Low Pressure Sodium Lamp -- SOX 35 Watts

I finally got my first LPS (Low Pressure Sodium) 35 SOX lamp.
The start up colours are simply amazing.
The lamps produces 589 nm monochromatic light when warmed up.

[gedbill]

As a child i would watch these lamps come on nearly every night and loved the coral pink glow turning into an apricot orange colour and
there are so magical and it was criminal to take them all down. The Mercury Vapour lamps are also great to watch as they warm up as well.

[TheChipmunk]

I love SOX lamps... So evocative of my childhood

[Richardincancale]

Astronomers were really happy with these - just needed a monochromatic filter to remove any light pollution from their images.

[TheToastPeople]

My favourite type of lamp, I own several sox lamps and two fixtures for them. Glad you finally got one!!

[WaynesElectrical]

at it :D
For quite a few
years now, I have
had a SOX upstairs
in the cupboard. One day, I


to dig it out and power it up.

Just like yours, it is a Philips 35w lamp. I also have a Philips ballast to
go with it, but the ballast is a phenomenal hefty lump!! It can run a 35w lamp and a 55w lamp.

I have before now, run a 90w lamp on it OK, but the 90w lamp failed.

Both of my lamps were given to me by kind street lighting engineers when I was
young. I got my first SOX back in '89, but it was a failed one.

A few years later, and I managed to get another one, but functional, then found a
grounded street light and gutted the electrical works out of it. :D It had been walloped by a
car, a replacement post was in place without a lamp on top of it, so I just stripped out the old one. :D

About early 1990s, I saw a lighting engineer at the end of my road and asked him if he had any
large SOX lamps in the back of his van I could have. Noticing one which was quite a bit larger
than my 35w one, I asked him if he could have it, so he dug it out and gave it to me. It was the
90w one which would fail a few years later. I no longer have it.

I still do have my 35w SOX though and it has been MANY years since I glowed it up!

In reference to hot re-strikes, it should restart instantly. If your unit doesn't, then it might be something
to do with the control gear. I have never had any issue re-striking a hot SOX.

I think.... the ones which cannot re-strike when hot are the MBF-U types.

Mr. Photon gave me one of those. :D
Of course, as a subscriber to *_Wayne's Electrical, _* you know that. :D

Watching a SOX glow-up is quite Sssatisfying!

I do like that pink glow on a cold startup, and sometimes wish it would stay that colour.

Interesting fact: When I lived around my other house in the 90s, we had SOX lighting everywhere.
I took my SOX lamp one evening and glowed it up in my bedroom. Staying with it for the whole of
the warm-up right through to full brightness, I then stayed in the room with it for a little bit, while
thumping some music on my little 3D30 boombox, then I turned off the lamp, went over to the
window, pulled back the curtains and looked outside. What I saw, surprised me.

WHOLE STREET WAS A REALLY BRIGHT INTENSE FLUORESCENT

Somehow, being in the room with a SOX at full brightness had done something to my eyes. :D

My eyes did recover though and later on into the night, the street was the same usual SOX colour. :D

I have spoken to Mr. Photon about SOX lamps. I think the smallest made, was a 10w. It's a proper-cute
little thing as well, and they are very rare! Obviously speaking, appropriately-rated control gear is needed,
and obtaining 10w SOX control gear is more difficult than the lamps!

So yes, one day, I will dig out that SOX and glow it up. Having never glowed it up before on video,
it will be a *_VIDEO EXCLUSIVE_* to Wayne's Electrical too! How tasty will that be?!

For those reading this who are not yet subscribed.... I would recommend RIGHT NOW that you
click my avatar, head-on over to *_Wayne's Electrical_* and then that subscribe button!

Thanxx for showing this lamp and its fitting. If you can, do look into getting more lamps and fittings
*AND MAKE SURE* that you get the related control gear too!


Thanxx for showing,

-Wayne's Electrical.

_30th August 2020, 17.55_

[veil]

so happy Rodalco you got your first sox light 😃

[RingingResonance]

I love these lamps. I have yet to see one in real life though. Thanks for this.

[tony-lqyk]

These should instantly start when hot
Im glad you have got one now
The bigger 90w and 135w lamps are neat as they are noisy when warming up ping ping ping with the parts inside moving as they warm up

[rustymotor]

You got one of those too! I scored one a while back and I love the runup with the changing colours. The original tube is old and is nearly worn out, takes ages to run up to normal brightness. Great video Ray!

[alteregos]

Great clip, low pressure sodium lamps of that design are the higher end and far more expensive over the typical road lamps that are commonly found. Great find!

[timmoore]

I remember that sodium lamps were used at intersections, where the lamps away from intersections were standard cool white fluorescent lamps. I used to like the yellow colour.

[metersocket]

LPS’s are my favorite type of bulbs. Hopefully they’ll keep being manufactured in the future. Best Regards!

[NaoPb]

LPS are really nice. I now have 3 of them.

[burstu]

I remember seeing in my physics class at school my teacher showed LPS lamp to us as part of excitation i think it was, I was so fascinated by it. Had a soft spot for these HID lamps since. 20 and an electrical apprentice and have a hard time throwing out good MH and HPS lamps haha, would love to get hold of a LPS lamp to play with.

[bridgerectifier]

I've collected a lot of SOX lamps over the years and I even have some of the really big lamps like: E90, E131 & 180w.
Most people don't realize how bright they are when they are at your own height.
I have a dead E-131 which is a metre long, working on the ignitor only and still gives off that lovely pink starting glow continuously. I'm actually surprised Ray, I thought you would have loads of these luminaries.

[LakeNipissing]

If I had this, I would switch it on every day just to watch the stages of color change!

Rodalco @ 1:48 . . . LOL

[JimHendrickson]

It's a little strange to like a video watching a light warm up, but I was really saddened when I learned that they stopped manufacturing LPS a few years ago. This was the best lighting for general outdoor use because it emitted very little light pollution, was not disruptive to insects and wildlife, contributed next to no skyglow, and exhibited no glare even when you stared directly at it. I always liked the warm glow of LPS, a stark contrast to the cold, unwelcoming, and environmentally damaging glare of current solid state lighting. I had also forgotten about the array of colors they went through during their long, slow warmup, which the camera doesn't really pick up as well as seeing it in person.

[humanseagull]

Looks like a proper Philips fitting as well, got loads of these lamps left over at the workshop

[douro]

It's actually two distinct lines at 589nm and 589.6nm, the so-called "sodium doublet".

[tuopeeks]

Unfortunately being phased out and manufacturing has stopped in uk after around 90 years of production