On halogen bulbs

[zonkey]

Hey all! I heard halogens are more cost effective and last longer— struggling to find any in local stores though. What kind of halogen bulb would fit in a 8.5” Fluker’s lamp? Very clueless on this all lol. And where can I find them?? Links would be appreciated!

 

[KarrieRee]

Hey all! I heard halogens are more cost effective and last longer— struggling to find any in local stores though. What kind of halogen bulb would fit in a 8.5” Fluker’s lamp? Very clueless on this all lol. And where can I find them?? Links would be appreciated!

You need a bulb that's going to keep surface basking temps of 95-100 for an adult/ juvenile

 

[Chris.]

Usually the bulbs are labeled with the kind of fixture you need. Most of the reptile domes will be E27, so that is "the big screw" one, with lack of a better description
You can probably find them on amazon or in a pet shop as most hardware stores (where I life at least) only carry LEDs nowadays.

With halogen bulbs you do need an additional source of UVB light btw, as they only put out UVA rays.

And no, they are not the most effective as you need to combine them with additional lights to get the full spectrum of light waves.

Set UV-MH 100Watt Zooversion Reflektor

Die X-Reptile UV-MH sind die zur Zeit modernsten und effizientesten Lampen für Terrarien. Die aufwendig produzierten Lampen erzeugen gleichzeitig naturnahe UV-Abstrahlung, konzentrierte Wärme und ein sehr helles Grundlicht (z.B. 70’000-100’000 Lux bei 30cm, 70W-Varianten). Es handelt sich also...

www.x-reptile.ch

Those are the most efficient kind of lights you can get. Those are the ones that are used in Zoos for example.

 

[NickAVD]

Usually the bulbs are labeled with the kind of fixture you need. Most of the reptile domes will be E27, so that is "the big screw" one, with lack of a better description
You can probably find them on amazon or in a pet shop as most hardware stores (where I life at least) only carry LEDs nowadays.

With halogen bulbs you do need an additional source of UVB light btw, as they only put out UVA rays.

And no, they are not the most effective as you need to combine them with additional lights to get the full spectrum of light waves.

Set UV-MH 100Watt Zooversion Reflektor

Die X-Reptile UV-MH sind die zur Zeit modernsten und effizientesten Lampen für Terrarien. Die aufwendig produzierten Lampen erzeugen gleichzeitig naturnahe UV-Abstrahlung, konzentrierte Wärme und ein sehr helles Grundlicht (z.B. 70’000-100’000 Lux bei 30cm, 70W-Varianten). Es handelt sich also...

www.x-reptile.ch

Those are the most efficient kind of lights you can get. Those are the ones that are used in Zoos for example.

Have you had any experience using these lamps? It would be interesting to see a spectral graph of this lamp.

 

[Chris.]

Have you had any experience using these lamps? It would be interesting to see a spectral graph of this lamp.

That is all there is on the packaging. This is easy the brightest bulb I've ever seen the 100W makes the same heat as a 160W MVB and is many times brighter (chart at bottom left).

There is a Test (english subtitles only) of different bulbs. That guy has the biggest ball python breeding in Europe btw.

 

[magicmagni]

Halogens do put out more power than regular bulbs, but I have come to the conclusion that they are not always better, but not saying they are bad..

They both produce "heat" which is a byproduct the infrared A and Infrared B (IRA and IRB) -Not to be confused with ultraviolet A and B (UVA and B) - no screw in type bulb puts out anything in that spectrum unless we are talking self-ballast Mercury Vapor type bulbs or Metal Halides, but those are different animals with there own set of challenges.

Here are some nice irradiance charts courtesy of Thomas Griffiths.. I really like these charts as you can see exactly what you get with the bulbs tested.. AND you can see that they are not all the same!

A world’s first! Power Density iso-irradiance charts. | Tomaskas

Here is a nice chart showing the power density of one of my favorite basking bulbs.. Taken from link material. Pretty wide spread of energy as you can see. My understanding is that a good level is about 250 to 300 w/m2 of energy for bearded dragon..

You pair this with a good T5HO UVB bulb (Reptisun 10.0 Arcadia 12%, 14%) and a nice LED Spot like the SENSI GROW LED you're off to the races with a really top notch setup!

I wish I could find a chart for Halogen to share with you, but I can't find it right now. From my personal experience though (I have a small army of lights now that I have tried out in my quest) I have found the Halogen (arcadia and Zoo-med repti tough of various wattages) projects heat farther then the non Halogen ,but the area heated is very small. This is great for smaller species ,but for a Dragon I feel it doesn't cover enough of their body... assuming at least from nose to base of tail is what you want to heat. Bulb like the one above can accomplish this- 100W or 150W depending on the distances you are running in your setup.

Halogen can work though with two bulbs.. for example two 50W ones say in a double dome fixture instead of one 100W should cover the full animal well, but I'd rather use place for an LED SPOT to get a more "full spectrum" basking spot.

 

[NickAVD]

View attachment 86813
That is all there is on the packaging. This is easy the brightest bulb I've ever seen the 100W makes the same heat as a 160W MVB and is many times brighter (chart at bottom left).

There is a Test (english subtitles only) of different bulbs. That guy has the biggest ball python breeding in Europe btw.

I now have time to run all the tests on my HID lamp that I once talked about.

Lucky Reptile Bright Sun Set Jungle

This is a very bright lamp indeed.
The lamp power is 50W, I took measurements at a distance of 16" (40cm).
So:
Brightness: 50000 Lux
Temperature: 108 Fahrenheit
UVB level: 140µW/cm2

As an example, I took a photo next to an Arcadia MVB 160W lamp, in the photo you can see how much brighter the HID lamp is compared to the MVB.

The lamp is sold complete with a ballast, but you can buy the lamp separately (without a ballast block)

Manufacture: Germany (ballast - Poland)
When using the lamp 8 hours a day, the manufacturer of the lamp recommends changing it every year.
I don’t use this lamp yet, I have it as a spare to replace the Arcadia MVB.
If anyone is interested in additional measurements and tests, I can do this, please contact me.

 

[NickAVD]

There is a Test (english subtitles only) of different bulbs. That guy has the biggest ball python breeding in Europe btw.

Thanks for the video, it was very informative and it encouraged me to get out my HID lamp and check everything out.
PS
It’s strange that the tube in this video showed a very low UVB level.

 

[NickAVD]

Halogens do put out more power than regular bulbs, but I have come to the conclusion that they are not always better, but not saying they are bad..

They both produce "heat" which is a byproduct the infrared A and Infrared B (IRA and IRB) -Not to be confused with ultraviolet A and B (UVA and B) - no screw in type bulb puts out anything in that spectrum unless we are talking self-ballast Mercury Vapor type bulbs or Metal Halides, but those are different animals with there own set of challenges.

Here are some nice irradiance charts courtesy of Thomas Griffiths.. I really like these charts as you can see exactly what you get with the bulbs tested.. AND you can see that they are not all the same!

A world’s first! Power Density iso-irradiance charts. | Tomaskas

Here is a nice chart showing the power density of one of my favorite basking bulbs.. Taken from link material. Pretty wide spread of energy as you can see. My understanding is that a good level is about 250 to 300 w/m2 of energy for bearded dragon..

You pair this with a good T5HO UVB bulb (Reptisun 10.0 Arcadia 12%, 14%) and a nice LED Spot like the SENSI GROW LED you're off to the races with a really top notch setup!


View attachment 86818

I wish I could find a chart for Halogen to share with you, but I can't find it right now. From my personal experience though (I have a small army of lights now that I have tried out in my quest) I have found the Halogen (arcadia and Zoo-med repti tough of various wattages) projects heat farther then the non Halogen ,but the area heated is very small. This is great for smaller species ,but for a Dragon I feel it doesn't cover enough of their body... assuming at least from nose to base of tail is what you want to heat. Bulb like the one above can accomplish this- 100W or 150W depending on the distances you are running in your setup.

Halogen can work though with two bulbs.. for example two 50W ones say in a double dome fixture instead of one 100W should cover the full animal well, but I'd rather use place for an LED SPOT to get a more "full spectrum" basking spot.

I think you underestimate HID lamps, they have a spectrum very similar to the sun.
I first heard about these lamps from Thomas Griffiths, so I bought one of the recommended ones, but have not yet had time to install it.

 

[magicmagni]

I think you underestimate HID lamps, they have a spectrum very similar to the sun.
I first heard about these lamps from Thomas Griffiths, so I bought one of the recommended ones, but have not yet had time to install it.

Right on.. I'm only familiar with HID on Automobile.. (headlights) If Thomas has a report on this bulb, I'd love to see it.. He has access to so many expensive tools that we don't to verify it's not putting out harmfull UVC etc.. If he (or someone like him) has a green light on it ,I would really be interrested... especially if it can produce in the UVA part of spectrum. This is lacking in pretty much everything ,but Metal Halides which are so hard to get here in the states at least. It's good to try new things.. if not we'd all still be using T8 bulbs LOL so I'm glad you are giving it a go ;-)

 

[NickAVD]

Right on.. I'm only familiar with HID on Automobile.. (headlights) If Thomas has a report on this bulb, I'd love to see it.. He has access to so many expensive tools that we don't to verify it's not putting out harmfull UVC etc.. If he (or someone like him) has a green light on it ,I would really be interrested... especially if it can produce in the UVA part of spectrum. This is lacking in pretty much everything ,but Metal Halides which are so hard to get here in the states at least. It's good to try new things.. if not we'd all still be using T8 bulbs LOL so I'm glad you are giving it a go ;-)

Here is the video in which Thomas recommends this lamp.

I bought it completely by chance with big discounts, it cost me 25 euros for a set with ballast. That's why I bought it.
But I was only now able to check it. By the way, one of the photos shows a box and there you can see the presence of UVA radiation 315-400 nm.

 

[magicmagni]

Here is the video in which Thomas recommends this lamp.

I bought it completely by chance with big discounts, it cost me 25 euros for a set with ballast. That's why I bought it.
But I was only now able to check it. By the way, one of the photos shows a box and there you can see the presence of UVA radiation 315-400 nm.

Sweet! I've have to watch that one again. So much information! Thanks for sharing Nick

 

[magicmagni]

I feel the discussion has strayed from the OP question.. @zonkey I don't know where in the world you are from.. If USA I can recommend going to a local Petsmart because they have a really good return policy, which is important if you're unsure if it's going to fit. The Arcadia are good quality as well as Zoo-Med REpti-tough.. Lots of states now it's getting harder to get the halogens at local HW store because LED is replacing everything for lighting.

 

[Chris.]

Thanks for the video, it was very informative and it encouraged me to get out my HID lamp and check everything out.
PS
It’s strange that the tube in this video showed a very low UVB level.

They did measure the tube without a reflector, that will probably have an impact as well.