Metal Halide Lamp Ignitor Circuit

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Metal halide lamp ignitor circuit.

A metal halide lamp is an electrical lamp that produces light by an electric arc through a gaseous mixture of vaporized mercury and metal halides compounds of metals with bromine or iodine it is a type of high intensity discharge hid gas discharge lamp. The pulse is provided by a specially designed ignitor or starter that is used in conjunction with the ballast. 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.

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. 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. Developed in the 1960s they are similar to mercury vapor lamps but contain additional metal halide compounds in the quartz arc tube. Pulse start metal halide ballasts provide the proper combination of open circuit voltage and high voltage pulses to start the lamp.

Ballast a device required by electric discharge light sources such as fluorescent or hid lamps to regulate voltage and current supplied to the lamp during start and throughout operation. Although metal halide bulbs are long lasting still they wear out. Gas discharge lamps an electric lamp.