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Hi Graham,
                We get our lamps (HBO 103/W2) out to around 600 hours. Our practice is to use new ones in our scopes that take images for analysis (widefield uprights and live imaging scopes) we then change them when they hit 300 hours with new ones. The ones that have done 300 hours we use in our confocals as they only need the light to find a sample prior to confocal imaging. These lamps then usually stop firing up after 600 hours (our record is 850 hours)
 
For us the problem is not exploding lamps but greatly reduced light intensity. If you compare a lamp that has done 600 hours to one that is brand new, there is a great deal of difference.
 
We have been doing this for a year and a half now and have not had any problems. When we first started to do it, we asked a lot of people about the exploding lamps. No one we spoke to had had it happen to them but everyone new someone (or new someone who new someone) who had had it happen in the past.
 
 
Cheers
 
 
Cam
 
 
 
Cameron Nowell
Microscopy Research and Imaging Facility
Cell Cycle and Development
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
7 St Andrews Place
East Melbourne, 3002
Victoria AUSTRALIA

Phone: +61396563759
Fax: +61396561411
Mobile: +61422882700
 

________________________________

From: Confocal Microscopy List on behalf of Graham Wright
Sent: Fri 25/04/2008 11:30 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: HBO/Mercury lamp lifetimes


Search the CONFOCAL archive at http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal 
Hello,
This is not strictly a confocal question, but reasonably relevant and it's not been recently discussed from what I can tell from the archives.
I was hoping to find out at how many hours people change the HBO/Mercury short arc lamps (specifically Osram 103W). The microscope manufacturers (Zeiss & Leica) always recommend 300 hours, due to the potential dangers of explosion when using them for longer... but what do users/facilities tend to do?
Someone recently told me that the lamps are now made in such a way that explosions are less common that ~10 years ago (when discussion on this list regarding explosions were more common)
Thanks in advance,
Graham
 
-----
Dr Graham Wright
Microscopy & Imaging Facility
 
Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory
1 Research Link
National University of Singapore
Singapore 117604
 
P:    +65 6872 8406
M:   +65 8256 7916
E:     [log in to unmask]
W:    www.bioinformatics.tll.org.sg/labs/microscopy/index.htm


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