Lighting photos

I know this thread has been done more than once before, but each time inevitably seems to show up more interesting photos.

Here's my one to start it off anyway. a 35W SOX lamp just starting to warm up, colour's actually more lavender except for at the electrodes which have an amber halo around them.

Wanted to get a shot of it at full brightness - but it's that bright that it totally overloads the camera!

Nothing unusual here, if you've got SOX streetlamps around, but not something that you've maybe seen this close up.



Right then, let's see what else people have to add in the interesting or unusual lighting related photo department then.

That is a cool photo. Reminiscent of the 50-ish drive-in diner era with all the neon trim.
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It's also just taken on the role as my new CPF avatar.

Finally snagged yourself a SOX lamp - nice one!

I took this photo ages ago of one running from a low voltage inverter ballast, the type of thing designed to run 4-6 foot T8 fluorescent tubes from a 26 volt supply. Like the lights on a bus or train....




And after a half an hour, it never did run all the way up...



Incidentally the "dotting" effect visible in the first photo is a result of the high frequency DC inverter ballast energizing the neon gas fill, and isn`t evident in the hot sodium discharge in the second photo. And one of these ballasts will run a 35 watt tube just fine. It takes longer to run up than from the mains but didn`t appear to have any adverse effect on the tube after an evening of running.

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forgive Me for asking but what is a SOX lamp? from the pics I am guessing it's a low pressure sodium lamp?
Next question is where does one find a lamp like this?

SOX is the prefix given to a low pressure sodium lamp with an integral arc tube, and an IR reflective coating on the inside of the outer jacket.

http://www.lamptech.co.uk has a good description of the various types of sodium lamps.

Just as an experiment, decided to see if the 55W one would run on the ballast I have. Seems to work just fine, and takes about the right amount of time to run up. Didn't leave it on too long though in case the ballast was overheating or something. Seemed to be okay though.

And yes, I finally did. Caught a guy fitting new flourescent units in a villiage locally. He looked somewhat confused when I asked whether I could get some of the old gear! Got myself three ballasts (one of which was known to work, but which one wasn't known...so I nabbed all of them), and three tubes. two 35W ones (one of which is dead) and a well used, but still working 55W. Interesting to see that the two have a different fill gas. The 55W being the usual neon, but the 35W one has a gass fill I;m not sure of. The initial discharge being a hot pink colour rather than the usual red/orange neon. Could be xenon, but I though that was more of a lavender colour.

Oh, and in answer to Draco's question, your best bet would be your local road/street lighting depot. They might be able to dig something out for you. eBay I found to be pretty useless in that respect, they can be bought new from a lot of places, but they're too expensive for me to have considered them.

Worth getting as a curiousity for a lighting enthusiast though!

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Zelandeth said:
...The initial discharge being a hot pink colour rather than the usual red/orange neon. Could be xenon, but I though that was more of a lavender colour.

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Sounds like helium and/or hydrogen to me. I know one of those two gases has a predominantly pink color when energized. There may also be SOME neon in the fill, along with the helium and/or hydrogen.

(Edit 7:58pm PDT)
Found on another website, this comment about Giessler tubes and their fill gases:

Hydrogen - Lavendar at low current, hot pinkish magenta if the peak current is near or over 10 mA.

Sadly We don't seem to use low pressure sodium that mutch here in the states. I don't wish to buy brand new from dealers due to cost so Ebay is my only hope /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Anyway I shall keep my claws crossed just in case I find something