Questions about LC detector Lamps?
8 Mar 2023Here I hope to address the most common questions we receive about lamps for LC.
Restek carries numerous replacement lamps for Agilent, Waters, Perkin Elmer and Shimadzu LC models. At this time, we are not selling any tungsten lamps (for visible range), only deuterium lamps for UV range wavelengths.
Some of the newer LC models use RFID technology to interface with instruments and track their usage electronically. The following catalog items include an RFID chip installed on the lamp:
25764 for Agilent 1220, 1260 DAD
25770 for Agilent 1200, 1260 VWD
Although we are happy to provide some lamps with the RFID technology, please note that the RFID chip/tag is not necessary to use the lamp, only to enable automatic tracking of its usage. Even without the RFID, most LC models will still track the number of hours used since you last installed a new one. For some models, you may need to adjust settings in the instrument software to allow use of a non-RFID lamp.
The following blog post shows an example of how to do this for an Agilent 1260 model.
You might also be wondering how to find the best replacement lamp for your LC system. The easiest way is to find the PN of the lamp that came from the instrument manufacturer. Often the corresponding similar lamp from Restek can be found by typing the manufacturer’s PN in our search box at the top, followed by the product category. For example, if looking for a replacement for Agilent 2140-0590, here is what the screen looks like if you type that number in our search box. Before you hit search, you can see that “Lamps” comes up under “Suggested Products”:
If you click on the word “Lamps”, it takes you directly to the listing for our catalog number 25261:
If you cannot find the appropriate lamp the way I have just described, you may need to look it up according to the model number. Agilent has separate model numbers for both the LC systems and the individual modules that comprise the system, so it can be a little tricky at times. The model number can usually be found at the bottom right side of the instrument front panel for most of the LC modules. This is described for all the Agilent Instruments here on this webpage: Model or Serial Number | Agilent
I hope you found this information helpful and thanks for reading.