Uploaded January 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A quick video tour of an Osram 18w SOX lamp.
The reason why it start pinky-red and takes about 10 minutes to reach full power is because when cold, the sodium metal is solid.
A neon-argon starter gas is employed to heat up and vapourise the sodium so it can join the discharge mix. You can see this as the lamp gradually turns yellow and increases brightness.
Low pressure sodium vapour lamps are the most efficient light source widely available with over 200 lumens per watt in some cases but are being supplanted by other technologies due to stupid EU regulations regarding minimum colour rendering since SOX lamps are a monochromatic light source.
Specs of lamp:
Colour temperature: 1800 kelvin
Luminous flux: 1800 lumens
Rated power: 18 watts
Lifetime to 50% survival: 18,000 hours
Arc voltage: 57 volts
Arc Current: 330 milliamps
Dimensions: 216 x 52 millimetres
Cap type: Bayonet By22d
A quick video tour of an Osram 18w SOX lamp.
The reason why it start pinky-red and takes about 10 minutes to reach full power is because when cold, the sodium metal is solid.
A neon-argon starter gas is employed to heat up and vapourise the sodium so it can join the discharge mix. You can see this as the lamp gradually turns yellow and increases brightness.
Low pressure sodium vapour lamps are the most efficient light source widely available with over 200 lumens per watt in some cases but are being supplanted by other technologies due to stupid EU regulations regarding minimum colour rendering since SOX lamps are a monochromatic light source.
Specs of lamp:
Colour temperature: 1800 kelvin
Luminous flux: 1800 lumens
Rated power: 18 watts
Lifetime to 50% survival: 18,000 hours
Arc voltage: 57 volts
Arc Current: 330 milliamps
Dimensions: 216 x 52 millimetres
Cap type: Bayonet By22d
