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Halarc MXR 32-Watt Compact Metal Halide |
The arc tube was in fact developed as part of the Electronic Halarc project, in which a small metal halide light source was combined with a tungsten ballast filament, and electronic ignitor in the base, intended as a direct retrofit for GLS lamps. GE launched that product on the American market in 1981, but it was not a success and was quickly withdrawn. The very high sale price and technical complexity was a problem, especially in view of the fact that the Europeans developed, at the same time, the first self-ballasted compact fluorescent lamps. CFLs offered longer lifetime, better colour, higher efficacy, instant re-strike and all for a much lower cost. GE was thus forced to abandon the Electronic Halarc project. It was an unfortunate ending to a technically ambitious and otherwise successful project.
However to avoid wasting the tremendous amount of work that went into developing the low wattage arc tube, it was decided to market that alone, without the integrated ballast. The result is the lamp shown here. It was intended for use in professional applications to replace 100W incandescent lamps in ceiling downlighters, with only a remote ballast being required. To make the lamp suitable for open fixtures, a small quartz shroud is employed, affixed by a pair of molybdenum wires fused into the quartz. Unfortunately in the USA market where energy-efficiency was not an issue at the time, the lamp enjoyed little success. Following the USA's later energy crisis, the considerably more efficient 35W ceramic types became the general preference.
| Manufacturer: | General Electric Co. of U.S.A. | |
| Lamp Power: | 32 Watts | |
| Lamp Current: | 0.36 Amps | DC Only |
| Lamp Voltage: | 90 Volts | DC Only |
| Cap: | E27s/27 | Ni Plated + Vitrite |
| Bulb Finish: | Eu:YVO4 phosphor | Leaded Borosilicate |
| Bulb Type: | E-54 | E-17 (in eighths/inch) |
| Overall Length: | 136 mm | 5 3/8 inches |
| Light Centre Length: | 87 mm | 3 7/16 inches |
| Electrodes: | Anode : Tungsten bead | Cathode : Tungsten wire |
| Atmosphere: | Inner : Argon | Outer : Vacuum |
| Luminous Flux: | 2,500 lm @ 100 hours | 1,823 lm @ 4000 hours |
| Luminous Efficacy: | 78.1 lm/W @ 100 hours | 57.0 lm/W @ 4000 hours |
| Colour Temperature & CRI: | CCT: 3000K | CRI: Ra 70 |
| Chromaticity Co-ordinates: | CCx: 0.437 | CCy: 0.397 |
| Burning Position | Vertical cap up ±15° | |
| Rated Life: | 10,000 hours | to 50% survival |
| Factory: | Ravenna, Ohio | U.S.A. |
| Date of Manufacture: | October 1990 | |
| Original / Present Value: | 57.25 (1991) | 74.31 (2001) |
