Using power inverter to power Mercury Vapor lamp

500W Lithium Ion Power Station

Does anyone have experience running MV bulbs in the field using a 500W Lithium Ion Power Station such as is offered by Paxcess?? Was wondering if it would be a better alternative to a gas gennie??

… Kirk Marshall, 16 November, 2021 - 5:25pm

Startup issue

If you have an opportunity to test the setup before purchase, do so if you intend to use it for a 400 Watt MV lamp. I was black lighting with someone once who tried to use a lead acid deep cycle battery with an inverter to power such a lamp. He had not tested it prior to the trip and just went off the numbers. It would not start. The battery and inverter checked out fine and no one could figure why it didn't work at the time. In hindsight, my guess is that there is an initial power surge needed to ignite the MV that the inverter could not supply. This is normally not an issue with a wall plug (unless you have a fast-blow fuse), since the fuse/breaker takes several seconds to heat up. My generator uses an inverter, but has a much higher power rating than needed.

… Edward L. Ruden, 27 November, 2021 - 9:49am

I've tried

I have a roughly put-together MV setup (basically a security light fixture) that I've tried running thru a power inverter connected to the cigarette lighter in my car. There wasn't enough power to get it started (the setup works fine for my blacklight). I'll bet running it hooked up straight the battery like Brady does is the way to go when you don't have a generator.

… Brad Barnd, 4 August, 2011 - 11:51pm

I run my 175 W mercury vapor

I run my 175 W mercury vapor lamp (with BioQuip rain shield) off my truck battery using a 300 W power inverter. I'm usually able to run the light for an hour and a half without difficulty. My power inverter has an alarm for when the battery gets low. I've only had trouble starting the vehicle once when that has happened. I haven't run the light with the truck running so I can't comment on that. I also carry around a battery recharge unit in case I have to jump the battery.

The biggest problem I've had was just the other night when the rain shield fixture had a short. It blew my bulb and the fuse in my power inverter. I replaced the fuse and am using a shop lamp fixture now and everything works just fine.

… Brady Richards, 4 August, 2011 - 1:45pm

shop lamp fixture

Thanks for the info Brady.

I was planning to use a cheapy self-ballasted MV bulb and some sort of portable lamp fixture. What is the shop lamp fixture you are using and do you think the bulb I am 'looking at' is adequate? Also, are you using the cigarette lighter or attaching directly to the battery?

Thanks again for your help!

… Jeff Gruber, 4 August, 2011 - 2:34pm

I'm using a fixture similar t

I'm using a fixture similar to this one: http://www.snakeestate.com/lighting/lamp-fixtures/8-1-2-aluminum-lamp-fixture.html. My power inverter connects directly to the car battery. I've heard that going through the cigarrete lighter isn't as good as connecting directly to the battery, but I haven't experimented to see for myself.

I think that bulb will be fine. I've used the bulbs that BioQuip sells, but have had just as much success with bulbs like the one in your link. For my aquatics, I sometimes run black lights in addition to the MV (I set them out well away from the big light) and will get different results with each.

… Brady Richards, 4 August, 2011 - 4:17pm

Here's the light components I'm going to try. Need to shop for a power inverter yet.

Exo Terra Porcelain Clamp Lamp, Large
160 Watt Self Ballasted Mercury Vapor Bulb by Plusrite

I'll let you know how it works when I get back from my trip(s).

… Jeff Gruber, 6 August, 2011 - 7:03pm

Hg Vap Light

Jeff, wow this is a lot later, but did that setup work for you well? I am looking into getting some UV and Mercury Vapor lights for our lab. (Pretty surprised the links still work!)

… Thomas Sheehan, 17 May, 2018 - 12:31pm

so bizarre

I was actually thinking about this as I lay awake in bed last night. I still have the components and was wondering what I was going to do with them.

Please shoot me an e mail jpgruber atsymbol uwalumni dot com.

The setup:

… Jeff Gruber, 17 May, 2018 - 12:48pm