Difference between revisions of "Philips HPI-T and HPI-T Plus"

Standard Metal Hallide Lamp for indoor and outdoor lighting with 250W and 400W (E40 base), clear tubular bulb (HPI-T) or coated bulb (HPI Plus)

**Clear (for HPI-T and HPI-T Plus lamps)

**Diffuse internal ovoid coated bulb (all HPI Plus lamps)

*E40 base  

*Color rendering index Ra of 65 (most HPI-T lamps) and 69 (all HPI Plus lamps)

*Typical lifetime of 20.000 hours (most lamps) or 24.000 hours (only HPI-T lamps)

*Luminous efficacy of 72 to 85 lumens/watt (highest on HPI-T lamps)

**Horizontal operating position (all HPI-T lamps)

** Philips SI or compatible parallel ignitor for 5000 Volt pulses (except "S" designated lamps)

| MASTER HPI Plus 250W/745 BU E40 CRP/SLV || E40 || 250 W || 18000 lm || Cool White || 4500 K || 69 || 20000 hours

|-

| MASTER HPI Plus 250W/767 BU E40 CRP/SLV || E40 || 250 W || 18000 lm || Daylight || 6700 K || 69 || 20000 hours

| MASTER HPI Plus 400W/745 BU-P E40 CRP/SLV || E40 || 400 W || 32500 lm || Cool White || 4500 K || 69 || 20000 hours

| HPI-T 2000W/646 E40 220V CRP || E40 || 2000 W || 189000 lm || Cool White ||  6700 K || 65 || 24000 hours

Notes:  

* some lamps have an integrated internal starter and do not require an external ignitor, presented with the "S" designation;

* "T" means clear tubular bulb while all other lamps are coated; "P" means protected lamp, suitable for open air use;

* MASTER designation should point at better performing lamps but it is useless in this lamp range.

Generally, sodium vapour lamps were very durable and most modern products were released with even longer typical lifetimes. This is mainly due to the fact that the main market of street lighting pressured producers to cot servicing costs which means that reliability improvements were mandatory. Unfortunately, due to the way that almost all lamps are designed, they age in a different way compared with other light sources. Sodium slowly permeates the ceramic arc tube meaning that the lamp voltage raises as the lamp ages, making it harder to remain in stable operation after startup. This creates the well known on-and-off lamp cylcles that repeats every couple of minutes, accelerating as the lamps is close to demise. Eventually, the lamp does not start but this happens after a long cycling and gear stress that might span over months or even a whole year.

| High light output in very compact package || Serious glare risk especially for uncoated lamps

These high pressure sodium vapour lamps are compact light sources that are viable for wide area lighting. Their poor colour reproduction and large output means that they are entirely suited to outdoor lighting or greenhouses as grow light. Compared with fluorescent lamps they were very compact, having great performance at low temperatures. A very long lifetime, that was around 16 to 25 times higher than tungsten lamps, and almost double that of some fluorescent lamps, meant that these lamps are well suited for use in places where lamp replacement was costly, as in high bay lighting, street lighting, tunnel lighting.  

 

High pressure sodium lamps had higher light output, almost double, of mercury vapour lamps while having very low quality colour reproduction. This means that mercury vapour lamps were still suited for areas where colour reproduction was moderately important and there was still an advantage from compact light sources. However, street lighting was a very important market as the lamp's efficiency ensured cost savings in labour and electricity use, after the 1970s oil crisis. There were some advances in colour reproduction with different lamp technology but standard lamps were not favourite of industrial, workshop lighting commercial premises. The light spectra was, however, highly beneficial for plant growth.

 

The inherent flicker of mains voltage lamps is very low even with conventional gear due to the fact that a large amount of light happens due to thermal emission and balance of the temperature of internal arc tube. There were some electronic medium frequency gear similar with ones used on fluorescent lamps but they were very costly. However, sodium and metal hallide gears are generally compatible, meaning that most sodium lamps can be easily replaced with compatible wattage metal hallide lamps that have a much better colour appearance, sacrificing some energy efficiency due to different lamp technology. The requirement for ignitors along ballasts while it raises total cost and increases complexity, as well as raising the risk due to passing thousands of volts through some wires, means that fixtures have a clear advantage of maximum useful light and restart in case of power failure in almost one minute.

 

Fixtures are generally compact, considering the light output made available, but are generally heavy due to the bulky electromagnetic gear being used. There are directional and omni-directional fixtures that are suited to various purposes. In street lighting, the well known cobra-head style lamppost was used, and they may still be available for purchase. They were only moderately effective as light covered a large area but a considerable amount of light was lost due to the fixture directing some of it upwards, with no control. Omni-directional fixtures were used in residential areas and parks, where ambience was more important than efficiency. Indoor fixtures were centered on the typical high-bay or low-bay types due to their application in greenhouses where light has to be directed entirely downwards. Other fixtures were compact, having a boxy design, with a symmetrical or asymmetrical lamp placement that was suited for flood lighting. These type of lamps were used outdoor, for floodlighting. There were no home designed fixtures as these lamps were never used in home environments.

Nowadays, sodium vapour lamps are still very widely used as outdoor lighting. As the number of available fixtures is massive, availability is high and will diminish no early than 2030s, meaning they are economically effective to purchase except and they can be repurposed for mercury vapour of metal hallide lamps if proper lamp gear is used. Free standing lamps are quite capable on their own so if you need a compact light source that is highly durable and colour output is not important. They have the additional advantage of attracting less insects during the summer, if used as outdoor light. They are especially well suited for security lighting. Of special interest is greenhouse lighting, as was mentioned before, even if specialized lamps have also been designed for these purposes, the standard lamp is also appropriate.

HPI Plus lamps are the best choice since they do not require specific fixtures for operation, their ovoid outer bulb allowing simple operation and less glare with possible operation as free standing, hanging, lamps. HPI-T lamps are much more effective for flood lighting but they require specific fixtures and have higher surface temperature, making them more susceptible to damage when improperly handled. Chinese branded lamps are much worse in all performance and quality metrics with shorter useful life, worse colour reproduction and and efficiency as a proper, stable mix of hallides required huge research investment that was too costly for Chinese producers.

The best choice are, probably, the 250 watt lamps as larger powered lamps are too powerful for most purposes. This lamp wattage was also cheaper as they were highly popular. Electro-magnetic ballasts or conventional gears are plentiful and can be used interchangeably with all manufactured lamps for a specific wattage and ignitors' performance is less critical as on high pressure sodium lamps. Lower rated power output gears can be used, but it is not recommended as colour reproduction and lamp lifetime will be reduced while higher powered ones damage the lamp due to over-stressing and is highly dangerous.

Products manufactured by Philips were similar to General Electric and Osram, with a quality and consistency much above some East-European manufacturers in terms of colour rendering, light output and life. However, Philips was manufacturing lamps with shorter lifetimes and poorer colour reproduction than typical Osram ones, especially on standard metal hallide lamps, as Philips was focusing on cost and marketing. On the other side, Philips lamps were much more popular and are easier to find.