Metal Halide Lamp Ignitor Circuit

So once these occur with your metal halide lamp getting a replacement bulb doesn t have to be your first step.

Metal halide lamp ignitor circuit.

This peak voltage along with the ignitor when used is used to start the lamp and control the lamp current crest factor typically 1 60 1 65. Once a new lamp is installed the metal halide bulb will light and come up to full brightness. Ansi code american national standards institute ansi code that indicates the electrical operating designation of the lamp which must match that of the ballast. Pulse start metal halide ballasts provide the proper combination of open circuit voltage and high voltage pulses to start the lamp.

Gas discharge lamps an electric lamp. So when you begin to experience rapid flickering dimming buzzing and changing colors the fault could be with the bulb but most times it is a faulty ballast. Developed in the 1960s they are similar to mercury vapor lamps but contain additional metal halide compounds in the quartz arc tube. The metal halide and high pressure sodium ballasts also incorporate wave shaping of the open circuit voltage to provide a higher peak voltage than a normal sine wave.

However this is not the correct repair. The ballast in an hid lighting system requires a capacitor this is a current limiting device that prevents too much amperage to be delivered to the hid bulb. The pulse is provided by a specially designed ignitor or starter that is used in conjunction with the ballast.