Recommendations for duration of use and replacing lamps of age
We recommend a daily use of 8 hours. For ensuring a sufficient UV supply to your animals we recommend
to replace the lamps after a year. When using more than one lamp in a terrarium, one lamp can be used for
providing UV and should be replaced regularly while the others can be used till the end of the lamp life.
Please note that the UV performance will decrease to about 50% of its original within 3500 hours of use.
Information on Using Metal Halide Lamps:
• Metal halide lamps must only be used in suitable luminaries (e.g. Lucky Reptile Thermo Socket PRO)
• Special ballasts and igniters are necessary for use (e.g. Lucky Reptile Bright Control and Bright Control
PRO)
• It has to be made certain that the lamp is correctly screwed into the socket and has full contact to ensure
a proper ignition behaviour
• The distance between lamp and igniter should be as short as possible. Normally 3m should not be excee
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ded. Pay attention to the information of the manufacturer of the ballast/gear box
• During the ignition process of metal halide lamps voltages of several thousand volts can be reached. It is
essential that special lampholders are used which are designed for up to 5 kV.
• Metal halide lamps need about 5 minutes to achieve their full brightness
• After switching off a lamp it has to cool down for about 10 minutes before it can be started again.
Colour Differences:
• Due to the technology of metal halide lamps it is possible that there are colour differences between
single lamps
• The spectrum of lamp is also influenced by external factors like the voltage, luminaire and ballast
• The spectrum does change with increasing lamp life. The effect also depends on the ballast. An electronic
ballast will provide a more constant light output than an electromagnetic ballast
Information for ensuring optimal operation:
We recommend the use of our electronic Bright Control PRO ballasts. Contrary to conventional gear bo-
xes they ensure a gentle operation of the lamp, increase lamp life and decrease the power consumption.
Simultaneously they guarantee a flickerfree operation. In combination with the Thermo Socket PRO porce
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lain lamp holder a plug and play setup is possible. Make sure that you use special lampholders which are
designed for 5 kV, with normal lamp holders there is the risk of a fire! The Thermo Socket PRO is ready for
use and can be installed inside the terrarium without wire installation. A connector ensures the easy and
direct connection to the Bright Control device and makes large holes for a cable leadthrough inside the
terrarium superfluous.
The Bright Control ballasts have been optimized for use with the Bright Sun UV lamps. Only use ballasts that
have the same wattage as the lamp. No guarantee can be given that ballasts from other brands will work
smoothly with the Bright Sun lamps. There can be problems in igniting the lamps with foreign ballasts which
will reduce the lamp life. Most electronic ballasts are optimized for certain metal halide brands. Even if a
lamp seems to work fine with a foreign ballast, there might be changes in the spectrum which could result
in a significantly different UV output of the lamp. We cannot guarantee that your animals get the proper UV
that they need, if foreign ballasts are used.
