Spectral Analysis of XM 15000K Metal Halide Lamps

by | Jun 15, 2005 | 0 comments

Since their introduction in the last few months, the XM 15000K metal halide lamps have generated a lot of interest. This article presents a complete analysis of these lamps. The lamps and ballasts used for the evaluation are presented in Table 1 below. As usual these lamps were tested using the identical setup to all my previous tests [1], thus allowing for direct comparison between the lamps.

Table 1: List of XM 15000K lamps and ballast tests reported in this article

LampsBallasts
XM 400W 15000K (Mogul base)PFO-HQI
Taiwan – HQI
Standard Magnetic (M59)
IceCap (Electronic)
Blueline (Electronic)
Reef Fanatic (Electronic)
EVC (Electronic)
Coralvue (Electronic)
XM 250W 15000K (Mogul base)FO-HQI (ANSI -M80)
Standard Magnetic (M58)
IceCap (Electronic)
Blueline (Electronic)
Reef Fanatic (Electronic)
EVC (Electronic)
XM 250W 15000K (Double Ended)PFO-HQI (ANSI -M80)
IceCap (Electronic)
Blueline (Electronic)
Reef Fanatic (Electronic)
EVC (Electronic)
XM 175W 15000K (Mogul Base)Standard Magnetic (M57)
Lumen General (Electronic)
XM 150W 15000K (Double Ended)HQI
Icecap (Electronic)

 

XM 400W 15000K

Table 2: XM 400W 15000K performance on all ballasts

fig1-xm400W15K.gif

Figure 1: Spectral data for XM 400W 15000K Lamps on all ballasts

BallastPower
Watts
Input
Volts
Input
Amps
PPFDCCTEfficiency
PPFD/Watt
Magnetic -M59452123.24.0104.700.2316
PFO-HQI512121.35.55114.800.2242
Blueline383122.23.2775.400.1969
Reef Fanatic428122.53.6483.900.1960
EVC418121.43.5985.400.2043
Icecap416122.93.582.200.1976
Taiwan – HQI457122.24.0110600.2319
Coralvue453121.23.87103.800.2291

 

XM 250W 15000K Mogul Base

Table 3: XM 250W 15000K Mogul Base performance on all ballasts

fig2-xm250W15K-mogul.gif

Figure 2: Spectral data for XM 250W 15000K Mogul Base Lamps on all ballasts

BallastPower
Watts
Input
Volts
Input
Amps
PPFDCCTEfficiency
PPFD/Watt
Magnetic (M58)295122.82.8255.700.1888
PFO-HQI (M80)3521243.1880.200.2278
Blueline253122.62.1741.900.1656
Reef Fanatic256123.12.253.200.2078
EVC272122.42.3350.600.1860
Icecap255123.22.2947.600.1867

 

XM 250W 15000K Double Ended Lamps

Table 4: XM 250W 15000K Double Ended Lamps performance on all ballasts (unshielded)

fig3-xm250W15K-DE-U.gif

Figure 3: Spectral data for XM 250W 15000K Double Ended Lamps on all ballasts (Unshielded)

BallastPower
Watts
Input
Volts
Input
Amps
PPFDCCTEfficiency
PPFD/Watt
PFO-HQI288122.72.7256.3157140.1955
Reef Fanatic255123.62.1861.6391970.2416
Blueline250120.82.1955.4161260.2216
Icecap242122.82.2853.3219810.2202
EVC272122.02.3366.8164040.2456

Table 5: XM 250W 15000K Double Ended Lamps Performance on all ballasts (Shielded)

fig4-xm250W15K-DE-S.gif

Figure 4: Spectral data for XM 250W 15000K Double Ended Lamps on all ballasts (Shielded)

BallastPower
Watts
Input
Volts
Input
Amps
PPFDCCTEfficiency
PPFD/Watt
PFO-HQI288122.72.7245.5128980.1580
Reef Fanatic255123.62.1849.6226250.1945
Blueline250120.82.1945.4131150.1816
Icecap242122.82.2843.5160990.1798
EVC272122.02.3354.9128540.2018

 

XM 175W 15000K Mogul base

Table 6: XM 175W 15000K Mogul base performance on all ballasts

fig5-xm175W15K-Mogul.gif

Figure 5: Spectral data for XM 175W 15000K Mogul base Lamps on all ballasts

BallastPower
Watts
Input
Volts
Input
Amps
PPFDCCTEfficiency
PPFD/Watt
M57198124.42.063900.1970
Lumen General181124.41.6335.800.1978

 

XM 150W 15000K Double Ended

Table 7: XM 150W 15000K Double Ended performance on all ballasts (Unshielded)

fig6-xm150W15K-DE-U.gif

Figure 6: Spectral data for XM 150W 15000K Double Ended Lamps on all ballasts (UnShielded)

BallastPower
Watts
Input
Volts
Input
Amps
PPFDCCTEfficiency
PPFD/Watt
Icecap172123.21.4633.5141820.1948
HQI181123.21.6230.9110040.1707

Table 8: XM 150W 15000K Double Ended performance on all ballasts (Shielded)

fig7-xm150W15K-DE-S.gif

Figure 7: Spectral data for XM 150W 15000K Double Ended Lamps on all ballasts (Shielded)

BallastPower
Watts
Input
Volts
Input
Amps
PPFDCCTEfficiency
PPFD/Watt
Icecap172123.21.4626.5143000.1541
HQI181123.21.6225.18130940.1391

 

Discussion and Summary

A question of interest for most hobbyists is – How do this lamps compare to the XM 20000K lamps.? Table 9 shows a comparison of the PPFD values for the XM 15000K lamps and the XM 20000K lamps. What is interesting to note is that several of the lamps – the 250W mogul ended, 250W DE, and 150W DE lamps had in fact correlated color temperatures around 15000K. For the other lamps the Licor software used with the spectroradiometer was unable to compute the correlated color temperature. Spectral plots of all these lamps on “HQI” ballasts (except 175 which is on magnetic ballast) are shown in figure 8. They all have very similar spectral shape, yet the color temperature was not computable in all cases (More on Color Temperature in a future article).

fig8-allXM.gif

Figure 8: Spectral plots of all XM 15000K lamps on “HQI” ballasts

Table 9: Comparison of PPFD with XM 20000K lamps

LampBallastPPFD XM 15KPPFD XM 20K
400W MogulMagnetic -M59104.7128
PFO-HQI114.898
Blueline75.491
Reef Fanatic83.996
EVC85.494
Icecap82.299
Taiwan – HQI106114
Coralvue103.8na
250W MogulMagnetic (M58)55.773
PFO-HQI (M80)80.279
Blueline41.9na
Reef Fanatic53.261
EVC50.6na
Icecap47.653
250W DE (unshielded)PFO-HQI56.355
Reef Fanatic61.6na
Blueline55.4na
Icecap53.344
EVC66.8na
150W DE (unshielded)Icecap33.532
HQI30.928
175W MogulMagnetic (M57)39na
Lumen General35.8na
fig9-400Wxm20kcompare.gif

Figure 9: Spectral comparison of a XM 400W 15000K lamp with a XM 20000K lamp

na – data not available

A comparison with the spectral plot of a XM 20000K lamp is shown in figure 9. As seen from the figure, the XM 15000K when compared to a XM 20000K on the same ballast does have less output in the blue region at 454nm and 420nm, and has higher output from 460 nm -700nm (except for around 550 nm). This would tend to indicate that this lamp would appear less blue than a XM 400W 20000K lamp and hence a rating of 15000K.

Comparison of the 250W Mogul XM 15000K with its 20000K counterpart reveals very similar results to that of the 400W lamp, as seen in figure 10, and similarly for the 250W DE lamps as seen in figure 11.

 

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank several people whose help made this study possible. They were kind enough to provide us with lamps and ballasts for testing: Jason Ghee from Hellolights.com for supplying the lamps used in this study, Patrick at PFO Lighting, Andy at IceCap Inc, Perry at Sunlight Supply, Vince at Ocean Encounters, Champion Lighting, and Reef Fanatics for the ballasts. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Paul Walker of Penn State University for the use of the spectroradiometer.

fig10-250Wxm20kcompare.gif

Figure 10: Spectral comparison of a XM 250W 15000K lamp with a XM 20000K lamp

 

References

  1. www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com

 

 

 

 

fig11-250WDExm20kcompare.gif

Figure 11: Spectral comparison of a XM 250W DE 15000K lamp with a XM 20000K lamp

 

 

 

 

  • Sanjay Joshi

    Sanjay Joshi in real life is a Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State University. He has been a reef addict since 1992, and currently keeps several reef aquariums at home including a 500G SPS coral dominated reef. He also co-manages the 500G aquarium at Penn State. He has published several articles in magazines such as Marine Fish and Reef Annual, Aquarium Frontiers, Aquarium Fish, and Advanced Aquarist. In addition, he has been an invited speaker at several marine aquarium society meetings in the US and Europe. He received the MASNA award in 2006, for his contributions to the marine aquarium hobby.

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