The Lamp Room

Hello All,
A number of questions regards sox vs sox-e
what I have found is

some 36w lamps give short life on sox gear
sox lamps are brighter than sox-e even if sox-e is run on sox gear.
energy savings are minimal unless your using the sox-e gear
26 and 91 seem to last the longest
36 the shortest life
the new Philips dimples in the 26/36 are flawed the sodium does not stay there any longer than the previous lamps with smaller dimples
the 36w is the lowest lumens output in the sox-e range compared to sox 6100 vs sox 7800
what is the point of soxe on non soxe ballasts

Philips only recommended the SOX-E for new installations, but like you say, there was only a minimal saving on standard SOX gear.
This was what they printed in the 1991 catalogue.....

ELECTRICAL COMPATIBILITY
SOX-E lamps are designed to operate on all existing SOX type circuits.
However, as they run with a lower lamp current, optimum efficacy will only be achieved on optimum control gear specially designed for SOX- E lamps.
When run on other circuits a lower efficacy will achieved, however this will still be greater than the equivalent SOX lamp on the same circuit.
A summery is given in the table based on Philips circuits.
SOX-E lamps operated on Philips will comply with electricity board power factor correction requirements.