# 18,000 watt metal halide?



## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I just found an 18,000 watt, yes, *18,000* watt metal halide bulb for sale (see link). Now what on earth would someone use that for?? Even those spotlights they use to search for airplanes aren't that strong!

http://www.servicelighting.com/Sylvania-54075-HMI-18000-W-HMI-Metal-Halide-HID-Light-Bulb


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## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

The bulb is 20 inches, so it would fit over a 15 gallon

You would have to replace it every month though, the average life is only 250 hours


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

lets see 18000 watts @ 225 volts... thats only 80 amps... so you would need a 100 amp breaker. ( max load is 80%)


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Haha yea! Only 1,200 watts per gallon  It would probably boil the water off in a few minutes, melt the silicone and glass tank, and burn everything around it within a 7 foot radius 

I can't even begin to think of a practical use for that kind of intensity. It throws out 1,700,000 lumens. The sun, measured at noon throws out roughly 37,000 lumens by comparison. That makes the bulb 45x brighter than the sun !


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

Minsc said:


> The bulb is 20 inches, so it would fit over a 15 gallon
> 
> You would have to replace it every month though, the average life is only 250 hours


And People thought I was nuts with the 400 watt raidum over a 10 gallon...


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Now you can go outside and watch all the little dials spinning around on your electric meter: maybe even the first one will be moving!


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

I think it might be an Army issue non-conventional weapon. Ya know, blind and scorch the enemy. LOL

How did you find this?


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Newt said:


> How did you find this?


lol... funny you should ask... I was checking out metal halide bulbs for my friend who, uh, wants to grow certain terrestrial plants 

I was comparing the lumen output of 400 w to sunlight and then wondered about 1,000 w bulbs and then just threw in 5,000 w to see the lumens and found that webpage with all the different bulbs and saw the 18,000 watt bulb with 1,700,000 lumens


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I am reminded of a post to the Aquatic Plant Digest a long time ago, titled, "Got some lights---Big uns!". The poster said that he got them from the sheriff's department where they had been confiscated from someone growing "wacky tobackey" One was a 400 watt Sylvania Lumalux, and the other was a 1000 watt ge lucalox LU 1000. These would be as pale as moonlight compared to 18,000 watts!


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

I had a 1000 watter over a 48x 48x 36 reef, it was sweet.


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## jazzlvr123 (Apr 29, 2007)

amazing i could not imagine how bright that must be


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Ok I found out that it is used for the film industry  those poor actors...



http://www.gelighting.com/eu/resources/press_room.html said:


> EXCLUSIVE 18,000-WATT GE SHOWBIZ® CSR METAL HALIDE SINGLE-ENDED LAMP AND 800-WATT VERSION EXTEND GE VERSATILITY LEADERSHIP
> 
> Budapest, February 2005 - One of the most complete lines of CSR *lamps for the film industry*, GE SHOWBIZ®, expands options for creating daylight color temperatures with the addition of the ultra powerful GE SHOWBIZ® CSR18000/SE/HR lamp-an industry first-and the GE SHOWBIZ® CSR800/SE/HR lamp. Applications for the new products are in film production settings where maximum light output, reliability and color stability are critically important.
> 
> ...


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

YUCK! I'm glad I'm not in showbiz. I thought maybe these things were used as Airline flood lights.


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