Hi, Everyone.
Tracie has asked me to write an update on this, so here I am :wink:
This is going to be a long post because there are quite a few issues here. No.. I know.. What I'll do is write 3 separate shorter posts addressing the 3 main topics here, then the mods who know how to do these things can split up the topic into 3 topics, if they think it is a good idea.
As I see it, the topics are:
1. The ExoTerra Solar Glo lamps
2. The use of cheap fixtures for ZooMed Reptisun 10.0 tubes
3. The current situation with ReptileUV and T-Rex lamps, and the distances that lamps should be placed from the dragons.
1. ExoTerra Solar Glo Lamps.
First, let me explain what I know about these lamps.
I have had 4 sets of lamps sent to me since they came out, in 2007.
They are all manufactured in China. They do NOT have any identifying marks upon them at all, that I can see, which give any way of deciding what batch they are or when they were manufactured. The ink stamp on the glass just says ExoTerra Solar Glo and then the voltage and frequency (120V 60Hz, or 220-240v 50Hz) and wattage (125W or 160W). Embossed on the metal, above, are the voltage, wattage and "CHINA EF7" - they all say this, from the oldest to the most recent sample. No batch numbers...
The boxes are of two types.
All the lamps I received before September 2009 were brightly coloured, black with floppy yellow lettering and flames in orange and yellow through tree branches, behind the picture of the lamp.
After September 2009, some of them - specifically the 160W lamps - were in very suave, smart "minimalist" boxes with a simple image of the lamp on an all-black background and a silver top, stating in very neat squared-off lettering "Professional Series".
Here's my story.
In October 2007 I tested two lamps sent from kind donors in the USA, one 125W and one 160W.
The UVB output of these two was about the same; they both gave a UV Index of about 5.0 at 12in distance, falling to about 4.0 after 100 hours use. This is a good UVB output, for sun-loving basking species such as bearded dragons. The difference between the two lamps was that the higher wattage lamp gave out more visible light and more heat.
I put the 125W on a longterm test, over one of my beardies.
After 1,000 hours, (3 mths use) it had only decayed to UVI 3.8; after 2,000 hrs (6 months) it was still UVI 3.4. After one year of use (4000hrs) when I ended the trial, it was still giving me UVI 3.1 ... I think that's really very good...I could still use that lamp very happily.
This is why I gave these lamps a good review in October 2008...
Then in March 2009 I was sent a brand new 125W lamp as part of a trial I was doing for a UK distributor who wanted to test out a "vivarium kit" they planned to sell, with all sorts of different lamps inside to see what was best. This lamp was sent from the warehouse of the parent company of ExoTerra, this company is called Rolf C Hagen Corp. in the USA and Rolf C Hagen UK Ltd in the UK.. (to avoid confusion - I did not have any correspondence with their CEO. Rolf C Hagen is just the name of the Company, after its Founder I think...)
Well anyway - this 125W lamp I received was disappointing. It started with a UV Index of 3.6 at 12ins, which seemed a bit low compared to the other two, but still ok; but after only 100 hours this had fallen to only 2.2. That is a very significant decay and a lower output than I'd want for a sun-basking reptile. I did not test it for longer, to see if it carried on decaying, though.
I know that mercury vapour lamps vary widely from lamp to lamp, even in the same batch, so I thought it was possible that this one just happened to be a particularly low-output one. Maybe I should have requested another sample..
Well, nothing further happened until the beginning of this year, when all the problems began to emerge with the MegaRay and T-Rex lamps. Dawn (Gulfbrzdawn) sent me two Solar Glos from the USA - one new 125W and one 160W that had only had about 100hours use; ie. it was just burned-in. She had bought the 125W in October-November 2009 and the 160W in September 2009. These arrived on 8th March 2010.
I'll paste some "key" results below, but basically, the 125W was like the first one I tested back in 2007 - a very nice lamp.
I'm going to ship this one back to Dawn and hope it gets there safely, because it will be good for beardies.
But the 160W was - strangely - operating at only 115W and had a low output... like the 2009 125W lamp.
Meanwhile, to find out whether the specs had been changed recently, I had written to Rolf C Hagen Co Ltd in the UK; the email correspondence I had was with their Quality Control Supervisor. She told me:
"Now, with regards to the Solar Glo bulbs, there have been some modifications to the bulb. Not in respect of the specifications of the bulbs, but more in the manufacturing process and the type of material used. For instance, originally the bulbs were hand-blown, now they are machine-blown, and the specifications of the glass and the filament have been adapted to suit this...... I can, if you like, send you some of the latest bulbs for testing."
Within a week of Dawn's lamps arriving, I received four more Solar Glos from Rolf C Hagen UK Ltd. They sent me two 125W and two 160W lamps.
I have only just finished burning-in three of these four.
So my most recent tests are for six lamps all (presumably) made between September 2009 and February 2010.
125-watt lamps:
Lamp 1: Purchased Oct-Nov 2009 by Dawn, unused, and sent to me in March 2010.
Total UVB after burning-in (105hrs):
10 ins: 232 uW/cm2
12 ins: 160 uW/cm2
18 ins: 70 uW/cm2
UV Index:
10 ins: 8.8
12 ins: 6.1
18 ins: 2.5
This lamp was operating at 115 watts.
Lamp 2: Sent by Rolf C Hagen in March 2010.
Total UVB after burning-in (105hrs):
10 ins: 40 uW/cm2
12 ins: 29 uW/cm2
18 ins: 13 uW/cm2
UV Index:
10 ins: 0.9
12 ins: 0.6
18 ins: 0.3
This lamp was operating at 136 watts.
Lamp 3: Sent by Rolf C Hagen in March 2010.
Total UVB after burning-in (105hrs):
10 ins: 35 uW/cm2
12 ins: 25 uW/cm2
18 ins: 12 uW/cm2
UV Index:
10 ins: 0.9
12 ins: 0.6
18 ins: 0.2
This lamp was operating at 141 watts.
160-watt lamps:
Lamp 1: Purchased Sept 2009 by Dawn, used for about 100hrs, and sent to me in March 2010
Total UVB after about 100hrs:
10 ins: 90 uW/cm2
12 ins: 64 uW/cm2
18 ins: 29 uW/cm2
UV Index:
10 ins: 3.5
12 ins: 2.5
18 ins: 1.0
This lamp was operating at ONLY 115 watts - although 160W was stamped on the lamp itself, so it is not one that "got in the wrong box".
Lamp 2: Sent by Rolf C Hagen in March 2010.
Total UVB after burning-in (105hrs):
10 ins: 75 uW/cm2
12 ins: 55 uW/cm2
18 ins: 26 uW/cm2
UV Index:
10 ins: 2.0
12 ins: 1.4
18 ins: 0.7
This lamp was operating at 173 watts.
Lamp 3: Sent by Rolf C Hagen in March 2010.
Total UVB after 1hour (I have not burned-in this lamp):
10 ins: 43 uW/cm2
12 ins: 31 uW/cm2
18 ins: 15 uW/cm2
UV Index:
10 ins: 0.8
12 ins: 0.5
18 ins: 0.2
This lamp was operating at 159 watts.
Spectra:
The 125W lamp purchased by Dawn in October-November 2009 was presumably manufactured before the change in specs - it is very different - the only one with what I would describe as a "good" spectrum. It has no un-natural short-wavelength UVB below 295nm and a good spectrum for a mercury vapour lamp, with a small peak at 297nm and larger peaks at longer wavelengths still.
None of the other lamps had any UVB below 300nm, in fact hardly anything below 313nm. This is why they give such very low readings with the meters, of course.
These are very disappointing results. A high-quality UVB fluorescent tube such as an Arcadia D3+ 12% or a ZooMed Reptisun 10.0 tube can have a UV Index reading between 0.7 - 1.0 at 12" after burning-in -which is better than two of these mercury vapour lamps with the new specifications!
However, a new complication has appeared just in the last couple of days!
A contact in the UK, Darren, has just reported on the UVB_Meter_Owners forum that he bought an ExoTerra Solar Glo 125W - which was putting out 46uW/cm2 and 3.6 UVI at 12ins when brand new, and the next morning, only 1uW/cm2 and zero UVI... and this one had a shiny front face and a milky coating inside the glass. It was in a black-and-silver box.
So what is going on?
We don't know. Darren is getting me another lamp like the one he bought, to test.
I am going to write a proper report as soon as I can, and send it to Exoterra/Hagen and ask for more information... I'll let people know more as soon as I know more myself.
Best wishes,
Frances
