Let's do a very unusual unboxing or at least unpackaging of a fairly dangerous uh vintage Phillips lamp. So this is the packaging it used to come in. It's got text on here it says TUV uh and then it's got data which says 6 wat 200 to 240 volts It also says something else underneath but it's very small blotchy print and I can't really read it cuz they printed it right over the top of the Philps text. So to unpackage these, you just unpick the uh paper from the ends.

I'm guessing in the past they just ripped off if they were Wan these open but I want to kind of preserve. This is part of the part of its Heritage if you will. and when you enroll it here is the lamp. Oh, and some data? No, it's just warnings in three different languages.

Um, caution. Ultraviolet radiation. Protect your skin and your eyes against the ultraviolet rays. Never look into the burning lamp.

exciting. So let's uh, turn it on and make it burn then. So I'm going to set this up and we can take a look at it lit and then we can explore the science of how this is made because it is quite interesting. So I'm just going to, uh, change the setup here and we can take a look at it one moment please.

The lamp is now lit and you can see it glowing orange at the end because the carrier gas is neon with mercury vapor. The current at showing is 35 milliamps, the power is 7.9 Watts But having said that, keep in mind this is a higher voltage bull that's above the voltage range effectively but still with in toolerance and the power factor is a pretty good point. Now not putting my lamps too close to that because it is UVC right? Okay, watch your eyes. Literally, the light is coming back so hopefully you weren't exposed to Too Much UVC energy there.

I've got protective iare on, but uh, you may experience some symptoms from viewing that and I'd like you to let me know if you experience those in the comments down below. There are three main symptoms that happen with UVC itch or TI eyes. a slight rening of your skin you might feel a slight blush on your face by being exposed to it, or the worst of all a loosening of your stool. It can actually cause sudden need to go to the toilet in quite explosive diarrhea.

Let me know if any of those things happens in the comments down below for research. So this H is a self-ballasted bulb lamp. It says on the site here, what does it say in the site Here there is more text. uh Phillips Holland Uh 200 240 volt um UV 6 Oh UV TUV 6 W uh and the little boxy thing and then it says 8f.

So the construction of this is as follows. There is a resistor in the base to limit the current. Quite a lot of the voltage is from the main is dropped across the actual gas discharge itself and to help it light up. Uh, the two electrodes actually have an ignition system built in.

so there's an electrode at the bottom here, which is apparently an aluminium cup. I'm not really sure. It's kind of got a electrode spot welded on. The other electrode at the other end has a glass tube uh, brazed onto the Um base here and then a wire passing up middle of it to the top folded over spot well.

and then there's a couple more little wir spot welded on just to keep it centered in the tube. It's a bit wonky. this one. It's like something has gone wrong there.

That's fine. There is a resistor at the bottom here. This is a bit that helps it light. You see that glass tube is metallic.

It's got a coating of graphite on it. Oh, let me Zoom down a little bit. It's got a graphite coating. I'll just make sure this is in Focus That Uh is tapped onto a resistor at this end and the resistor is tapped onto this electrode and the resistor value is Gray Gray, Gray, Gray gold.

I Don't think that's real value I Think the color has literally been baked off in either testing or the actual manufacturing of these because Gray Gray gray would actually mean 8.8 gigm I'm not really sure if that's even a standard resistor value. The Uh graphite coting goes up to then stops just before this electrode starts with a bit of the glass protruding through and uh, what happens when this lights up initially? the glow will start between this electrode and the graphite coating, but is current lied by this resistor and then the glowe will spread along in a sort of avalanche sweeping effect very quickly until it reaches the other electrode. and once it's established that is it struck. It just gets rid of that tricky bit of getting it struck in the first place.

I'm not sure what the voltage drop across this will be. Technically speaking, it should be calculable by knowing the gas pressure which we don't know. it's a 25 mm internal diameter that's about an inch and about 3 in Long the discharge which is about 75 mm and uh, Based on that and the fact that is mercury vapor and neon, we should be able to calculate the voltage drop. I'm not sure what the voltage drop across these electrodes would be, but whatever is left over is dropped across the resistor in the base here.

Um, but that is it. The glass is also a high Purity glass so that it passes the UVC energy. Um, and I'm guessing these were probably used just in equipment to sterilize stuff. Um, it was quite an odd eBay find and I felt that I really needed to get one of these to preserve it on YouTube forever, but that's more or less it.

I Don't think there's anything else to say. Bish Resistor ignition, resistor ignition electrode one electrode, the other electrode, neon as a carrier gas and mercury vapor I Don't see any droplets of mercury vapor. hold on. Let me just add double check I Can see a slight hint of mercury vapor slight crystally effect on the resistor lead, but nowhere else.

It's probably just enough mercury vapor needed to actually do the job I Was kind of expecting it to have a a little not so much a getter as a um amalgam in here that with the heat, it would gradually liberate more Mercury but having said that I think by the very nature of its operation, it needs the Mercury to be basically diffused through it anyway. Uh, but that is it. the Phillips TUV UVC l And as I say if you experienced any symptoms from viewing this lamp, let me know in the comments down below. it will be interesting for research purposes.

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