can I swap out 125 W mercury vapor medium base for 175 W mercury vapor mogul base?

No. About covers it.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Get yourself a 36w LED retrofit 4000K bulb, remove or fully bypass the ballast and enjoy.

Would there be much point? Mercury is obsolete for a reason. Total cost of ownership of a LED light is cheaper. And the light's better. And no warm-up issues. Your fitting/bulb might be free, but the electricity isn't.

NT

The ballast and supply voltage determine power, so your 175 watt lamp will not get the power you want to feed it. Lamp an ballast go together.

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? Thank

I'm changing out the ballast for the proper type. It comes with a capacitor. There currently is NOT one with the existing 125 W bulb and ballast and I am wondering if I should include it?

I agree about the LED, and I would if I were not using this set up for a the special purpose of attracting insects. The LED does not emit anything close to UV whereas the mercury vapor does and in not harmful wavelengths as long as the envelope remains intact. So, it won't be on all the time, just nights where I want to attract certain insects.

I do use LED for just about every lamp in the house, really cut the electric bill after the switch over from incandescents.

The cap might be for COS Phi correction, and have no influence on the lamp/ballast combo, just correcting Phi back to zero. In industrial applications that Phi correction is demanded by the power company.

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Who knows what that means. Ask us again, but clearly

Once the ballast is changed, any chance the 175W bulb will overheat in a fixture ?designed? for 125W?

OK. This is one of those times when it is clearly demonstrated that Common Sense isn't.

a) A HID fixture designed for a 125-watt lamp will not support a 175 watt l amp, no matter whether the socket is changed or not. b) About 30% (when the lamp is new) goes off as heat. As the lamp ages, tha t goes to 75%. c) These beasts get HOT. And, even assuming that a 175 watt lamp would ligh t, and operate properly, that additional heat would be fatal to the fixture in short order. That has to do with the physical design of the fixture. d) Changing an HID Ballast is neither trivial nor cheap. And to do so in th e world of reliable LED replacements is simply foolish. e) There is a reason that licensed electricians are required by code to mod ify fixtures from HID to LED (bypass the ballast). While not rocket-science , it is, also, not trivial.

So: The only valid approach for the OP would be to purchase the correct LED fixture in the first place. That the question was asked in the form it was asked makes it clear that the OP hasn't the first clue on what is involved . From some of the answers here, it is also clear that many of the posters are no better. Consider that at no time did the OP seem to consider the pur chase of the correct lamp...

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

por

I decided NOT to modify the 125W MV lamp yard light in any way, just swap out the frosted light for a clear one of the same wattage and medium base.

The ballast on the way is for either 175W MV or Metal Halide. The bulb will be housed in a ceramic Mogul base and away from anywhere where it might overheat or cause melting.

As I said prior, I plan on operating these intermittently to help bring in insects and moths during the night.

I understand the concern about the 175W heat, so I have made allowances for that with the correct base and the fact that it will be operating open air from a tripod. We're talking maybe 5-7 hours maybe half a dozen nights a month. I'll be seated close by the whole time.

Not very bright.

Pun intended.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Whatever floats your boat... I stopped arguing on Usenet about 20 years ago, or even making sarcastic commentary. Just like arguing politics, it accomplishes nothing and only inflated my blood pressure (come on, people really think they're going to change someone's political views by arguing with them all the time... not). Most of the very same individuals making the comments wouldn't hold a prayer if meeting face to face. 'Nuff said and I won't reply further unless I see helpful or useful commentary.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Why didn't you just say that instead of the sarcasm, then? See, I would have responded in kind.

One may purchase a commercial-grade 7,000 lumen LED Fixture complete with a 50,000 hour lamp for about US$60. Note that LEDs do not have 'wasted' lume ns as they are all directed out, so 35-50 watts of LED is equivalent to 175 watts of HID light, even in a well-designed fixture.

A "smart" HID Ballast may be had for about US$50. Changing it out properly takes both knowledge and skill.

The typical HID lamp costs about US$8, and lasts about 10,000 hours.

Around here, power is about $0.14/KWH

So, in 50,000 hours, a 50-watt LED fixture will burn about 2,500 KWH, or US $350 in power. Making the investment $410 in total for that 50,000 hours.

That 175 watt lamp will burn 8,750 KWH and need to be replaced five (5) tim es.

So: $1,225 in power. $40 in lamps, $50 in a ballast. Total investment of $1 ,315.

Then, there is the issue with heat, modification of of a fixture outside of its design parameters, and so forth.

Hence the comment on Common Sense being an uncommon commodity.

What are you doing anyway? Jacklighting deer?

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

He said bug catcher so he needed a light that put out a certain kind of light.

The led will not do that (he said).

Less than an amp, ooohh-errr

Yet more evidence of a lack of common sense. Light-based bug catchers used outdoors attract no/zero/none/zilch harmful insects, except by accident. And in some regions where over-used, they are playing merry hell with the local ecosystem.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA