Run-up stages of a GE Miser MaxiLight

GE's Miser MaxiLight 55W was the first self-ballasted metal halide lamp ever released on the market. The lamp combines a ballasting/auxiliary tungsten filament and a DC-driven arc tube filled with argon, mercury and iodides of sodium and scandium. These light sources are all in a single glass bulb which is attached to a plastic case which holds the electronic control unit that enables an operation on 120 V mains. The sequence above shows the run-up evolution of the lamp from left to right and from top to bottom, starting with the moment just after ignition on the top left corner, when the arc tube is still cold. The filament is driven in such a way that its light emission compensates for the weak output of the burner during this phase. This solves one of the drawbacks of HID lamps, i.e., the lack of light output in the first few minutes of operation, which prevented the application of the technology in residential lighting, the primary target for the Miser MaxiLight.