Uploaded June 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Years ago I showed a nice big 2000w stadium metal halide lamp but I never managed to fire it up as it was designed to be ran off 400v control gear.
There are two types of large (1kW+) metal halide lamps, those with low voltage arcs (110-130v) for use on single phase 240v control gear and those with high voltage arcs (230-250v) for use between phases on 380-440v control gear or US auto-transformer gear.
These ballasts allow the use of 1 1000w US US M47 1000W lamp with a high voltage arc tube and European lamps designed for 3 phase gear to be ran on single phase. The unit is basically a step up auto transformer connected to a normal high voltage choke with a PFC cap connected in between in order to avoid the transformer being overloaded.
Running 2 in parallel gave me the required voltage and lamp current to fire up that big 2000w Osram!
I have also used this setup to run a high voltage 1500w linear metal halide lamp by adjusting the mains input voltage to lower the lamp current to the desired value.
Years ago I showed a nice big 2000w stadium metal halide lamp but I never managed to fire it up as it was designed to be ran off 400v control gear.
There are two types of large (1kW+) metal halide lamps, those with low voltage arcs (110-130v) for use on single phase 240v control gear and those with high voltage arcs (230-250v) for use between phases on 380-440v control gear or US auto-transformer gear.
These ballasts allow the use of 1 1000w US US M47 1000W lamp with a high voltage arc tube and European lamps designed for 3 phase gear to be ran on single phase. The unit is basically a step up auto transformer connected to a normal high voltage choke with a PFC cap connected in between in order to avoid the transformer being overloaded.
Running 2 in parallel gave me the required voltage and lamp current to fire up that big 2000w Osram!
I have also used this setup to run a high voltage 1500w linear metal halide lamp by adjusting the mains input voltage to lower the lamp current to the desired value.
