[mstnt]

I have to admit that I'm just learning about the differences in lamps and I rely TanAmerica to provide a quality product. Voltarc makes the lamps for TanAmerica. As I learn more, I'm sure that I will also be more discriminating in the future. As for checking the voltage - I'll have someone else do that. We have 208/230 in the building.

However, another reason that I was concerned about my readings is that I was told by a reputable source (John from URI) that since I have electronic ballasts in a bed that the lamp cooling system is originally engineered for magnetic ballasts that the lamps may be getting too much cooling, therfore not heating up enough to operate properly.

Has anyone else had that experience or heard of such a thing? If so, does anyone know what temperature the lamps need to heat up to operate properly? I know that there is an ideal ambient room temperature range that the manufacturer's recommend for the bed to operate properly. So it would seem to follow that the lamps would also have an ideal operating range and that is why there are cooling systems in beds for the lamps themselves. However, getting a consistent or verifiable answer on this has proven to be very difficult. TanAmerica's engineers and lamp "expert" have given me different answers as well as thier Voltarc rep. I would love to know what is the optimum temperature for a lamp to heat up to and maintain for tanning results.

This is something that I can field test with an infrared temperature reading device - which I do have available. So if anyone knows where I could find this information for the lamps I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks