Do mercury vapor bulbs need ballast?
As with fluorescent lights, mercury vapor lamps require a ballast to supply the proper voltage and regulate the current to the electrodes. The ballast is designed to be used with a specific size, or wattage, of bulb.
What is the purpose of the ballast in a low pressure mercury lamp?
In a fluorescent lighting system, the ballast regulates the current to the lamps and provides sufficient voltage to start the lamps. Without a ballast to limit its current, a fluorescent lamp connected directly to a high voltage power source would rapidly and uncontrollably increase its current draw.
How do you test a mercury vapor ballast?
Plug it into an outlet and take measurements of the voltage that goes between the capacitor lead that is black and the COM. This will tell you whether the lamp and the capacitor are good. The voltage should read 15 VAC, but it should ramp up to 130VAC within 5 to 10 minutes. This will indicate if the lamp is defective.
What is a mercury ballast?
Mercury vapor ballasts are designed to drive tubular ultraviolet lamps. The other type of lamp is a mercury vapor lamp with metal additives. The additives used in the lamp create changes in the spectral output. Ballasts are used to initiate and control the arc in mercury and metal additive curing lamps.
Why does my mercury vapor light buzz?
It’s the ballast that is humming. It could run for another five years like that. A mercury vapor lamp uses a small arc tube enclosed within the larger outer globe.
How can you tell the difference between metal halide and mercury vapor?
There is no difference between metal halide and multi vapor lamps because both names describe the same form of lamp. Metal halide or multi vapor lamps are a form of the light source that creates light via passing an electric arc through a gaseous mixture of mercury vapor and vapor of some metal halides.