mrsats

well guys its time to relamp again, previously we put lightsource:
midday suns 100w Non Reflector in our starter beds with no reflector in bed
Desert suns 100w Non Reflector in our second level beds (with reflectors in the bed)
and opted to try the signature series 160w reflector lamps in the 54 lamp standup although it had reflector built into the bed.

This gave us a good 20 minute starter, a 15 minute (stong 20 min) 2nd level and a good 10 minute standup, although it took a while for the clients to build up to these levels.

Now getting ready to relamp, and I am happy with the performance of the lightsource lamps, great color, lasted 600-700 hours before they metered out on a 7.0 over the te time, base = 24 minutes (about a 10), 2nd level at 17 minutes (about a 16) and the standup is 13 minutes (about 18-19) on the meter... all on the cusp of the 30% decline.

so here is my dilemna... do I stick with the current lamp configuration or mix it up a little staying within the lightsource line... have read of some putting beach suns in their standups and base beds with good results although the beach sun is a 20 min lamp, a 160w 6.5% UVB in a 10 minute standup doesnt make sense to me.

I really would appreciate your guys thoughts and experience before I step out and spend $5,000 on a total salon relamp, the equator is a 10 minute lamp, but at 8.5%UVB it might be too much and well getting 160w in the equator seems to be hard as not all distributors carry.

parrot head

If you've had good luck with what you've got, why change it? You don't want to risk burning someone with 6.5 uvb. Just my opinon, but why try to fix it if it ain't broken?

SUNNYDAYS1

The setup you have currently seems like a good one.

Are you dealing with John Hayes at URI? He is the best when it comes to relamping units. He can help you to see if another lamp would work in your levels.

hoptan

Johns the man!!

mrsats

thanks guys, I was looking to get a little more performance out of the standup, I believe the sig series is only about a 2.5% UVB, and have read where some have either used a combination of alternating Beach sun or even straight beach suns to get a kickin standup and the sig series is expensive so looking for input, but not sure how they would perform given the high UVB... so thats where experience comes in, more than happy with the desert suns... but perhaps there is room for improvement in stepping up the base beds from midday to beach, or in the standup, by either doing a combo arrangement or moving from the all signature to a higher UVB in the standup.

I have no expereince in using either the 100w beach or the 160w R beach suns in a standup, which is where I hope to gain some insight from you guys.

as for URI, I have used them, and do have a call into John, but no reply as of yet.

parrot head

I, like you, decided to relamp my beds with Lightsource lamps. I haven't changed the lamps yet, but hope I didn't make a mistake with not staying with oem lamps that came with the bed. I have Soltron beds and ordered compatible lamps from John. He said that because my state was regulated, I could only go with the morning suns in my entry level beds. I just hope I'm not giving up the nice tan that my customers got with the oem lamps. I changed to Lightsource because they were a lot cheaper and I heard that they were a good lamp. I never got any complaints with the oem lamps. I'm going to be changing lamps soon, so we'll see if I order Lightsource lamps again.

mrsats

I think you will like lightsource, my customers love them... as a follow up, on the standup,
I have decided to give a combination of alternating beach sun and signature plus ( I ended up taking the sig plus, cause they were cheaper than sig hp, and a lot cheaper than sol glass) although the sig has more UVB than I would like... we will see how it goes... whats the worst that can happen... hehehehe

if I had my way I would use the sol glass, but being in canada, no one wants to ship and those who do, want $30 a lamp plus $5 shipping each.

parrot head

I'm going with the signature plus in my Soltron Hot peppers and the sig hp in my 160w Wave. The hot peppers call for 140w lamps, but lightsource doesn't have a 140w lamp. The compatible lamp for those is the 160w signature plus. I'm installing electronic starters in all my beds. I need the extra push in my 140w Hot peppers to start the 160w lamps.