# Metal halide work light?



## BatteryCharger (Feb 28, 2006)

I have an old 250 watt HPS light that I have no use for. I've heard that if you remove the ignitor from an HPS light, it can then be used for metal halide. Is this true?

If so, does anybody know where I can get a worklight type reflector that will fit a mogul base bulb?


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## brickbat (Mar 2, 2006)

BatteryCharger said:


> ...I've heard that if you remove the ignitor from an HPS light, it can then be used for metal halide. ...



That seems a little ambiguous. Are you asking if you can use the ignitor itself for a metal halide lamp, or are you asking if the old HPS fixture, sans ignitor, is suitable for a metal halide lamp?

The answer is no, to the latter question.


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## Zelandeth (Mar 7, 2006)

This depends. There are certain MH lamps which are designed to be run on a SON (and in some cases high pressure mercury) ballast in some cases with, and some cases without the ignitor.
I cannot stress enough that this is NOT THE CASE FOR ALL METAL HALIDE LAMPS, and running lamps that just happen to be of the same wattage will result in things at best, not working as well as they should, the lamp not being as bright as it should, the colour temperature being way off, the lamp suffering from a short lifetime, the ballast overheating/failing, and even the lamp possibly exploding. Of course, it also might just fail to work at all. Using the wrong lamp can be dangerous, both to your equipment and to yourself. So make sure you know what you're doing.

Provided you do find a lamp that's suitable for use on your ballast, it's worth noting that it must be ensured that you have a lamp suitable for use in open fixtures (as not all MH lamps are), and that it is compatible with the burning position in your lamp. The vast majority of SON lamps can operate in any position, but a good number of metal halide lamps are sensitive to orientation. If the lamp requires an enclosed fixture, you'll need to find somewhere to source a proper glass cover for yours. DO NOT be tempted to skip that step, aside from the fact that MH lamps in some cases are at risk of exploding if operated past the end of their rated life, they often emit quite an amount of UV. If the lamp is rated for use in open fixtures, these are things you don't need to worry about though.

This link points to a page for a lamp similar to what you're looking for at Lamptech.co.uk.

Hope this helps!


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