What is the difference between mercury vapor and metal halide

Despite their advantages, these lamps do have some special considerations. Like fluorescents, they need special ballasts. They have a warm-up time of three to seven minutes and restrike time the delay between off and back on again of three to five minutes, making them inappropriate for certain indoor uses such as retail clothing or interior design sales.

HID lamps can be used in a variety of applications, depending on the situation. Mercury Vapor MV lamps are most frequently used outside for parking and security lighting.

These lamps have a white or blue-white light and limited color rendition, but are still suitable for many outdoor uses. Which is better metal halide or high pressure sodium? High pressure sodium lamps last longer than metal halide ; they also produce more lumens per watt. Because of their mercury content, neither type of lamp is particularly good for the environment. Metal halide lamps produce more of a glare compared to high pressure sodium lamps.

Emilly Rubin Professional. Will a metal halide bulb work in a high pressure sodium fixture? An igniter is an electrical component that ignites the sodium in the HPS bulb. Callie Berdasco Explainer. What are mercury vapor lights used for? Mercury vapor lamps are bright, long-lasting light sources that are often used to light large areas such as streets, gyms, sports arenas, banks, or stores.

The bulbs have an inner quartz tube containing the mercury vapor discharge. Ghizlane Haberland Explainer. What's the difference between HPS and metal halide? The primary visual difference between them is that metal halide light is white and the light emitted from a High Pressure Sodium bulb is amber orange.

Both metal halide bulbs and HPS bulbs are available in medium and mogul base screw in connections. Lizhen Schleiermacher Explainer. Can you run a metal halide bulb in a HPS ballast? While some do , it's never a good idea to assume both can be utilized.

This being said, placing a watt bulb in a w System must never be done! Eufracia Baute Pundit. Are mercury vapor lights banned? In the EU the use of low efficiency mercury vapor lamps for lighting purposes was banned in It does not affect the use of mercury in compact fluorescent lamp , nor the use of mercury lamps for purposes other than lighting. In the US, ballasts and fixtures for mercury vapor lamps were banned in Their other advantages are a long bulb lifetime in the range of 24, hours and a high intensity, clear white light output.

Metal halide lamps contain high-pressure gases in the arc tube. In the case of non-passive failure, the pressurized arc tube within the lamp causes the explosion. When the arc tube explodes , molten glass can fall from the fixture, which presents an obvious issue if a fixture is installed above flammable materials. If you use the lights for indoor or outdoor replacement, LED light , overs the halogen and sodium bulbs , is much water-proof and thus the durability is greatly improved.

Most importantly, you can save much electricity cost if you use LED lamps to retrofit mercury watt vapor lamps , W halogen lamps! While some do, it's never a good idea to assume both can be utilized.

The advantages of metal halide lighting for HPS users. Like street lamps and fluorescent bulbs, HID headlamps require a high voltage ignition source to start. It typically takes up to 25, volts to start a xenon bulb, but only about 80 to 90 volts to keep it operating once the initial arc has formed.

Metal Halide Lamps Normal end-of-life is caused by sodium loss from the arc tube. The lamp may be hard to start. High Pressure Sodium Lamps Normal end-of-life is usually indicated by the lamp cycling on and off.

In the case of Metal Halide , most manufacturers rate these HID light bulbs with a life of approximately 20, hours. At this point, all lamps should be replaced. Read the ballast specifications on the nameplate, including voltage, wattage and lamp type, and be sure they agree with the characteristics of the bulb. Turn off the breaker supplying the lamp and tighten the connections on the ballast with a screwdriver. The most common problem with a high pressure sodium light is the bulb.

The first course of action is to simply change the bulb. And moreover MV's last long, so not making much business. As MH is the only white alternative, there is large demand, so it allow manufacturers to make more money. As this is more challenging technology, there are fewer players able to make useable lamps, so this allow for higher margins, so retail prices.

I have stronger and stronger feeling, then this is the real motivation for most "environmental protection" laws, same with incandescent ban: Prices are so low, so not possible to make money on them. Regular fluorescents are not promoted, even if technically superior you don't have to make so many compromises , as they are not making as much money - they last too long.

Medved, I wholeheartedly agree with what you are saying. Everything does come down to the almighty dollar. No one really cares what everyday citizen's preferences are. We live in a political universe. Why else would MV be banned by people who know absolutely nothing of its efficacy and reliability, except for the mentality that just because something is, as you said, "mature" technology MUST automatically be bad?

And Dark Sky, they favor the usage of ugly yellow-orange light to white light? Makes no sense at all. Light pollution in an orange color is more of a pollutant than that from a white light and go figure--clouds are white. Why make the sky look like orange sherbet?

Mercury Vapor is indeed better For streetlighting there is one feature MV's would not meet: Point-like light source except uncoated types but these are really not efficent.

If you want to send the light into required pattern with high efficiency, your optics has to be much larger then your light source. To have reasonable size lantern, you need really small area source, so why MH win there.