Introduction Gas discharge lamp basics The use of electrically excited gas discharges significantly predates the invention

of the incandescent lamp. Physics labs of yesteryear as well as today have use of a variety of gas filled tubes used for numerous purposes involving light generation including spectroscopy, materials analysis, studies of gas dynamics, and laser pumping. Look through any scientific supply catalog and you will see many different types of gas filled tubes in all shapes and sizes. Gas discharge lamps are used in virtually all areas of modern lighting technology including common fluorescent lighting for home and office - and LCD backlights for laptop computers, high intensity discharge lamps for very efficient area lighting, neon and other miniature indicator lamps, germicidal and tanning lamps, neon signs, photographic electronic flashes and strobes, arc lamps for industry and A/V projectors, and many more. Gas discharge automotive headlights are on the way - see the section: "HID automotive headlights". Because of the unusual appearance of the light from gas discharge tubes, quacks and con artists also have used and are using this technology as part of expensive useless devices for everything from curing cancer to contacting the dead. Unlike incandescent lamps, gas discharge lamps have no filament and do not produce light as a result of something solid getting hot (though heat may be a byproduct). Rather, the atoms or molecules of the gas inside a glass, quartz, or translucent ceramic tube, are ionized by an electric current through the gas or a radio frequency or microwave field in proximity to the tube. This results in the generation of light - usually either visible or ultraviolet (UV). The color depends on both the mixture of gasses or other materials inside the tube as well as the pressure and type and amount of the electric current or RF power. (At the present time, this document only deals with directly excited gas discharge lamps where an AC or DC electric current flows through the gas.) Fluorescent lamps are a special class of gas discharge lamps where the electric current produces mostly invisible UV light which is turned into visible light by a special phosphor coating on the interior of the tube. See: Fluorescent Lamps, Ballasts, and Fixtures for more info. The remainder of this document discusses two classes of gas discharge lamps: low pressure 'neon' tubes used in signs and displays and high intensity discharge lamps used for very efficient area and directional lighting. Safely Working with Gas Discharge Lamps and Fixtures Fixtures for gas discharge lamps may use up to 30,000 V while starting depending on technology. And, they are often not isolated from the power line. Neon signs are powered by transformers or electronic ballasts producing up to 15,000 V or more. Thus, the only safe way to work with these is to assume that they are potentially lethal and treat them with respect. Hazards include:

Electric shock. There is usually little need to probe a live fixture. Most problems can be identified by inspection or with an ohmmeter or continuity tester when unplugged. Discharge lamps and fixtures using iron ballasts are basically pretty inert when unplugged. Even if there are small capacitors inside the ballast(s) or for RFI prevention, these are not likely to bite. However, you do have to remember to unplug them before touching anything! Neon signs using iron transformers are also inert when unpowered - just make sure they are off and unplugged before touching anything! However, those using electronic ballasts can have some nasty charged capacitors so avoid going inside the ballast module and it won't hurt to check between its outputs with a voltmeter before touching anything. Troubleshooting the electronic ballast module is similar to that of a switchmode power supply. See the document: Notes on the Troubleshooting and Repair of Small Switchmode Power Supplies The pulse starters of some high intensity discharge lamps may produce up to 30 kV during the starting process. Obviously, contact with this voltage should be avoided keeping in mind that 30 kV can jump over an inch to anyplace it wants! Nasty chemicals: Various toxic substances may be present inside high pressure discharge lamps (sodium and mercury) and neon signs (some phosphors). Contact with these substances should be avoided. If a lamp breaks, clean up the mess and dispose of it properly and promptly. Of course, don't go out of your way to get cut on the broken glass! WARNING: Metallic sodium reacts with water to produce hydrogen gas, an explosive. However, it is unlikely that the inner tube of a sodium vapor lamp would break by accident. Ultra-Violet (UV) light: High intensity discharge lamps generate substantial UV internally, often the particularly nasty UV-B variety. Unless designed to generate UV (for medicinal purposes, photoengraving, or whatever), the short wave radiation will be blocked by the outer glass envelope and/or phosphor coating. However, should the outer envelope break or be removed, the lamp will still operate (at least for a while - some have a means of disabling themselves after a few hours or less of exposure to air). DO NOT operate such a lamp preferably at all but if you do, at least take appropriate precautions to avoid any exposure to the UV radiation. High Intensity discharge Lamps High Intensity Discharge (HID) Lamp Technology These have been used for a long time in street, stadium, and factory lighting. More recently, smaller sizes have become available for home yard and crime prevention applications. Like other gas discharge lamps, these types require a special fixture and ballast for each type and wattage. Unlike fluorescents, however, they also require a warmup period. There are three popular types:

High pressure mercury vapor lamps contain an internal arc tube made of quartz enclosed in an outer glass envelope. A small amount of metallic (liquid) mercury is sealed in an argon gas fill inside the quartz tube. After the warmup period, the arc emits both visible and invisible (UV) light. High pressure

mercury vapor lamps (without color correction) produce a blue-white light directly from their discharge arc. Phosphors similar to those used for fluorescent lamps can be used to give these a color closer to natural light. (Without this color correction, people tend to look like cadavers). Mercury vapor lamps have the longest life of this class of bulbs - 10,000 to 24,000 hours. The technology was first introduced in 1934 and was the first of the commercially viable HID lamps. Metal halide lamps are constructed along similar lines to mercury vapor lamps. However, in addition to the mercury and argon, various metal halides are included in the gas fill. The most popular combination is sodium iodide and scandium iodide. A few versions of this lamp have lithium iodide as well. A much less common version has sodium iodide, thallium iodide, and indium iodide. The use of these compounds increases the luminous efficiency and results in a more pleasing color balance than the raw arc of the mercury vapor lamp. Thus, no phosphor is needed to produce a color approaching that of a cool white fluorescent lamp with more green and yellow than a mercury vapor lamp (without correction). Some metal halide lamps have a phosphor that adds some orange-ish red light, but not much, since the metal halide arc does not emit much UV. High pressure sodium vapor lamps contain an internal arc tube made of a translucent ceramic material (a form of aluminum oxide known as "polycrystalline alumina"). Glass and quartz cannot be used since they cannot maintain structural strength at the high temperatures (up to 1300 degrees C) encountered here, and hot sodium chemically attacks quartz and glass. Like other HID lamps, the arc tube is enclosed in an outer glass envelope. A small amount of metallic (solid) sodium in addition to mercury is sealed in a xenon gas fill inside the ceramic arc tube. Some versions of this lamp use a neon-argon mixture instead of xenon. Basic operation is otherwise similar to mercury or metal halide lamps. High pressure sodium vapor lamps produce an orange-white light and have a luminous efficiency much higher than mercury or metal halide lamps. Since hot liquid sodium often eventually leaches through things and can get lost this way, sodium lamps have a surplus of sodium in them. Proper lamp operation depends on the sodium reservoir being within a proper temperature range.

Mercury vapor lamps are roughly as efficient as fluorescent lamps. Metal halide lamps are much more efficient, generally around 50 to 75 percent more efficient than fluorescent lamps. High pressure sodium lamps are roughly twice as efficient as fluorescent lamps. Unlike fluorescent lamps, HID lamps will give full light output over a wide range of temperatures. This often makes HID lamps more suitable than fluorescent lamps for outdoor use. When cold, the metallic mercury or sodium in the arc tube is in its normal state (liquid or solid) at room temperature. During the starting process, a low pressure discharge is established in the gases. This produces very little light but heats the metal contained inside the arc tube and gradually vaporizes it. As this happens, the pressure increases and light starts being produced by the discharge through the high pressure metal vapor. A quite noticeable transition period occurs when the light output increases dramatically over a period of a minute or more. The entire warmup process may require up to 10 minutes, but typically takes 3 to 5 minutes. A hot lamp cannot be restarted until it has cooled since the voltage needed to restrike the arc is too high for the normal AC line/ballast combination to provide.

Problems With High Intensity Discharge Lamps While HID lamps have a very long life compared to incandescents (up to 24,000 hours), they do fail. The ballasts can also go bad. In addition, their light output falls off gradually as they age. For some types, light output may drop to half its original value towards the end of their life. A lamp which is cycling - starting, warming up, then turning itself off - is probably overheating due to a bad bulb or ballast. A thermal protector is probably shutting down the fixture to protect it or the arc is being extinguished on its own. However, make sure that it is not something trivial like a photoelectric switch that is seeing the light from the lamp reflected from a white wall or fence and turning the fixture off once the (reflected) light intensity becomes great enough! Sodium lamps sometimes "cycle" when they have aged greatly. The arc tube's discolorations absorb light from the arc, causing the arc tube to overheat, the sodium vapor pressure becomes excessive, and the arc cannot be maintained. If a sodium lamp "cycles", the first suspect is an aging bulb which should be replaced. Sodium lamp "cycling" used to be very common, but in recent years the lamp manufacturers have been making sodium lamps that are less prone to cycling. If you have more than one fixture which uses **identical** bulbs, swapping the bulbs should be the first test. If the problem remains with the fixture, then its ballast or other circuitry is probably bad. Don't be tempted to swap bulbs between non-identical fixtures even if they fit unless the bulb types are the same. Warning: do not operate an HID lamp if the outer glass envelope is cracked or broken. First, this is dangerous because the extremely hot arc tube can quite literally explode with unfortunate consequences. In addition, the mercury arc produces substantial amounts of short wave UV which is extremely hazardous to anything living. The outer glass normally blocks most of this from escaping. Some lamps are actually designed with fusable links that will open after some specified number of hours should air enter the outer envelope. Thus, an undetected breakage will result in the lamp dying on its own relatively quickly.