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 Post subject: SLI lamps
PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 3:41 pm 
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Stelmer wrote:
I too am tempted to buy some SL/I lamps from Lampco. Especially now that 90w ballasts will run a 140w lamp and a 55w ballast will run a 50w lamp.

What else do we need?

I'm guessing the wiring is the same as it is in a basic fluorescent tube as they incorporate a starter switch.


sotonsteve wrote:
A 140w SLI lamp is about the same diameter as a T12 fluorescent lamp and uses the same end caps. As for the control gear, make sure that it is a 90w SOX leak transformer that is used and not 90w SOX ignitor gear. When wiring up, the only difference is that the two lamp wires go to the opposite ends of the lamp. In my converted Alpha 5 a little loop of wire exists in both end caps so that both pins at each end have electricity passing through them. It's all quite easy once you have worked out how to make the physical alterations to the lantern.


I believe the only SLI lamps that are still available are 140w which as sotonsteve points out requires 90w leak gear. Apart from the power correction capacitor, no other gear is requitred for this lamp rating.

There was a 60w SLI rated lamp (not 55w) but I believe Lampco are out of stock although it is still listed on their web page. This lamp needs a snap starter to pre-warm the electrodes. A modern electronic fluorescent starter switch is ideal.

200w SLI lamps need a special ballast which is now practically unobtainable. You can't use a 180w SOX ballast for these.


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 Post subject: Re: SLI lamps
PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 7:23 pm 
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Oh heck, guys. If you want a 140w SLI lantern for a possible future conversion, you might need to be quick. According to The Lamp Company's web site, there are only six left in stock. If they do genuinely run out, I don't think they'll be getting new stock anytime soon, or ever :-(


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 Post subject: Re: SLI lamps
PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 7:47 pm 
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I had heard that 140W SLI were getting a bit thin on the ground at Lampco. Fortunately sotonsteve and I bought somewhat of a bulk order between us last year so we are both sorted for the future.  ;)

In a similar vein, I did stock up on 150W bulbs for lanterns that use mercury or filament lamps and use refractor rings. A CFL doesn't look right and a 100W filament lamp is too short to reach the ring. You don't always want MBF in everything and since they are for display rather than daily use, the inefficiency isn't an issue.


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 Post subject: Re: SLI lamps
PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 8:43 pm 
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Well, restocking will be out of the question, because SLI lamps ceased production before I was born. I think some of the ones phosco152 and I have may date from 1983, as I vaguely remember that date written on one of the boxes or something.


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 Post subject: Re: SLI lamps
PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 9:04 pm 
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The USAF and possibly the RAF used them in runway lighting until recent times, and must have held large stocks of these lamps. You never know, ...locked away in some aircraft hanger at Mildenhall Airbase?


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 Post subject: Re: SLI lamps
PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 9:17 pm 
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sotonsteve wrote:
Well, restocking will be out of the question, because SLI lamps ceased production before I was born

Hmm, the Lampco web site isn't displaying the stock level at all right now, but it was claiming six earlier on! In a panic, I ordered two this evening and swallowed the postage cost, even if I'm working just down the road from them next week and intend to collect in person! The first bulb is for a future conversion, if practical, of the GEC Z9517. The second one will be a spare lamp or, given the remotest chance, used to convert a surviving Alpha Six back to its former glory.

I guess I'll find out in the morning if the order was successful!

Claire wrote:
The USAF and possibly the RAF used them in runway lighting until recent times, and must have held large stocks of these lamps. You never know, ...locked away in some aircraft hanger at Mildenhall Airbase?

Wow, I never knew that. My brother's in the RAF and I do get to see his base from time to time. The new LED lanterns at his RAF base recently came up in The most energy efficient way of lighting a street topic. In future visits I'll try and look down as well as up!


Last edited by David on Tue Dec 01, 2009 9:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: SLI lamps
PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 9:18 pm 
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Here's a 60w SLI/H lamp. This one lives in my Beta-8. It's already ready to go, but I've not yet powered it up.


Attachments:
Thorn Beta-8 60w SLIH.jpg
Thorn Beta-8 60w SLIH.jpg [ 85.4 KiB | Viewed 23273 times ]


Last edited by Claire on Tue Dec 01, 2009 10:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: SLI lamps
PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 9:25 pm 
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David wrote:
Hmm, the Lampco web site isn't displaying the stock level at all right now, but it was claiming six earlier on! In a panic, I ordered two this evening and swallowed the postage cost, even if I'm working just down the road from them next week and intend to collect in person!


If I were you I would ask them if you could collect them in person when you are nearby next week. The lamps for phosco152 and myself may have arrived intact, but I really don't trust the Royal Mail to repeat the successful delivery. So many lanterns have been broken by the Royal Mail using parcels as wrecking balls in the past that I've lost count, and lamps are particularly prone to breaking. If I were spending £50 each on a very rare lamp that hasn't been produced since 1986 and I were in the area of the seller I know what option I would go for.


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 Post subject: Re: SLI lamps
PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 9:33 pm 
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sotonsteve wrote:
I really don't trust the Royal Mail to repeat the successful delivery. So many lanterns have been broken by the Royal Mail using parcels as wrecking balls in the past that I've lost count, and lamps are particularly prone to breaking.

Yes that's certainly good advice. They have an e-mail service so I sent them a message with my order number at the top requesting a personal pick-up instead. The road outside mine is meant to be 20mph and has speed bumps along it accordingly. But the noise made by courier vans going over them at 35mph - with the parcels in the back hitting the van's ceiling and then falling back to the floor - is ear-splitting!


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 Post subject: Re: SLI lamps
PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 10:43 pm 
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Sending any lamp through the post is a risky business, however, there are ways of packing them that minimises the risk. Packing long-tubed-lamps inside the strong cardborad tubes, such as those that carpets come rolled up on is one way. The trouble is, it gets expensive because of the weight and the hassle of finding suitable packing. Then after all that, some people will moan about the cost of postage; it's often a no-win situation for the seller. That's why it's pick-up-only when I dispose of these types of items on ebay.


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