Lamp options for Major striplights

[Aman121]

As a side job, I do lighting for a local church. Their space is very old, and uses 3 rows of Major strip lights for main stage lighting, in addition to several flavors of pars, fresnels, and ancient elipsodials. The striplights take 100w long neck incandecant bulbs. As the availability of these is going to be questionable in the future, are there any other options for lamping? The lights are powered from an old autotransformer board, so issues with SCR dimmers are not present here. Does this open up other lamp options? Would it make more sense to procure more modern striplights that take halogen bulbs? There is limited budget, so we are looking to keep running as cheaply as possible for as long as possible. Any advice would be appreciated.

[derekleffew]

...are there any other options for lamping? ...

Not really. LED R20 retrofits are available, and the dimmable ones may work on a dimmer, autotransformer, but would not be cost-effective in fixtures (X-Rays) that should have been retired at least twenty years ago. Hoard Stock up on, as many 100W A21 long neck lamps as you can, and save your pennies for ColorBlaze72, Color Force Batten, or similar. And a new dimming system, that is if dimmers are still being made by the time you're ready to upgrade.

[Les]

You might be able to use long neck par 30 lamps, but you may lose intensity (and the aluminum reflector would go to "waste"). Also, I suspect the changeover would be expensive. It's an option I've been exploring as well since I also own about 42' of A-lamp striplight. I'm curious to see what everyone says!

A small part of me is waiting on the development of A-lamp shaped LED's to reach a theatrically useful point. I feel like CFL's would still be problematic. The ventilation (or lack thereof) is one, and bumping them would still cause early failures (if they were bumped).

Have you looked in to CCFL's (Cold Cathode Fluorescents)? I haven't really, but apparently they're immune to rapid cycling (flashing), and they are more dimmer friendly.

[cbrandt]

I just ordered around 80 LED replacements for strip lights in a school. This was motivated by a desire to reduce power, since those strips are often kicked on for lectures and similar. They aren't amazing, but do a pretty good job in white. The red and blue rondels kill a lot of the output, and they don't dim well at less than 15%. 90% of the time, they'll do exactly what the school needs them for, and they have some assorted pars and fresnels for the low light and gel looks. All in all, it was a decent way to make use of the fixture that was already in place. Still cheaper than a Colorforce, but you get what you pay for...

[gafftapegreenia]

There are some Halogen options on the market that may work, and we may see more as manufacturers start placing halogen capsules in A-lamp envelopes.

Examples:Medium Base 120 Volt Halogen Light Bulbs | 1000Bulbs.com Medium Base Halogen Light Bulbs | 1000Bulbs.com

However, these are still too short, and thus the addition of a medium screw base extender will be necessary.

DO you dim the strip lights a lot of just use them at full? If there are white cells that get used a lot at full CFL's could be an option, although they likely won't make friends with your dimmers. So yeah, yur kinda stuck with incandescent.

[StNic54]

Find an online supplier for your current lamps - I'm sure a factory in China will continue to pump them out in some form. Compare bulk costs of your lamps, shipping, and how often you'll be replacing them. Consider man hours for restructuring or retrofitting the current fixtures with a new socket for a new lamp style. Then look at the price of led strips, consider the long term benefits, and present it to the group. Churches traditionally don't have money for gear, but if you are able to purchase low-cost (low-power) led's as a replacement, then the church won't be stuck with purchasing lamp replacements down the road. My advice on LED's - try to buy them from the same batch - often times the led's can vary in color if they are produced at different factories or in different time frames.

I rather enjoy colorblazes, but there are many, many low cost options out there. I'm sure there are a few dealers floating around this forum, too.