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.

Metal halide lamp ignitor circuit.

The pulse is provided by a specially designed ignitor or starter that is used in conjunction with the ballast. 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. So once these occur with your metal halide lamp getting a replacement bulb doesn t have to be your first step. So when you begin to experience rapid flickering dimming buzzing and changing colors the fault could be with the bulb but most times it is a faulty ballast.

Developed in the 1960s they are similar to mercury vapor lamps but contain additional metal halide compounds in the quartz arc tube. Ansi code american national standards institute ansi code that indicates the electrical operating designation of the lamp which must match that of the ballast. However this is not the correct repair. 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.

Pulse start metal halide ballasts provide the proper combination of open circuit voltage and high voltage pulses to start the lamp. 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. Although metal halide bulbs are long lasting still they wear out.