should I change lamps or not?

[Afelts]

Help me decide on this please. I have Brilliance 6.5 lamps in a base bed. It metered 18.5 after 30 hrs. It now meters 17.8 and has 737 hrs on them. Shall I go ahead and change due to the sheer numbers are wait longer 70% mark which would be a meter of 12.9. The meter is working because I have metered other beds with different results.

[Din]

1 point drop is nothing....this is why we buy the meters. So that we don't replace lamps that still give strong output, regardless of how many hours are on it.

Do you also have the 7.0 meter? Check to make sure that it's giving off 4 meds in the proper session time.

Divide 240 by the number you get on your 7.0 meter will give you your session time. So if it's a 15min session time and the 7.0 meter reads 17 or 18 on it....that means they are achieving 4meds in a 13-14min session which is what it should be.

No reason to change lamps if they are still performing.

Salons that go by hours would have thrown out lamps by now and paid to relamp the bed to get the same results as keeping the old ones that were still good.

a 5.0 is useless without a 7.0 meter.

[SUNNYDAYS]

Don't relamp until the meter tells you to, that is the benefit of using a meter. If you want to be aggressive with your lamp changes you can wait till it drops 20% in output instead of the normal 30 which would be a reading on 14.8 on your meter.

I think these are 100 watt lamps which means they are in your level 1 beds so you don't need the lamps to be that strong as you want your clients to upgrade to your stronger beds.

I would leave them until it drops 30% since they are your level 1's and your stronger beds relamp at 20 or 25 percent.

[Afelts]

I have a 5.0 meter.......so in that case without a 7.0......what would you suggest?

[Din]

I suggest you buy a 7.0 if you want to get accurate info.....the 5.0 will give you the UVA and UVB output....not the meds or session time.

You need a 7.0 for that.

It's a small investment that pays for itself......

[Jones]

Pass on changing the lamps...contact Steve and get a 7.0...it really does make a huge difference on your lamp changes...you would be suprised at how often you are still getting 4med's in the recommended time...buy one!

[northtanman]

How much are the 5.0 and 7.0 ??? It would'nt make any sense not to buy from Solarmeter right? Even if you could save a few bucks elsewhere? He's the man!

[Din]

He's the main man man guy......you can also buy from your disty if they carry them.

What are they going for nowadays?.....$150-$200 dunno.....just giving you ballpark as to the price, incase people thought they were like $1,000 or something.

[northtanman]

Ordered thru 4 seasons...
Thanks!! i'm way over do for these!!!! Dumbo me!

[Drew]

great for you....probably you will be fine leaving them in.

Din was correct...it is more important for you to know when the TANNING POWER has dropped 30%.

If the 5.0 meter is still high but the uv-b has dropped in half, customers will pitch a bitch at you.

Make sure your lamps are still giving you at least 3 med's in a session (25% drop) and you will be fine.

[Afelts]

ok, i will check in to the 7.0 meter before I change the lamps.
Thanks for the input

[Afelts]

Oh, does anyone have a number for Steve, the meter man?

[sunsally]

Originally Posted by Afelts

Oh, does anyone have a number for Steve, the meter man?

From his banner sponsorship here on this site:

SOLARTECH INC, UV METERS CONTACT INFORMATION We at Solartech are here to help, so if you have any questions about our products, we would very much like to hear from you. You can contact us in any way that is most convenient for you.
Mail: Solartech, Inc.
26101 Harbour Pointe Dr N.
Harrison Twp, MI 48045 Telephone: (586) 790-8025 Fax: (586) 790-8026 Toll Free: (800) 798-3311 Email: D-U-N-S Number: 82-894-5741

[Ziti]

Meters works great. Save money, etc...

But customers don't understand that so easily. So....................

My line to customers is "Lamps are rated for 800 plus hours and I change mne at 500, regardless"

Har, just doing deep cleaning with a box of lamps sittin out makes them think it is true. Power of suggestion. Go by the meter readings, save money, keep 'em happy.

[Jones]

Mitzi,
Great suggestion...lay out a lamp box when you are deep cleaning beds...clients will think you continuously change lamps to keep the beds preforming at 100%. As long as the beds are preforming and you do keep the lamps changed out via meter reads you should have happy campers.

[Drew]

"I meter the beds to maintain peak output"
"I guarantee the beds are tanning great"

telling them when you change lamps is like a restarant telling you how many days they keep the fish....anything longer than TODAY sounds tooooo long.