Here's my 250w Sylvania metalarc. Still works great even though it's a bit blackened. i also have a brand new 250w metalarc that has only been used for 45 seconds when I tested it. It took about 15 seconds to ignite, so I thought it was dead. Thankfully it wasn't. This one starts right away though.
It could happen. I've also taken blown up lamps out of service too. Kinda not fun getting the base out of the socket. Only burn that lamp in a enclosed light with a glass lens. Acrylic may melt from the heat.
Yep the walpack has a nice thick glass lens. Does a MH lamp blow up randomly or is it at startup? Is there a way to tell if/when a MH lamp will go boom?
They sometimes color shift to pink before they go BANG! and it can happen at random, but I've never seen one blow at first startup! It usually happens after the arctube heats up! I've seen a few GE halarcs that had bulged arctubes that ALMOST exploded, but replaced them before they did!
This one is still white with a tint of blue. It starts off as a hologen color then shifts to its bright white-blue color.
how long do you guys think this lamp has? I want to keep using it as it works, but I don't want it to explode because it will scare the hell out of me and more importantly, it will release mercury.
How black do MH lamps get before they explode?
and will this definetly explode?
And one more question: What does the paint do?
Thanks.
sounds like its nearing EOL , that halogen like start-up is normal too as the electrodes are very hot
does the arc swirl at all when it warms up or has been burning a while? EOL lamps tend to do that or if they are poor quality like what our best buy uses
honestly they can get much blacker then that!
i would just run this thing till it blows or passively fails, btw horizontal is harder on the arc tube as the arc bows upwards causing uneven temps, horizontal "universal" rated lamps will not always last their rated life . pink lamps are really close to EOL just like Rudy said , but thats not always a good indicator , most likely since you don't use it that much for long hours it will passively fail, just not light up
summing this all up : about 2,000 hours lamp life left
That's plenty of time i guess. i run this maybe an hour every two weeks so it's not like it's running frequently. Is passive failiture when it dies without exploding? I'll have to check about wether or not the arctube swirls. I have never ran this lamp with no refractor over it. The fear of lamps exploding has always haunted be with MH lamps. This is a Sylvania Metalarc, which are one of the best quality MH lamp you can buy IMO. This does run horizontally... It's a universal burn lamp. Is there some sort of sign that a lamp is going to blow up such as getting unusually bright suddenly or flickering or it dims right before it explodes?
You guys do know most (95% or more) of MH lamps fail passively, only the very rare 5% actually explode. So I wouldn't worry about this exploding that much, that said this lamp is nearing it's end of life and I wouldn't use it.
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I got the lamp and the ballast out of it, it was a parking lot fixture that was just lying there, and nothing has been done to it for months.
how long do you guys think this lamp has? I want to keep using it as it works, but I don't want it to explode because it will scare the hell out of me and more importantly, it will release mercury.
How black do MH lamps get before they explode?
and will this definetly explode?
And one more question: What does the paint do?
Thanks.
does the arc swirl at all when it warms up or has been burning a while? EOL lamps tend to do that or if they are poor quality like what our best buy uses
honestly they can get much blacker then that!
i would just run this thing till it blows or passively fails, btw horizontal is harder on the arc tube as the arc bows upwards causing uneven temps, horizontal "universal" rated lamps will not always last their rated life . pink lamps are really close to EOL just like Rudy said , but thats not always a good indicator , most likely since you don't use it that much for long hours it will passively fail, just not light up
summing this all up : about 2,000 hours lamp life left
...
But its best to not worry as it not likely to happen