Huge Giant HID bulb!

Chris M. · #1 09-23-2003, 03:04 PM

Bet you won`t see one bigger than this. Presenting the Iwasaki "Eye" HF-2000BFD, 2KW mercury-flourescent lamp. This Japanese-made bulb is the biggest mercury lamp in current production and the vast BT200 envelope measures some 19 inches tall and over 8 in diameter making it physically one of the largest discharge lamps too. The shipping box it came in is 23 x 9 x 9 inches in size! They see limited use these days mainly in high-bay warehouse lighting, but are not overly popular because of the size and expense of the lamps, control gear and luminaires to house them. Two 1KW fixtures are actually cheaper than one 2KW one.

Size comparison with a SureFire L4:

Read more details on this page of the excellent lamptech.co.uk.

Anyone care to mod one of these into a flashlight? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

LEDmodMan · #2 09-23-2003, 03:17 PM

Hmmm... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif[/img]

I think I need to polish up an old satellite dish for a reflector... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif[/img]

TheBeam · #3 09-23-2003, 05:38 PM

PayPal sent.

Ginseng · #4 09-23-2003, 07:37 PM

Holy moses!

"...does that make you horny? Randy? Does it make you horny?" [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

This lamp might not be bigger in size (19.7" long), but it's 9 times the wattage...can you say 18,000 watts? It makes 1.7 MILLION lumens and needs 88 amps to run.

Osram 18000W Metal Halide Lamp.

phyhsuts · #5 09-23-2003, 08:52 PM

Actually there is one that is much bigger: Vortek How does 500,000 Watt sound to you?? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hahaha.gif[/img] Used more for its considerable IR radiation than for a pocket flashlight though. Can't imagine why! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Chris M. · #6 09-24-2003, 12:13 PM

I`ve never seen the Vortek lamps before. Now that`s some serious light! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

There are some 50000 and 75000 watt incandescents that were made years ago by the Corning Glassworks to celebrate the 50th and 75th annicersary of Edison`s first successful lamp. They were only produced in very small amounts and today are very rare and worth an absolute fortune. I`m afraid I don`t have a size reference for these but I think the biggest one is around 4 feet tall:

Courtesy of http://bulbcollector.com .

I don`t however think that there`s quite enough room for many of those here at the Bulb Museum. The Iwasaki lamp hasn`t found a permanent home yet.... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

The_LED_Museum · #7 09-28-2003, 03:37 PM

Now that's ONE BIG BULB!!!
It probably has a mogul base, rather than a standard one.

A picture of it next to a standard 60W household light bulb would probably show its size better to a non-flashaholic who doesn't have a SureFire flashlight.

Just don't drop that sucker or let it roll off a workbench. I know the sound made by a breaking household light bulb is cool, but I think the sound made by this one would be overkill. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Chris M. · #8 09-28-2003, 05:33 PM

Don`t worry, it lives in its protective shipping box with foam inlay strips to cushion it.

I thought about sticking a regular bulb next to it but then I realised that most of you US readers wouldn`t know how big a British PS60 lamp is. Your A19s are larger - taller and a bit wider than our bulbs and a regular household US bulb is something this Bulb Museum doesn`t have, unfortunately. And I figured I`m among fellow Surefire fans, most of us will know how big one of *those* is. Even if they`re not, most people remark at how small SFs are when they first see one so it makes the bulb look all the more impressive!

The base is an "E40 Goliath Edison Screw" - the UK/European version of the Mogul base. They`re essentially the same thing though I think the Mogul has a slightly different thread pitch and may be shorter overall too.

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

The_LED_Museum · #9 09-28-2003, 09:56 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Chris M. said:
...and a regular household US bulb is something this Bulb Museum doesn`t have, unfortunately.

[/ QUOTE ]
I have a brand new Sylvania 75W household light bulb you're welcome to. I can send it in early October when my SSA check gets here if you PM me your mailing address (I probably had your address in an older email, but lost my entire inbox about a month back).
It's a 120 volt bulb, so don't try to run it directly from British mains, or else it'll just be a long-persistence flashbulb. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I might have a British socket light bulb around here somewhere you're welcome to as well, if I can find it in time.

(Edit): Found the bulb. It's a vaccume type bulb with a milky envelope, needs 220-240 volts, and has an odd bayonet base with two nipples on the bottom insulator. Looks like it goes in a sewing machine or a vaccume cleaner or something.
Consider it yours, as I have neither the receptacle nor the proper voltage for it.

Chris M. · #10 09-29-2003, 03:47 PM

Hey thanks [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] . E-mail on the way.....

INRETECH · #11 09-30-2003, 01:56 PM

I think the ballasts usually cost even more than the bulbs themselves

RevDavid · #12 10-01-2003, 12:04 AM

[ QUOTE ]
The LED Museum said:

Just don't drop that sucker or let it roll off a workbench. I know the sound made by a breaking household light bulb is cool, but I think the sound made by this one would be overkill. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

AAAAHHHHH!!!
The giant asteroid will miss us, but we will be wiped out by HID explosion!

David <><

MikeF · #13 10-01-2003, 05:40 PM

Here are some links to sites describing a light bulb that has been burning for over 100 years.

Firehouse News

Centenial Bulb

Zelandeth · #14 10-01-2003, 07:05 PM

That thing is just crazy...shame about the coating, would be interesting to see inside there.

And I thought that my Fitzgerald LB250-SON had a big bulb (250W SON-T HPS)!

Where on earth did you find that thing?!?

The_LED_Museum · #15 10-01-2003, 07:55 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Zelandeth said:
That thing is just crazy...shame about the coating, would be interesting to see inside there.

[/ QUOTE ]
He could always bust it open and see what's inside there. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Chris M. · #16 10-02-2003, 11:18 AM

<font color="800080">...shame about the coating, would be interesting to see inside there</font>

See this page of the excellent http://lamptech.co.uk for a photo of the clear one. A friend of mine got it for me (the guy that runs Lamptech), along with a load of others. They came from Iwasaki`s European distributor and were basically old stock. None of them had ever been sold so they were on the verge of being dumped. They date back to about 1995-1997 and in total there were 20 of them including 2 clears. He`s got a few left and they might go on Ebay sometime, so keep a lookout! User ID is swansea24.

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

INRETECH · #17 10-02-2003, 01:01 PM

On my first days working at the lighting company, they were working on a dimmer for the 1k version, and we all had to wear sunglasses in the eng dept to keep from getting blinded

The ballast was huge and about 4x the cost of the bulb

Fun place to work, we once blew up 48x1000w incand. bulbs in a test - NOT planned

yuandrew · #18 10-02-2003, 02:53 PM

Yeah Mike, I remember that story you told me. 277 volts through a dimmer to run 120 volts lamps (two in series). Some guy cranks the thing up too high and POW!
Reminds me not to hook LEDs directly to De Walt drill batteries anymore.

Chris, think you can somehow get a ballast (control gear since you are in Europe) for that lamp? I wonder how bright that would be. I've seen mercury vapor lamps before but not one that big!

Chris M. · #19 10-02-2003, 04:14 PM

We call them ballasts here too. Control Gear is the generic term used for all the paraphenalia needed to run discharge lamps - taking into account the ignitor (halide/NA lamps) and PFC cap too. I strongly doubt I`ll ever get one - Iwasaki did not sell one of those lamps anywhere in Europe in all of 8 years, and they don`t sell that many back home in Japan. 2KW mercury ballasts must be seriously rare and foolishly expensive.

Apparently it`s cheaper to use two seperate 1KW lamps and ballasts than it is to use one 2KW lamp and ballast, so that says a lot about what I`d have to pay for the ballast alone. Plus they`re absolutely f***ing huge and need 3 people to lift. Well maybe not that bad but it`s like trying to carry a truck battery by yourself, and I don`t think a mercury ballast comes with those handy pull-up carry handles like the big SLA batteries do.

I have potentially got a lead on a self ballasted / blended 1KW mercury lamp. That`ll run from 240v AC directly because the necessary current limiting is built into the lamp in the form of series connected tungsten filaments next to the arc tube. They also provide some secondary light to warm up the native blue-green colour of the mercury discharge and fill in some gaps in the spectrum, at the expense of some luminous efficiacy. No idea what it`ll cost me but it`ll be worth it just to light the thing up out back one night and watch the neighbors all rush to their windows to see WTF it is!

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

Zelandeth · #20 10-02-2003, 04:38 PM

One word: Beamshots!

Well...kinda anyway...we need to see that thing running...I think sunglasses would most certianly be in order...

Think I'll just stick with me old 250W HPS lamp here...it's bright enough to make me happy when I power it up...and the cats who invariably end up sunbathing in front of it when it's on!

James S · #21 10-02-2003, 05:00 PM

So if they only make these things as replacement bulbs and not for new installations, you've got to find one of the companies that is buying them and make sure they know that when they replace their ancient 2kw ballasts that you want one [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

You might have to fly to Japan and hire a container ship to get it home, but you could probably find one [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]