Well, My Arcadia MV blew again...

[t.doyle]

After changing the bulb twice now, it has blown again. I am now using the Lucky Reptile "Bright Sun UV Desert" 70W (metal halide). It has the Pretty much the same performance in terms of UV and heat but offers SOOO much more visible light and uses less than half the electricity during running...

I have been using the Lucky reptile Metal halide lamps with my chameleon for over a year now and had spectacular results! ... don't know why I didn't just go with lucky reptile to start with on my tort..

I highly recommend the Lucky reptile "bright sun UV" bulbs and guess what! the Shelled warriros shop sells them too!

[NATURALIS]

mine blew too just after 4 weeks

[Alan1]

The UVB disappears rapidly on the metal halides, Kirkie tested them and they were done by 3 months I think.

If your bulbs are blowing it could be the contact, if the spark has to jump the gap the bulb will blow

[Watermelon]

It cant be the bulbs can it? Too much of a coincidence???

[Ozric Jonathan]

When the bright sun metal halides came out there were reports they were not reliable and didn't last long. But I didn't try one.

I've not had premature failures with arcadia lamps but I have this idea that the mvb lamps will always work out quite expensive and unreliable.

I am going to try one of arcadias' new 80 watt mvb's to see what it's like.

PS i have just ordered one!

[Arcadiajohn]

Hi all,

M.v lamps do use older tech and there will be a failure rate which is why we offer a no quibble 12 Month exchange policy.

Halide has historically had major problems, massive amounts of light but very limited uv energy that has been shown to depreciate very quickly. 3-4 moths was the norm.

A huge amount of money has been spent by us to design a system that uses halide tech with high uv that does not burn out, we have a solution now that is fully uv guide tested. More info about this later.

But there will always be a place and a use for m.v tech. The little 80w is an awesome lamp!

The main cause of m.v failure is unreliable contacts and power surge. Make sure lamps are fully and securely inserted and ideally use surge protection if at all possible. This will prolong the life of every brand of lamp.

John

[Alan1]

Originally Posted by Watermelon

It cant be the bulbs can it? Too much of a coincidence???

I doubt it Sophie, if bulbs keep blowing in the same holder I would be thinkin there's a problem with the holder.

My Arcadias have been running continuously for over 2 years now and the UVB they produce is still as good as many new MV bulbs

[t.doyle]

Originally Posted by Arcadiajohn

Hi all,

M.v lamps do use older tech and there will be a failure rate which is why we offer a no quibble 12 Month exchange policy.

Halide has historically had major problems, massive amounts of light but very limited uv energy that has been shown to depreciate very quickly. 3-4 moths was the norm.

A huge amount of money has been spent by us to design a system that uses halide tech with high uv that does not burn out, we have a solution now that is fully uv guide tested. More info about this later.

But there will always be a place and a use for m.v tech. The little 80w is an awesome lamp!

The main cause of m.v failure is unreliable contacts and power surge. Make sure lamps are fully and securely inserted and ideally use surge protection if at all possible. This will prolong the life of every brand of lamp.

John

Hi again John,

So Arcadia will be producing some MH lamps soon? Very exciting stuff...

[Ozric Jonathan]

Interesting there have been some failures with the arcadia D3 mvb's. Up until now I don't remember anyone on the forum saying they had a premature failure with this lamp.

One of mine has blown but I honestly don't know how long I had it for. As I have a few different light/heat sources in use I very easily loose track of how long a lamp has been used.

[Arcadiajohn]

It's very old tech, let's be honest they do go but we offer a 12 month guarantee so no panic really

John