The Lamp Room

Right I know this has been asked numerous times on various forums over the years but i'd like to know from people who have experimented with running these lamps what works best when you don't have the correct gear. What's best for 60w, 140w, and 200w as sli/h ballasts seem to be hard as hell to find. One reason why I have never bothered collecting these lamps in the past as if I can't light it I'm normally not interested but I'm starting to take a liking to SLI/H lamps now.

I experimented with various gear for the 200w lamp which has a lamp current of 1.6 amps.
I tried various ballasts such at 175w halide and 200w sunbed chokes which both are rated at 1.6a but when I measured the current it seemed they were supplying far too much. Best one I could come up with for the 200w lamp was a 150w SON choke (1.8a) with a 35/55w sox ignitor. Maybe other people have had better luck.

Cheers for the info Mark. It's a shame the 200w ballasts are so hard to find. I've never seen one in person yet. Might have to get my hands on a few lamps and do some testing myself. Also heard that a good old 5ft 80w ballast is a good match for the 60w lamps.

90w leak ballasts only for the 140w I was told by JPS, plus most had the 140w SOH & SLI/H lamps marked on them like that alpha 1ballast and yes 5' 80 for the 60w

Just fired the 60w SLI/H on an 80w MBF choke and I got 55v @ 1.15a across it.
A bit off the specs of 80v @ 0.83a. Hmmm.

I find the 58/65w chokes are a good match rather than the 80w ones.

Got a 60w running now and I'm getting 0.78a and 73.5v al see what it the readings are after an hour or so of running.

I'm getting 66v @ 880ma from a Thorn branded VS 58w T8 coke.

Have you got any old school 5ft ballasts Mark. Maybe try one of them if you do. I'm just on with testing 10w sox now to find the closest match. So far 13w fluorescent is the closest I've found.

I might try a 50w SON choke!