SLI/H gear alternitives

[jonny-m]

Never thought of using 50w son choke. Worth a try.

[FrontSideBus]

Two 80w mercury chokes in parallel is a no-go for the 200w SLI/H's. They should provide 800ma each which is what the 200w lamp wants but again the voltage drops to about 110v and the current increases to about 1.9 amps.

[Slyspark]

Just saved both an 80w and a 65w Ekco (BLI) pair of ballasts from a couple of superslims. Might have to fire up a pair of 60w SLI/H lamps on them and see which works best....

[thorncollector]

i have not had much luck with this, but the real 200w sli ballast runs the 200w lamp at 125v. I took this measurement during my short ownership of a 200w ballast.
50w son choke is ideal for 60w sli I have found it to be spot on. 80v @ 0.8A

[Andy]

I know the 50w SON ballast is the best for the 60w SLI/H lamp, it is a very close match.

[Slyspark]

In the past, I've always used an 80w fluorescent ballast for running the 60w lamp, but I might have to switch to 50w SON.....

[Andy]

Yes, it really works a treat!
As Danny says, the 90w SOX leak transformer or a 140w SO/H or SOI/H leak transformer is perfect for the 140w SLI.

[thorncollector]

Hi All, the best i have found are as follows

60w sli - 50w son choke / on switch start with a electronic starter its rated at 0.76A which is pretty close to 60w sli which is 0.80A
140w sli - 90w / 140w leak transformer
200w sli - 90w sox ignitor ballast and 55w sox ignitor ballast in parallel with a sx74 as ignitor.
the sox ballasts being low pressure sodium are much more suited to the sli lamp than son or sunbed ballasts. the run up sli and sox is similar but son is different.
sox / sli start at a high voltage and reduce as the lamp runs up whereas son starts low and increases. btw this gives approx 1.55A to the lamp

hope this helps
Best regards john

[Ash]

sox / sli start at a high voltage and reduce as the lamp runs up whereas son starts low and increases

Thats a surprise ! I experimented with Fluorescents and they increase (36W T8, from <70V in the Hg starved initial mode till ~110V fully run up). I sorta expected something similar with SOX

[jonny-m]

i think ill give this a go with a 50w son choke as i have one now.