HPL ceramic heat sink

Is anyone else out there having difficulty with the new HPL lamps that have a ceramic heat sink?  I can't seem to keep them seated in the Source 4 par lamp socket.  The metal heat sink lamps work geat but are oddly a bit harder to come by.
  • Hi - This might be as much socket related as lamp base related. The old TP22 - the Source Four socket for the last 200 years - will wear out eventually and not do a great job holding the lamp in the PAR socket.  In the last 2-3 years, we have gone to using either a Bender & Worth socket or a new Sylvania socket - the TP22H.  Both of these have better designed contacts that do a better job of holding the lamp.

    About the HPL lamp.  We license the manufacture of the lamp to Ushio, Osram Sylvania, and GE - they have tolerances that they have to meet to keep building the HPL lamp.  While I hear that some prefer one brand over the other because of past problems - this could be batch related rather than an overall indication that, "one is better than the other."  I hear this about all the brands. Me?  I'm neutral.  I think everyone is currently using ceramic bases rather than metal. There were some issues with earlier ceramic bases not being as consistant size-wise - but I don't hear that these days.  The tolerances used in HPL manufacturing are: Watts +/- 5%, Lumens +/- 7%, Color Temperature +/- 50K.  I'm told that these are pretty tight tolerances in the world of tungsten lamp building.

    I could say that a Source Four with an HPL  -7% lumens under spec is still a lot brighter than any other ERS fixture of the same wattage...but that would be shameless posturing, so I won't say it.

     Happy lamping,

     Tom

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