Pictured below is an example of a clear surface quartz lamp that becomes cloudy or opaque over hours of use.

Beam lumen performance over the life of the lamp.

The gap between the electrodes act as a point source of light for the reflector optical performance. As the lamp becomes more opaque, the light scatters and the optical performance suffers.

This is a natural occurrence of quartz metal halide lamps but there are tips to minimize it

• Make sure that the lamp is clean
• If you touched it then clean the lamp with an isopropyl alcohol pad
• Make sure all the fixture cooling mechanisms are working properly
• Devitrification increases the risk of non passive failure

Most importantly, be sure to check your lamps on a regular basis because by the time your lamp has been on for over 500 hours (see graph above), you've already lost up to 40% of your light output. You can get lamp replacements through Barbizon, simply call 866-502-2724.

This article was written and supplied by GE.