Theres a clear coated mercury vapor lamp outside an abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn NY that I pass by occasionally that has been in service since 1973 and its still working now in 2020 and if you look at it now, the glow is so dim it looks like its 20W when in full brightness now. Doesnt illuminate anything but the 2-4 feet around the bulb. I guess its been left alone for novelty sake

In the town where I grew up, there were the nice old Westinghouse and Powerlite streetlights which used mercury vapour, there were the Westinghouse clamshells and gumball heads made by a company called power lite which belonged to Sylvania, some with the cobra heads, some of which had mercury vapour and some with HPS, possibly metal halide too. One of my favourite things when looking at the streetlights was the slight variations in colour, some were more pinkish, some bluish, some beige, some just pure white, possible the variations of chemical balance, some of them may have been retrofitted with metal halide though I’m not sure. Now they’ve all been replaced with LED heads, I know times change, but it is kinda sad, an end of an era. Now they all look the same.

Nothing creepier than the glow of a mercury street lamp around some old abandoned factory at night.

Thanks for including the actual names of the phosphors used. Really interesting.

We have these in the street lights around houses here in Australia. They start up pink, then once they reach full brightness if viewed from a distance you can see a blue/violet halo around it. High pressure sodium is used everywhere else, on the highway and in the city.

LOVE THE MERCURY VAPOR LAMP ANY DAY!!!!!

Great vid. I've always liked mercurys--even as a kid.

There were also yellow coated mercury vapor lamps that were used at rail crossing street lights in some place, which pretty much ended when everything converted to HPS for street lighting.

Well done, informative videos! Thank you, Rick (I admire your collection.)

Very educative vid, thank you.

Soviet mercury lamps were used in my hometown everywhere some 30 years ago, except on the main highway which had orange lamps. Falling snow in winter looked beautiful under these. I remember perceiving the lamps to be quite bright, but was unable to read under them or see a grey LCD screen, which was strange. The shell of the bulb was white and looked like a mouse to me. They started pink.

really good thanks!

I once had a job assembling both high pressure sodium,mucury vapor street light fixtures and signal light fixtures.

Greatest invention,high intensity discharge lamps.

Hi ! What was the exact role played by Dr. Richard Küch (1860-1915), who was the first head engeneer of the German company Heraeus ? According to the information I found, he invented a way to make top quality quarzglass, but did he also played a role in the development of the mercury lamp itself ? Heraeus created in 1906 a division called Quarzlampen GmbH, and within this division, a company called Original Hanau started to build as one of the first companies in the world UV suntan lights, later combining this with infrared. So, their "Höhensonne" weren't only for cosmetic purposes, but also for medical use, more specificaly to fight rachitis, a result of a lack of vitamin D. Did Küch played whatever role in the invention of mercs, or did he only made a version for his company, anyone ?

A couple of the street lights not too far from where I live are still using mercury vapor lamps. One of them is on continuously and I don't think the bulb has ever been changed.

Have you talked about the tilting lamp seen at 6:07? Do you have one in your collection?

Hi do you know of any self ballasted metal halide lamps in production? Thanks

I have a Mercury Vapor light running here in my room as I’m watching this video! 😀

I LOVE MERCURY LAMP super video

so out of curiosity, how could I tell this from a White Son sodium lamp when I can't actually see the bulb? I realise there's a difference in color but is it big enough to tell the difference without a side by side comparison?

I love mercury vapour lamps

There was a 40W only lamp that predates the dual rating 40W/50W lamps. That is the smallest power rating that was available commercially.

Hi - I would like to low pressure Hg vapor arc tube lights, remove the outer glass, and use as a strong UVc source. I have a UVc detector to measure the irradiance at a distance (for dose measurements and safety). Where can I find such bulbs? Regards - T

Is the EMF a negative pull or positive ??

This First Bulb Show, is what I call A "Loop To Loop"Frame BT 28 Bulb! Because it has A Loop on each end of the Arc Tube used as supports! We have some that are still Burning today! Westinghouse made these just after the what I call "Double Strap Open Top Frame" Using Straps of metal to support the Arc Tube! These were Lifeguard Westinghouse as well! The 400 + watt had a Full Strap Frame due to the heaver Arc Tube! Sylvania in 1961 came up with a very odd Mercury vapor Light Bulb Called A Rough Service, or Guarder Frame Lamp! The First 175 watt Bulbs contained a Lifeguard like skinny Arc Tube with Two Starting Resistors one on Top, one on Bottom, And Big battery carbon looking ones at that! The Arc Tube in these had a larger electrode like the Westinghouse! I Have Two of these Bulbs, Sadly with Black Arc Tubes, BUT THEY STILL WORK! The Second one was in a Night Watcher in Ola Arkansas and I remember looking at it up in the fixture when I went to My Grandparents House! I Begged for the Bulb around 3 Years ago from One of our Linemen, I Told Him I was looking at it sense I was a small child, He said the light was installed in 1964 when My Grandparent`s moved up on the street where they lived! and it still works, Al tho not very bright ! And indeed the base starting date is 1964! My other 1964 Sylvania still works as well! ebay has a add for this exact light bulb! It states "You do not have to handle this Mercury Bulb with Kid Gloves" Showing a Arm wearing a Heavy duty Glove Holding one of these AWESOME Bulbs! The Skinny arc Tube was quickly replaced in 1965 with the more common Arc Tube I bet for Copyright Reasons! Have You Ever seen one of these 175 watt Sylvania Girder Frame Bulbs from around 1960-65! And Do You know where I can Get a Good grade one If You Have! I want one that is like New or slightly used! I LOVE Mercury Vapor Light Bulbs especially the CLEAR Ones! The Coated ones You can`t see the works! Here in Ola Arkansas We used Clear Bulbs up until the late 1990s! As did the surrounding Towns! Thank You for showing us Your AWESOME Collection! By the way I have around 30+ Loop to Loop Westinghouse & Phillips 175 watt Bulbs! I think that they tried to make a 250, 400, 700, & 1000 watt for a wile, But the heat they gave caused the frame to squeeze the Arc Tube sometimes Breaking it! So they went to the stranded frames on the Higher wattage Bulbs! Thanks Again!

Hello. Are discharge lamps, mercury vapours where-well high-pressure sodium vapours, their burners - hot than halogen lamps?

You are like Me I LOVE MERK`S ! I have about 75 Westinghouse bulbs like the one You first held up to show us, I call those "LOOP TO LOOP" mercury vapor lamps. Because of the frame design, two loops hold the arc tube! I have over 1000 Mercury Vapor lamps of most brands and wattages. Mostly Clear BT shapes.

If the ballast is buzzing, but the light does not come on, does that indicate a bad bulb? I just put a new bulb in it the beginning of summer. The old bulb before summer came on when it felt like it. I also replaced the photo cell. What is your best guess before I spend another $30.00 for a new 175 Watt Mercury Vapor bulb?

So, in doing some research on positions of streetlights in the context of an emergency evacuation in which there were no rules and drivers were absolutely desperate to get out, I notice that some farm style looking lights are off-white but when looking at them that it is as if at least 2 different spectra are being emitted. It is almost like a parallax experience in which the eyes foveate on two different objects at the same time that are different colors or something but they are not (maybe the combination of cones that are active despite the color perceived or something). I noticed that these lights look green on camera but not visually. Is this because the camera ignores a frequency of light or something but the green and other frequencies are left over in the image? Anyway, these streetlights and those that are green or purple/blue (defective) seem to have an interesting distribution. If drones could see these and jam nighttime traffic in such areas, it might be tough to evacuate.

I have a weird metal halide lamp that can restrike hot. Or at least the ballast/ignitor can supply a high enough voltage.

My town is going through and changing all the old streetlights to what i like to call them junkeds sad to see the old lights go.

Bonjour. Est-ce que les lampes à décharge que ce soit, les vapeurs de mercure où-bien les vapeurs de sodium à haute pression, leurs brûleurs sont-ils + chauds que les lampes halogènes ?

Can you run these off a 12V battery? Trying to use a portable setup to do moth surveys in the field.

0:30 so if it's just like uv lamp filled with hg , how can it produce visible light without any coating and instead why not it produces harmful uv because its transparent bulb ??

i have a vapor lamp structure on my garage, its been up there about 40 years im guessing when the owner 40 yrs ago passed away. well the wire was never connected and it was a job never finished. today i had electrical done and had to guy finish connecting that wire. but the new led bulb i put in there was flickering and the elctrician said oh man thats a vapor lamp better get a vapor bulb in there. he said he hasnt saw one in so long he dont know what bulb to use in there. so here i am. is there anyway i can find a led thats compatible with these structures. or even find the old bulb for them. it says model rsm100w replace with h38 mercury vapor lamp. do they make a new current bulb i can put in there instead of trying to find this h38 thing

They only have these in 50W These days in streets, mostly sodium lights are on the main roads now.

Why there's two casing ?

Why is that first lamp clear? I thought that it would produce lots of UV light without coating.

What happens if you put there an ordinary incandescent bulb? Will the bulb only start slowly, explode, will the armature break, just nothing happens or what? Will it be same if an cfl or led bulb is inserted there? I can only tell by myself that once I was child I screw this kind of lamp to ordinary 230v E27 socket. The light flashed once and the fuse in the house did go. Since atleast here in Sweden they use same fitting E27. Also same voltage, you only need that "starter" thing wired there before the E27 socket. So thats why im so curious and since this is outdated technology I maybe never get the answer 🤔

OK, but how does ANY kind of mercury vapor light work after the first time?? The Mercury would be dispersed throughout the bulb (but not vaporized)

If I find a lightbulb made in South Africa would you like it.

50 years of service is not unusual.

How are they still viable today? You still need a ballast and associated parts...screw in a LED and bypass the ballast to save money all around

Rick's Homemade Ballast? *;) (got a vid?)

If mercury vapor lights are banned then why aren’t 1000 Watt Incandescents banned. Including all incandescents except appliance bulbs.

Yeah so after the 50’s or so, these were made illegal to be installed in the netherlands. Cus its too inefficient. They can be found here and there and are really rare

Isn't it ultraviolet C

Sadly nowadays all mostly going to LEDs :(

U have one of these(i believe) ..i can bring it in and lay it down and it works..Buti put it outside upright and it wont light

BIG RESPECT FOR YOU BUT SOO SOORRY NIKOLA TESLA ITS THE SMARTEST PERSON ON THE PLANET

So what do you do? I collect lightbulbs . . . .

Does it produce radiation?

Of course Tesla was left out for credits on gas lighting ;)

костя👍💡👍250

👍💡250🌙

Apart from the 6 year old spelling abilities, this is a very informative and interesting video.

This voice is old Morty.

I agree with you...our stupid government has already banned these bulbs and now we are already are forced to buy stupid (LED) lamps, which I am extremely pissed -off about. I also hated the color of hps lamps....(another mistake)....stick with mercury vapor and metal halide.....and call it a day already.................done deal......

Sup Ricky d lol

Самые прожорливые лампы 😉

Energy efficient compared to what? A dead short? A 400W HPS lamp produces 25% more light per watt than a 700W Mercury Vapor lamp. That's why they are being phased out.

This Lamp was used by ancient using wireless free electricity before 1800

It’s a truly shit colour, not to mention horribly inefficient, the coated lamp is sooooo much better in every way.