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 Post subject: Re: MB/U lamp on eBay
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:59 pm 
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mazeteam wrote:
Aren't the MBU lamps ideal for use in old mercury lanterns like GEC Dioptrion's, Metrovik Trafford 2's, and stuff like that with arc deflectors?



The MB = Mercury High Pressure.

The U = Universal. In that they can burn in either the horizonal or vertical attitudes (or anything in-between).

The old MA (medium pressure) lamps couldn't, that's why they needed the arc -deflector's. Once the MB/Us came about, electro-magnectic arc deflectors were obsolete, and were sometimes removed from old mercury lanterns to keep the running costs down. Worcester for one, stripped out the deflectors from their Dioptrions.

The Lamp Co, were until recent times still selling 250w Crompton MA/V lamps. Lord knows where they got them from, but they wanted a horrendous price. I did dig deep at the time and bought one. However, I don't know if they still have them in stock?


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 Post subject: Re: MB/U lamp on eBay
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 11:36 pm 
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They still sell them. Not sure if they have them in stock though.

250w MBU £79.59

400w MBU £88.42

Incidentally they do a 125w MBFU ballast for £15.44. However, I did see a 1kw MBFU ballast for £119.15 and another one for £698.54 :o  :shock:


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 Post subject: Re: MB/U lamp on eBay
PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 7:52 pm 
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Stelmer wrote:
I've never seen an MBU lamp operating in real life. I guess they are a very cool white temperature?

Not really, not the same as MH at all for instance. The light is more blue/green than white. There is nothing in the lamp to produce any components of white light.

Stelmer wrote:
They still sell them. Not sure if they have them in stock though.

250w MBU £79.59

400w MBU £88.42

Incidentally they do a 125w MBFU ballast for £15.44. However, I did see a 1kw MBFU ballast for £119.15 and another one for £698.54 :o  :shock:


MBU lamps are what is on Ebay, Claire was talking about MA lamps - or did you mean MA?

If you look at Mike's Clearmain (scroll down) he has pictures of it running a MA/V lamp. The camera has made the light look a bit greener, but the difference to MBF is clear.


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 Post subject: Re: MB/U lamp on eBay
PostPosted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 1:57 am 
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Stelmer wrote:
I've never seen an MBU lamp operating in real life. I guess they are a very cool white temperature?

Phosco152 wrote:
Not really, not the same as MH at all for instance. The light is more blue/green than white. There is nothing in the lamp to produce any components of white light.

I was lucky enough to receive the MB/U lamp I bidded for on e-bay a while back on Christmas Eve (thank you Claire for the original link!) and immediately went about fitting it in the still bowl-less GEC Z8430CM I purchased from Harrison Lighting. The new MB/U lamp compliments the existing MBF/U and retrofit SON lamps I have for this lantern.

Image

The light the lamp produces is very harsh, cold and clinical nature. It's even, arguably, unpleasant to the eyes, to the point where they seem to sting! But the lamp's outer jacket is undamaged, so it should not be able to emit UV light.

The colour it produces reminds me of going into a shop with ancient fluorescent fittings where a tube only gets replaced when it fails. Over time, the shop ends up with a mixture of warm 'pink' ones, neutral white ones, and occasionally those hard-to-look-at cold 'blue' ones!

I thought it would be worth trying the GEC Z8430CM with the MB/U lamp next to an MBF/U lantern (in this case, a recently aquired early-version Phosco P111 from 'posh' Frinton-on-Sea in Essex) to see how they compare. This is the result...

Image

Admittedly this isn't quite a fair comparison - the 250w MB/U easily overpowers the 80w MBF/U, so I placed a piece of card between the two so you can see more clearly the difference in colour on the wall behind. The familiar 'white' MBF/U colour is clear to see, but as the MB/U lamp is the dominant light source, your eyes eventually adapt to it and it becomes white. Thereafter, your eyes interpret the MBF/U lamp as pink!


Last edited by David on Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: MB/U lamp on eBay
PostPosted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:23 am 
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Good comparison there David, it clearly shows the difference. New MBF lamps do actually produce a more pink white light which gradually goes blue green as they age. I'll keep my eye out for a bowl for your 8430, occasionally they do turn up.

I note your 80w ballast is a modern Philips type in the same style as their SON (and SOX) ballasts. I too have one like that and I was quite surprised to find that Philips were still making new MBF gear. The one I have will go in Nick217s HW11600 to return it to gear in head. A vintage Philips ballast is unfortunately too big to fit.


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 Post subject: Re: MB/U lamp on eBay
PostPosted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 3:15 pm 
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I wouldn't like to walk down a street lit by MBU, it looks very gloomy and as David says, harsh!   :shock:


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 Post subject: Re: MB/U lamp on eBay
PostPosted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 3:18 pm 
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Gramma6 wrote:
I wouldn't like to walk down a street lit by MBU, it looks very gloomy and as David says, harsh!   :shock:


It is quite a cold and harsh light. As has been mentioned before, mercury lamps without fluorescent colour correction have a tendency to make people look like zombies. I remember seeing a mercury street light in West Sussex with phosco152 where the outer bulb of the lamp had broken. Not such a pleasing light. Not that I looked at it directly for too long, given the lack of UV protection!


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 Post subject: Re: MB/U lamp on eBay
PostPosted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 6:22 pm 
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This "goolish" looking light due to the blue green component (which means flesh tends to look grey) was common in the USA in the 50s and 60s - have a look when a film of that vintage is next on TV, as MBF seemed to be less common over there, than here.

In the UK the expansion in mercury lighting after the war and before the energy crisis of the mid 70s went hand in hand with the development of the MBF lamp. By the mid 60s, MBF and overtaken MA and MBU.

In Australia where mercury main road lighting is now probably more common than in the USA, I believe MBF lamps are now used. Certainly that was the case in Perth when I was there 2 years ago.


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 Post subject: Re: MB/U lamp on eBay
PostPosted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 12:47 am 
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Gran Canaria still has some MBF lanterns lighting the main road, I was quite surprised at how effective they were, much more pleasing to travel under or walk along than the SON-lit roads. These were definitely MBF not MBU as the colour rendering was spot on.


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