I recently installed a mercury vapor light fixture. It is a 125 W lamp with integrated ballast in the housing. Today, I check the current with a clamp ammeter on the 120 VAC/ 60 Hz line going into the housing. After a 10 minute warm up, the current reads approximately 2.3 A AC. Not being sure, I then wired a series multimeter in line for a moment and it too read 2.3 A. Unfortunately, there is no PFC with this yard light, only the bulb and ballast, so I don't think anything can be done. However....
In another set up I have on the way, there is the 175 W MV bulb, ballast and the PFC capacitor that will be used with the ballast. Any ideas as to performance would be welcome. I'm just looking for in general as I realize we can't get too specific without any more figures, but I'm really hoping the efficiency is better than with the 125 W set up.
Thank you in advance.