Phillips cdm-r metal hallide basking bulb

[Ed707]

Hi guys! First time I've posted in here for awhile but thought I'd update a few things since my last post. As always still tweeking heat and lighting trying to find the right balance between best and cost effective for replacement bulbs. I recently installed megarays metal hallide bulb in my viv. It's a beautiful bulb with great white light. The only downside, as plenty of people have told me and as I've seen for myself has been the decay rate at wich the uvi dissipates. At $50 a bulb and the rate they decay its not really cost effective. I seen someone recommend these Phillips cdm-r metal hallide bulbs in one of my reptile groups and asked fran baines about them. She said they have great color as well, and safe to use. They cost about $31 a bulb online which isn't a great savings but they do not produce uvi so should last alot longer then the 6 or so months a megaray metal hallide will. Plan on using it in conjunction with my arcadia 12% strip flourescent. At $31 a bulb plus a ballast that can be bought for around $60 and up depending on what functions you want and how much you want to spend, is actually quite affordable now. Another post I read recommended using a regular twist timer instead of a electronic timer with the metal hallide. Something about current possibly being able to leak out of a electronic timer and blowing the metal hallide ballast. Just thought I'd throw that in there. Deciding on what kind of ballast to get for a metal hallide can be a little confusing or intimidating but it's really not that bad once you start asking about them!

 

[CooperDragon]

I don't have hands on experience with metal halides but have been interested in them for a while. If Fran has tested those bulbs and says they're safe I'd trust her on that. Do you have data on UVA and UVB output and their heat output? Depending on how intense their UVB output is it may be a good idea to combine it with a UVB tube but you wouldn't want to overdo it.

 

[Ed707]

Hey cooper, I'm a member of fran's lighting group on Facebook and poke my head in there every once in awhile to ask questions about bulbs and lighting. She's tested the megaray metal hallides, luck reptile metal hallides and zoo meds new metal hallides. She's said all of them are safe to use, the only downside with them is the uv decays really fast compared to arcadias strip flourescent. That's from her and I've seen the same thing with my megaray metal hallide. The Phillip's cdm-r metal hallide is a non uvb metal hallide for human use, that was recommended by her and others on the page. She said it has great color just like the other uvb metal hallides. Because your not using it for uvb the Phillip's wouldn't need to be changed as often as the other uvb metal hallides. I should be getting them in the mail in a few days and plan to pop it right in and put my arcadia strip back in. As far as heat they are all 70 watt bulbs (which helps for interchanging them with my 70 watt metal hallide ballast) and as far as i can tell give off the same amount of heat as any other 70 watt bulb. I have a che hooked up to a thermostat and halogen bulbs hooked up to adjustable security lights. I don't think the one 70 watt metal hallide would be enough to heat my viv in the winter and would switch to lower wattage halogen bulbs in the summer. The combination of halogens, a metal hallide, and a strip light should bring the brightness up nicely. The Phillip's cdm-r is just pretty much for its color temperature

 

[Taterbug]

I'm curious what the beam pattern would be like esp compared to the mega ray MH. I've not yet worked up the nerve to wire up a MH and was disappointed the IWASAKI bulbs previously recommended were about 110$ each.

UVA doesn't decay at the same rate as UVB, if your not using the MH for UVB why replace it when the UVI decays? Just curious.

 

[Ed707]

The beam angle on the megaray mh is really intense in the middle of the bulb and lessens as it goes out. It doesn't create a wide basking area like a flourescent strip does. For a nice wide, even patch of uv the flourescent strips are still a better choice. I cant use my flourescent strip with the megaray mh, it would be way to intense. Brand new the bulb as extremely strong and after just a few months the decay rate was significant. There also somewhat flimsy and cheap, same as I noticed with megarays lightless bulbs and there mvb. There lightless bulb exploded in my viv and would hate the same to happen again. I would think the philips is a little better built so with that and the cheaper cost and wider uv spread with a flourescent I'm changing it again.

 

[Ed707]

I've heard the IWASAKI has been discontinued so you won't find them to much longer, just places selling leftover stock. The Phillip's was a recommended replacement for that

 

[Ed707]

I can post a few metal hallide ballasts that would work for any of these bulbs if it would help, that's the main thing is getting the right ballast.

 

[Taterbug]

I can post a few metal hallide ballasts that would work for any of these bulbs if it would help, that's the main thing is getting the right ballast.

that would!
i got a bit overwhelmed shopping around and with the high ignition voltages didn't want to mess up.

 

[Ed707]

I'll try to look some up now and post a few if I can find some

 

[Ed707]

http://www.bulbsdepot.com/imh-70-g-lf.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiAhNnCBRCqkP6bvOjz_IwBEiQAMn_TMajrLB6DlAv2fs6nyffUyRxkm5jdzUbYe-egOz9qHvQaAuly8P8HAQ


So I found this one for about $50 on google. I think I explained some things before about halide ballasts. The bulbs have what's called a ANSI code. The code for the Phillip's bulbs are C98. This ballast has a ANSI code of C98 so it is compatible with the Phillip's bulb. Not sure of the code on the megaray but it's probably the same, both bulbs work in the ballast I have. The ANSI code is just so you can make sure to get a compatible ballast. The wiring isn't hard, you just have to worry about the wiring from ballast to wall outlet. Wiring from ballast to fixture doesn't matter, from fixture to ballast there is only 2 wires and they can be attached either way into the ballast and fixture. From ballast to wall you need a 3 prong plug and wire which you can find at any hardware store. You'll have 3 wires on that plug and either 3 wires or 3 holes to attach wires on the ballast. Black wire (line or power wire) white wire (neutral wire) and green wire (ground wire). As long as you attach those 3 wires to the corresponding wires of plug and ballast you'll be fine.

 

[Ed707]

This ballast has a wiring diagram so don't be intimidated by all the different color wires. If you look it say red and blue go to lamp. Those are interchangeable and only reason there different colors is so you don't get them mixed up with the other wires. Black would still go to black white would still go to white and green would still go to green on your cord to the wall.

 

[Ed707]

Most ballasts have a diagram like this or like the one I have has a L next to the hole for Line or power (black wire) a N next to the hole for neutral (white wire) mine has a arrow for ground which might be confusing but you can easily figure it out by process of elimination. There's several other electronic ballasts online for sale, this was just the cheapest I could find. If you want a little better quality there's several others, I just figure cheaper is better because even a expensive ballast can fail and it's cheaper to replace a low cost ballast. You just want the same wattage ballast as the bulb your using, and in our case that's 70 watts. So easy google search for "70 watt electronic metal hallide ballast" most are compatible with several different ANSI codes, so just make sure you get one that has a C98 code and you'll be fine. If you or anybody decides to buy one and needs help wiring it still feel free to ask as I'd always be willing to help! Hope this helps and you don't feel so intimidated by metal hallide wiring, I was at first too but it's really not hard!

 

[Ed707]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00435HQC8/ref=sxts1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482424366&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65


I actually just bought this one because my megaray metal hallide ballast just blew on me lol