115v Martin Mac TW-1 lamps discontinued

[T-Lo3308]

As you may or may not know. Phillips has decided to stop manufacturing the HI-Brite 1200W / 115V fast fit lamp, which is the only lamp that will work with a 115V Martin Mac TW-1. I own 16 of these fixtures and have already started running out of spare lamps. Now I could spend $1,000.00 per fixture and buy 80V dimmer moduals for these fixtures however, what I would like to look into is modifying the output of the 115V dimmer to output 80V.
Can anyone tell me if this is possible, and if so how to go about doing it?

 

[Wood4321]

As you may or may not know. Phillips has decided to stop manufacturing the HI-Brite 1200W / 115V fast fit lamp, which is the only lamp that will work with a 115V Martin Mac TW-1. I own 16 of these fixtures and have already started running out of spare lamps. Now I could spend $1,000.00 per fixture and buy 80V dimmer moduals for these fixtures however, what I would like to look into is modifying the output of the 115V dimmer to output 80V.
Can anyone tell me if this is possible, and if so how to go about doing it?

The first step would be to void the UL listing, thus making yourself susceptible to increase liability in case of any incident. Seriously, don't do this. Either sell the fixtures or purchase the dimmer modules.

 

[T-Lo3308]

Woodj32177 - Thank you for your response. I hadn't considered the UL listing. Guess I will have to go ahead and spend the money for the 80V dimmer modules. Don't think I would have much luck selling off a fixture for which you can't buy a lamp.

 

[STEVETERRY]

As you may or may not know. Phillips has decided to stop manufacturing the HI-Brite 1200W / 115V fast fit lamp, which is the only lamp that will work with a 115V Martin Mac TW-1. I own 16 of these fixtures and have already started running out of spare lamps. Now I could spend $1,000.00 per fixture and buy 80V dimmer moduals for these fixtures however, what I would like to look into is modifying the output of the 115V dimmer to output 80V.
Can anyone tell me if this is possible, and if so how to go about doing it?

At first blush, one might think of limiting the dimmer output to 80V and calling it a day. But this won't work, for a couple of reasons:

1. The coil spacing of any lamp is set by its rated peak voltage. A phase control dimmer set to 80V RMS on a 120V line is still outputting a peak-to-peak voltage of about 170V, which may well exceed the coil spacing voltage rating on the 80V lamp.

2. Whatever method you use to limit the phase control dimmer output to 80V, there are too many diabolical ways to override that limit, resulting in blown up lamps.

Thus, it's a bad idea.

Of course, it might be possible to use a buck/boost magnetic autotransformer at each fixture to reduce the 120V dimmer output 80V. However, these would be bulky and heavy, and the dimmer you are using would need to be tested in this mode.

If you happen to have a Sensor dimming system, you could also explore the use of dimmer-doubling to deliver a 77V half-wave DC output to the lamp.

ST