  I'm looking to build something really rudimentary to run this lamp, like my ballast boxes for my metal halide lamp and HPS lamp.  Thank you for your help 

Never run it base down... you'll need to find a way to run it horizontal or upside down... The cathodes will be destroyed by the sodium if you run it base down....

In 120 volt land, you just need a ballast like an advance 71A0490-001D basically any 55 watt LPS ballast will drive the 35 watt tubes, even though newer ballasts data sheets only indicate 55 watts, they will work with your 35 watt tube, and you don't need an igniter because the lamp only needs about 400 to 500 volts to start them, which the Autoleak type ballasts used in 120 volt applications are able to provide without extra parts. They do have a much lower ignition voltage then a HPS.

Now the ballasts are a challenge to find at a good price, and in stock, watch Ebay and re-store because I'll let you know a new ballast is about $100 to $300 plus depending on where you look but don't go to high on a used ballast if it's only a few bucks more for a new one go with the new one, because honestly you never know what your getting or how it will be packed and shipped when they are used, but if you can get it cheap buy them quick, right now and they are $100 on amazon plus a few bucks in shipping.. And in the past few months since philips announced the halting of LPS lamp production the prices of the ballasts is falling, now I don't know how long this will last and how low they will go so it might be worth it to keep checking and if your shopping on amazon use something like camelcamelcamel to check the pricing history and have them email you when they reach a price you like and see if it's price is falling or rising..

The other thing your going to need is a Bayonet type socket, look at ebay/amazxon for those you can get them in both plastic and ceramic styles. Also consider using wire from the ballast to socket rated to 600 Volts if your going to use it for any length of time..    

Now I also understand you can run them from a Fulham workhorse solid state florescent ballast, now I haven't done this yet, but 589 and Lights*Plus have played around with this so you might want to shoot them a PM or check there galleries for info, because those are way cheaper then a magnetic LPS ballast and they are also more efficient.. If you get one that works please post it on the gallery so the rest of us can enjoy it and copy it..

Like Homebrewlamps said keep them base up to horizontal (0 to 110 degs of base up) with horizontal being the best for lumen production and lifespan, you also need to support the other end of the tube and not allow the socket to support the full weight of the tube, something as simple a piece of copper wire or a terry clip or even a stretched out spring from a bic lighter is all you need basically it's just something for the tube to rest in it doesn't have to be tight and should allow for some expansion and contraction as they warm up and cool down..  

Thank you for your help Owen and Lodge! 

Never run a SOX lamp base down.

A 55 watt ballast will run a 35 watt SOX lamp properly.

No ignitor necessary.

The prices on LPS ballasts are dropping now that the lighting technology is being phased out.

71A0490-001D ballast and a bayonet base are needed.

Excellent advice, y'all!  I'm excited to get it up and running here soon and I appreciate your help!

Oh and when you start playing with them, and get your first one going, you'll want more of them ..

And another note: Once started, always let them run for at least a hour. Otherwise the repeated starting may cause "atmosphere cleanup" (some fill gas components get jammedinto the arctube wall, so disturbing the Penning mixture), yielding higher necessary ignition voltage, so starting difficulties. The prolonged continuous operation expel the gasses back (the heat releases them), so recovers what the ignition caused to the gas fill content.
Modern lamps are not that much sensitive to this effect as some older LPS generatios were, but they are not completely insensitive either...

And try not to switch them on and off more then once a day, they really where built to only switch on once a day and run all night long, the starting phase is what does the most damage to the emitter material on the cathodes reducing there life but if you run them in dusk to dawn service you normally will get a good life out of them...

Here’s the ballast that I found on eBay and the LPS socket that I found on Amazon. The ballast is a 71A04F0.

You know that ballast is a 347 / 480 volt ballast, you'll need a transformer to step up the 120/240 found at home... So if your planning on going that route you might also want to look for a 150 VA or higher control transformer so you can step 120 up to 480 VAC.. Well unless your lucky enough to have 347 / 480 power at home ... 

You know that ballast is a 347 / 480 volt ballast, you'll need a transformer to step up the 120/240 found at home... So if your planning on going that route you might also want to look for a 150 VA or higher control transformer so you can step 120 up to 480 VAC.. Well unless your lucky enough to have 347 / 480 power at home ... 

That’s the only voltage of this ballast that is available on eBay at the moment.  I do have a step voltage converter that can step my 120 volts up to 240 volts. Perhaps I should look for a 480 volt step converter.  Thank you for your help 

Control transformers are about the cheapest step up/step down you can get in that voltage range, they are also fairly common used so if your going that route try and find one at least 150 VA or higher and they are normally made with decent screw terminals and designed to be mounted inside a control box, if your playing with 480, make sure you place it inside a grounded box and some of the older GE unit have a nice box built around them for your wiring... 

Fulham workhorse 3, Use both red wires. It will also run a 18w lamp well too with no change. It's a very good cheap way to get started.

Control transformers are about the cheapest step up/step down you can get in that voltage range, they are also fairly common used so if your going that route try and find one at least 150 VA or higher and they are normally made with decent screw terminals and designed to be mounted inside a control box, if your playing with 480, make sure you place it inside a grounded box and some of the older GE unit have a nice box built around them for your wiring...  

found this bad boy in the scrap yard... Pretty sure it was brand new too.. Found it on one of  the nights I snuck in.. It was in the same crate as those sensors I mentioned before in another thread... Honestly it amazes me what people send to the scrpayard... howver I don't think this was originally owned by them...


you see the property that the scrapyard is on is on a huge plot of land where a factory complex used to be, It burnt down several years ago however some bits of the buildings remain and these guys use parts of them, however other parts of the building are full of stuff that appears to have not been moved ever since the place closed wayyyy before it burnt down, including equipment and other stuff.. just sitting there crates, boxes tools LIGHTS, some vacuume tube equipment some old computers etc.... these guys have so much under their nose that they're unaware of because they have not taken the time to hike over piles of old factory equipment... the building is wide open on two sides from wheree it collapsed partially so thats how I get in. honestly alot of the stuff thats sitting in there is either at high risk of being water damaged or already has been, so I might aswell save some stuff ey?? they don't care about any of it... Oh btw you know that exit light I have? if anyone wants one let me know.... there is a HUGE pile of them buried behind a whole shizzload of equipment.. I literally had to hike to get over these piles no joke.. they have battery backups on them and are made of aluminum... I'm assuming their old, Some are a bit wet and soaked in water and dirt but nothing a little love wont fix ey?

Here's a drawing of my plans for setting up my SOX lamp, socket, and ballast on a display board.  Please note, I am using a 71A0450 ballast.  Can you tell from my drawing if I have the wires going to the right places for this to light?  Thank you for your help!

From the schematic that looks a power factor capacitor not a starter, you don't need it... I drew up a little picture because I felt it'd be easier than explaining... forgive me.. I drew the transformer on the schematic wrong... you get the general gist though.


Update... I corrected the ballast on the schematic... it was irritating me lol.