HID vs Halogen lumen per watt performance

[Aussie hunter]

G'day all, I've searched through here to find something to this effect but to no avail, mind you me and forum search engines have never seen eye to eye...

Any way I recall a few year back reading an article in new scientist or similar citing data that suggested HID did not produce any more lumens per watt than halogen when all things are equal (efficiency, deterioration, controlled environment, etc etc).

Is my memory correct or am I just imagining things? The article suggested HID lamps created a better resolution light at a stable temperature that contrasted objects a lot better than a standard halogen lamp.

I know a lot of the forum's experienced members have very good data on flashlights etc so I know I'm in the right place, now I just need a nudge in the right direction.
For the record I'm looking for real data not conjecture and opinion because I know we all love providing opinions.

Thanks!

 

[mattheww50]

It is pretty hard to find a halogen lamps that reliably top about 20 lumens per watt and has a reasonable life time. By contrast most large Multi-Vapor HID lamps can produce about 100 lumens per watt, even small ones typically can deliver about 50 lumens per watt. Yes there is deterioration over age, but the lifetime on most HID lamps is on the order of 10,000 hours, versus 1000 hours on a halogen if you are lucky.
Here is a chart from the GE large lamp catalog:

Typical Lamp Characteristics
Lamp Type Typical LPW Rated Life (in hours)
Incandescent 5-22 750-2000
Halogen 12-36 2,000-6000
Compact Fluorescent 27-80 9,000-20,000
Fluorescent 75-100 5,000-36,000
Mercury 50-60 12,000-24,000+
ConstantColor® CMH® 80-95 10,000-20,000
Multi-Vapor® Metal
Halide 80-115 10,000-20,000
Lucalox® High Pressure
Sodium 90-140 10,000-40,000

Whlie there are losses in the ballasts for HID lighting, these losses are nowhere near rated power of the lamp, i.e. a 175 HID lamp ballast will not waste 175 watts, and with newer electronic ballasts, these losses have become trivial in the big picture.

 

[Hallis]

IF memory serves me right the worst HID rating that i've seen, when looking through threads on here, was estimated at 30 lumens per watt. And that's still 50% better than halogens.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

G'day all, I've searched through here to find something to this effect but to no avail, mind you me and forum search engines have never seen eye to eye...

Did you try Google Search, CPF only, at the top of every page?

Bill

 

[Aussie hunter]

Did you try Google Search, CPF only, at the top of every page?

Bill

Thanks Bill I'll give it a shot.

And thanks guys I'll keep checking but I have a feeling I may have just dreamt it up.