Normally, the only time a metal halide bulb will self-destruct is if you leave it on 24/7. This is why lamp instructions call for turning the lamp off once a week for 20 minutes or longer. The reason for once a week lamp shutdowns is because metal halide lamps usually will self-destruct at end of life if left on continuously. However, when they reach end of life and are shutdown once a week, the bulbs will fail without destroying themselves once you energize them after a shutdown. The good thing is in later fixtures, the lamp base of a protected arc tube bulb is a little different from that of a non-protected bulb.

If you're using generic starting gear from Mau's pondland (aka China) then that's a nice easy fix. Buy yourself some Philips starting gear. Here in Britain, we moved over to 150w CMH (Ceramic metal halide) lamps in our smaller street lights and 400w sodiums elsewhere. On my street, we have 3 of the the small CMH lanterns installed, and at worst they've only needed a new lamp here and there. One only needing a replacement igniter due to water ingress. Other than that, over the 4 or so years they've been installed they've actually been really reliable. Not quite as reliable as the old low pressure sodium lanterns they replaced but at least you no longer end up going temporarily red/blue colour blind as soon as you see white light!! Oh, and btw. The MH lamp you have is a specialised protected unit made for open fixtures like yours. If the arc tube explodes, it's no biggie. You won't have a red hot quartz claymore.

You can run the mercury bulb in most metal halide fixtures. They probably wont be quite as bright but they will last longer than the halide. Take care to match up the wattage.

These ballasts can run mercury vapor bulbs. Just have to disconnect the ignitor from the white wire side and they’ll run fine! The ballast itself should still be ok. Since this ballast is 100 watt, make sure to use 100 watt mercury vapor bulbs only.

I broke open and have pictures of the igniter circuit board that burned. I have ordered an igniter specifically for metal Halide but it has not arrived yet. I want to see if that will light the lamp. i also have ballast specs. I would be glad to just have my old one keep going for a while longer. I have had no issue with these lights until now with the burnt igniter.

I had one of those burn up! Glad it wasn't on the house. Ballast caught fire, those consumer grade lights are junk! I bought an industral grade cobra head MH fixture. No problems yet, it's been 3 years

Thanks for your info. I just bought a 9000 lumen M H light at Walmart today for $60 but after reading your review and others, I’m taking it back. I have a 2100 lm, motion activated led fixture that lights my backyard up well but it has lately turned into a democrat , kinda works when it wants to. Looking for bright dependable illumination for my garden which is 120 x 200. Thanks!

There are mercury vapor lights on eBay. I’d recommend the old Norelco NEMAs as they last for years it seems.

I had the same with the 150 watt metal halide floodlight that I made into a shop light as a substitute for a 500 watt halogen. (The 150 watt metal halide is actually brighter than the halogen but a third of the energy usage) I've had it for about 3 years or so, and use it extensively for lighting up my backyard next to the bbq pit after a long days work. Anyway, one night I set it on the tripod that I had built, plugged it in, no light. I could hear the transformer buzzing, but not the sound of the ignitor ticking. I ordered one off Amazon, not a cheap ignitor but a quality made one with a metal casing. Disassembled the fixture, removed the old plastic ignitor and installed the new one. Let there be light. Good as new

you should get an ultra slim, harsh white, crisp, glarey, LED floodlight. they have a 0.000 second startup time and they "claim" to last longer. and when those are phased out with pale green BLA lamps or LERFEC lamps or even industrial scale phosphorescent lamps, get those. move on with the status quo. NO, screw the status quo. i am still using preheat fluorescent lamps to illuminate rooms.

I have a metal halid light on the side of my house. Got sick on the bulbs blowing every 1 to 3 years. I found you can put a mercury vapor bulb of the same wattage on a metal halid ballast so I bought a bulb. The first bulb I got on Amazon failed after a day. I then bought 5 frosted 100 watt old new stock mercury vapor on Ebay for $35. Bulb still works great after 2 years and I have enough to probably last till I'm an old man. For my backyard I bought an old new stock 175 watt mercury vapor light and it works great. Mercury vapor gets dimmer with age, but it's very reliable and the bulbs are cheap.

the regular mercury vapor lights are the best.....(hands down)....you can still get the mv ballasts on e-bay....(while you can)...DO IT!....

Crazy how things are made so differently. I have plenty of vintage lights that work fine with the original components that have ran for decades.

what i recommend is that metal halide ballast i would rip out the ignitor (that white box) and put in a Mercury Vapour bulb. As MV bulbs work with most metal halide ballasts as long as you get the right wattage. I just don’t like Metal Halide the fact that it can explode just makes me not want to use it. I have a Metal halide 400W ballast working well with a MV and after 5 years still working. All i did was just remove the ignitor.

You need a bottom cover for the refractors some metal halides come with a bottom cover to catch the glass

The bulb in the mercury vapor light on the pole outside my house is over 10 years old. Too bad the utility company doesn't install them anymore.

You can run same wattage mercury vapor lamps in metal halide fixtures.

I'd recommend MV metal halide is good but the new lamps are junk the ones that are made in China but the USA bulbs are good

Starter ballast is called a igniter by the way

I'd recommend not buying those standard, cheapy area light fixtures! They make the most cheapest and junky electrical gear especially for those standard area lights! There are industrial design of HPS, MH, and even MV fixtures in different styles and wattages! I never buy those cheapy fixtures!

Metal halide is good when used right.

are there any countries that phased out all NON-LED light bulbs?

My dumbass bought 2 of those junk pieces of shit. Got 8 mos out of first one, now im working on my second one. 7 mos after install. Pisses me off. $90 pissed down the drain. Twice.

Try a real bright 1000 watt incandescent bulb

Not surprised if you are using bulbs supplied by the fixture manufacturer likely made with the lowest standards of quality the company just needed a bulb for the customer to throw into their fixture kinda like out of the box tv remote batteries I'd trust a lithonia bulb if it came with my fixture but I wouldn't buy them as a replacement