Why is there so many HO/VHO lamps in America?

[lasagafield]

America seems to be full of weird and wonderful beefy HO/VHO fluorescent formats like powergroove/twist, PG/T17.
Why doesn't the UK have so many formats like these?
All HO type lighting here seems to be T5 based.

[Ash]

The 8ft 100/125W and 5ft 80W are around the same specs that would be considered HO in the US

Besides, it seems that they preferred higher power single luminaires or lamps, over more units of lower power, where lots of power is needed. It seems that in mainland Europe the preference was for more units of lower power as well

Another example - One of the common (back in its day) highest power road luminaires in the US would be the GE M1000 for 1x1000W Merc, while in Britain it would probably be the Atlas Alpha 8 for 2x400W Merc

[lasagafield]

That's simple enough.
I suppose when thinking about it if you need more heft than fluorescent fitting you'd just jump over to HID.
Thinking about it though (don't get me wrong I've never been so I wouldn't know) but everything looks bigger in America.
They've got big houses big roads big cars, they're gonna need bigger lights for all this extra surface.
I cannot imagine what a 1000W mercury light'd look like.
Sounds like something they'd use on a motorway roundabout or something like that.

[Funkybulb]

this not so True here.

VHO is kinda uncoomon and wont find
those VHO tube at DIY big box stores
and have special order them or go
lighting wholesaler

HO on other hand

our 95 watt energy saver is about Electtically
the same tubes as 100 watt tubes in UK

110 watt HO is slightly Different as lamp runs at
800 Ma. it will be bit overdriven on 125 watt fitting. but with capicitor value change can fix this problem.

the HO 85 watt 6 footer is same as old british 6 footer that once rated for

Now 5 footer HO here is 80 watts but domt expect those tubes to fit in your 5 foot fitting
there like two inches shorter than normal 5 foot bipin T12. this one of reason it bloody hell finding propper tubes for 5 footer for my 110v
fizzy light pack using. Been using HF 40 watt T8
on my LP65. runs nice and bright and ballast runs cooler. the lamp over driven but arc voltage is way higher that what made ballast ran cooler.
the F40T8 is more common rather use those then
my 65 watt T12 tubes that is hard to source in the US

Ive been hearing the VHO lamps of major manufacture phase those lamps out of production as demands for VHO tubes
dropped severly to keep producing them.
how ever you can pop in a HO tube and over
drive them.

HO lamps

8 footer prolly most popular and most common
size. it range 18 inches up to 10 footer

HO lamps are still use in outdoor lighting and in signs. HO lamps are here to Stay for good while

the 8 foot single pin slimelines going to come to
a point to end production. I dont think there producing odd size single pin lamps any more

most common would be 8 foot single pin fluorescent following 6 footer. 4 footer
single pin. 6 and 4 footer was use mosting
on end rows lighting the stores with 8 footers
4 footer is about phase out now as as lot last
little diy shops starti not stock 4 footer now.

[lasagafield]

I think I've learn't more about America from you than all other sources on every topic combined.
I'm gonna start archiving your posts along with many others on here because they're just rich information on lighting which is dead hard to cobble together from various sources online.

[Roi_hartmann]

I think the popularity of ho/vho comes from the cost aspect. Since most of the fluorescent lamps in 120v region needed a ballast with step up transformer whethet it was a F40 or vho so the ballast was as complicated to make no matter which lamp you used. Because of one might as well use fewer high wattage lamps when lots of light was needed rather than using lots of smaller wattage fixtures which would mean lots of expensive ballasts. In 230-240v area, most of the fluorescent lamps could be run with simple cheap serie choke so using bigger wattage lamps that needed step up transformer (and thus more expensive control gear) would not seem reasonable. T5 and electronic control gears ofcourse changed all.