The one on thr right won't strike. It won't do anything actually. Totally dead. The one on the left works. These particular ones had a very high failure rate according to Joe. See how there are no caps on the arctube? The 80s 50W HPS lamps were pretty poorly made since they were still being experimented with.
I'm guessing the caps on the arctube are heat shields that they later put in to prevent the seals from overheating? I've rarely seen a GE HPS with that style etch before.
Yeah i think they overheated or leaked sodium all over the place (perhaps as a result of overheating). I believe this etch was used into the late 80s maybe even early 90s. Unfortunately none of the HPS lamps I tested start off like clear mercs. that's the main reason i like older GE HPS lamps but yet they all start off like modern HPS??? I have yet to test the 100W HPS GE lamp which is the wattage I remember starting like a clear merc (250W too). Maybe the lamp needs to age and start running out of sodium or something? HPS lamps from the 90s that I saw back in the mid 2000s had to be pretty heavily used at that point so that could be it.
Anyway, they must have perfected the 50W HPS by the 90s because I see 50W lights here with their original lamps and PCs from the early 90s here. One near me with a baby blue PC.
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Anyway, they must have perfected the 50W HPS by the 90s because I see 50W lights here with their original lamps and PCs from the early 90s here. One near me with a baby blue PC.