Twin Arc metal halide lamp from Advanced Lighting Solutions up close and personal
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The twin arc metal halide lamp from Advanced Lighting Solutions was one of the most exciting and innovative product unveiled at the Marine Aquarium Expo this past weekend. The twin arc lamps are about the length of a standard 400w mogul base metal halide lamp but they include two separate arc tubes within the lamp envelope. The arc tubes of the Twinarc do not fire simultaneously but instead, they are fired in alternation each time the lamp is turned on and off. We spent a good half hour turning this lamp on and off and we can tell you it is an amazing thing to see this lamp fire up the “other” arc tube again and again. Although a typical lamp would take 15 or more minutes to cool down and fire again, the off-duty arc tube only warms up a little bit by comparison and the Twinarc is ready to fire up again in a couple minutes. The Twinarc will be available only as a mogul base bulb in 250w and 400w sizes with a dual 20K flavor for extended lamp life and a 10K/20K combo which will alternate between intensity and color. How ALS can basically offer two bulbs for the price of one at $99 is beyond us but we are very excited to see the bulbs put to creative use. Advanced Lighting Solutions will be developing a special pendant to accomodate the spaced out lamp arcs to keep the arc tubes in the sweet spot of the reflector. The bulbs should be available in 6 weeks and they will be hitting the Marine Depot and Premium Aquatic websites as soon as they are available. We’ll have the exclusive on the spectral graphs of the Twinarc in a couple weeks, follow the link for more pics of the amazing Twinarc lamp from ALS.
I am assuming the color was good? 10k-20k together should be pretty good but did you see anything under it? Id love to see what par values it has. Next show I got Im carying a meter with me LOL.
April 8th, 2009 at 11:09 am
This makes no sense to me at all. As you go up in wattage, you see a boost in efficiency almost always. A 400 watter is more efficient than a 250, and a 250 more so than a 150, etc. So what we have here is a bulb of higher wattage with the efficiency of a much lower wattage. If its a matter of combining spectrums (10k and 20k), the 10k will overpower the 20k so much that its pointless. You would want 2x 20,000K spectrum to ‘balance’ with one 10,000K since 20,000K efficiency is about half that of a 10,000K, sometimes worse. Not to mention, everyone knows that T5’s are better at making that blue spectrum that goes so well with 10,000Kish bulbs.
Leave the ‘dual bulb’ bulb in the box and just use a 10,000K with some T5’s… thank you. What a gimmick.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Jon, maybe you missed this part, “The arc tubes of the Twinarc do not fire simultaneously but instead, they are fired in alternation each time the lamp is turned on and off.”
April 8th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Yes, I get that part. Whats so great about them not firing at the same time when turned on? What does that DO for the user?
April 9th, 2009 at 3:22 am
You’re still missing the point Jon… Say your photoperiod is 10 hours… the first 6 hours of which, no one is really looking at your tank (work hours) you can have the 10k turn on and have great growth. 20 mins from the time you’re getting home, you have your timer turn on and off again. This will give you the 20K output so you have brighter more flourescent corals to look at. Great growth + aesthetics of a bluer bulb all for $99. Try to understand the product first before you put it down. This is not a gimick, it is a great idea that i think many people will switch over to. Get of your soapbox and read the post again.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:45 am
We’re testing this in the office now. It’s pretty cool.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Ah, okay. I get it now. I misunderstood the concept.
There is no soapbox Ben. Dont know how you came to that conclusion.
April 9th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Id buy two for my tank.
April 15th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Looking at the pictures. You can see that the nipple on each bulb are in opposite sides. What is the correct position for this bulb?
May 2nd, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Where are these available, I cannot even find the company’s website to contact them. I remember them being at MAX but unfortunately I did not get any contact info. Does anyone have any info?
Thanks
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:55 pm
I just went HQI dammit!
August 5th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
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December 28th, 2009 at 4:03 pm