Conventional Fixtures - 28V 250 Watt PAR lights?

[koimystic]

I took some pars home from my youth room the other day and the bulbs in them are 28 volt 250 watts. Those lights are actually made for aircraft landing gear. I hooked one straight up to 120 volts and it popped, another to 12 volt car power supply and it worked any idea why these bulbs would be in par fixtures?

[n1ist]

PAR lights were originally aircraft landing lights (ACL). Aircraft power for some reason is 28V.
Use 4 in series on 120V.

[David Ashton]

And the reason is, that as the voltage decreases and the current increases and the filament gets thicker, the filament can run hotter and be more efficient, this is why your car headlight [60 watt] is much brighter than your household 60 watt lamp.All things being equal.

[Van]

Those aren't PAR's they are ACL's they are designed to be wired in series, 4 in a row 28v X 4 = 112v. Typically they are wired together in series on an "ACL bar" without indiviual plugs on them. They are really designed to not be confused with each other. An ACL lamp is a small glass lamp that plugs into a creamic base that is attached to a < usually> aluminum reflector. The reflector is designed to mount in a PAR can. A PAR Lamp is a glass enclosed envelope with, typically, a ceramic base with two 1/4" male spade or tab connectors on it. it is designed to fit directly into a Par can.
Plugging an ACL directly into 110 - 115 v will cause a single one to go Pop.

PARs are pars and ACLs are ACL's They did not grow out of each other.

ACL's were adapted to use in PAR cans since they are extremely bright and with no lens, create a very concentrated beam. In my expirience they are mostly used as; Audience Blinders, punch / accent lights, and in some cases as a stand in for an older style fixture know as a BP or Beam Projector.

[gafftapegreenia]

Good man Van, I must disagree with you.

Firstly, the PAR lamp made it's first appearance as the "sealed beam" automobile head lamp. For a period in history, the US government mandated that all autos used sealed beam head lamps.

An ACL lamp is a PAR lamp. PAR, as we know, stands for Parabolic Aluminized Reflector. The traditional PAR lamps we use in stage lighting are PAR 16, 20, 38, 46, 56 and 64.

Now, an ACL can be considered a "special" kind of PAR lamp. ACL lamps are low voltage (28v for PAR 64 size) lamps with a short, thick filament. This allows for a near ideal point source, thus give an intense, long range beam. There are two common types of ACL's we use, the PAR 64 variety, known as commonly as ACL's, and the PAR 36 variety, commonly known as either pin lights, rain lights or disco ball spots. Groups of 4 PAR 64 ACL;s will be used for "ACL Bars", and various sized arrays of PAR 36 ACL's will be used for audience blinders.

The biggest distinction is that the low voltage pars, or ACL's, use screw terminals for their wire connections, and thus need a safety screen on the back on the PAR can, whereas a regular line voltage PAR uses a ceramic mogul base.

What I think you are thinking of are the old "Ray Light" kits. These were intended to be low cost alternatives to PAR lamps. They had a separate reflector and used a DYS lamp.

[koimystic]

Thanks for the help everyone. I sure am glad I found this forum!

[Van]

Yep, You are correct I got the ray light kits stuck in my brain.
However, I stand by the rest of my post in the sense that it is a mis- characterization to say:
"PAR lights were originally aircraft landing lights (ACL). Aircraft power for some reason is 28V."

PAR lights, in the theatrical / production world were never origianlly 28v. ACL's, PAR's, Train headlights, are all sealed beam lights, many are pars, but they all grew up differently.

[gafftapegreenia]

Originally Posted by Van

Yep, You are correct I got the ray light kits stuck in my brain.
However, I stand by the rest of my post in the sense that it is a mis- characterization to say:
"PAR lights were originally aircraft landing lights (ACL). Aircraft power for some reason is 28V."

PAR lights, in the theatrical / production world were never origianlly 28v. ACL's, PAR's, Train headlights, are all sealed beam lights, many are pars, but they all grew up differently.

Yes well I can't argue with that, but they do stem from a common ancestor.

[ship]

Sealed Beam Lamps would be the general classification for most low voltage PAR lamps - used for tractors, loccomotives, aircraft, the landing lights for them, Autos or what ever providing low - other than line voltage to the lamp. The "ACL" term is more one our industry uses in general just as "Leko" is a term used in general.

Lots of range in size voltage, wattage and beam spread out there for lamps designed for all kinds of purposes besides use for the aircraft industry. Believe a PAR 56 size was something that came out of like 57' Chevy type technology as a lamp size by the way as further info.... (not confirmed or for sure beyond what I think at one point I heard.)

Still back to reality, even a really really close to MFL lamp at 115v/1Kw which has to be one of the most powerful PAR lamps on the market that's still a filament lamp type. The #4555 is 600,000 candlepower at 11x20 degrees in beam angle - over five times that of a FFR in output and just as much output of the 28v/600w VNSP #4559 "ACL" less commonly used on stage but the most powerful ACL lamp once used on stage/rock for the highest punch. Granted the #4555 is only a 25 hour lamp and costs well over a hundred dollars per lamp which no doubt is why they don't get used more, but there really is a huge range of lamps out there - sealed beam lamps range in all sorts of ways - this including beam spread.

My un-latest updated file on PAR lamps in general alone - line or low volage on the same file based on size than wattage is 1,409KB of 8pt text on a table. That's a lot of PAR type lamps to choose from and mostly in other than line voltage. Lots of stuff out there including PAR 46's WFL lamps.

By the way, the smallest PAR lamp is a PAR 14. Osram and Bulbrite both have a 35w PAR 14 flood on the market.

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by ship

... Believe a PAR 56 size was something that came out of like 57' Chevy type technology as a lamp size by the way as further info.... (not confirmed or for sure beyond what I think at one point I heard.) ...

Did the 1957 Chevrolet use a 6V or 12V electrical system? 25114 - Specifications - GE Commercial Lighting Products OR 18519 - Specifications - GE Commercial Lighting Products. In the 1980s, I sold the GE PAR56 "ACL" Locomotive Headlamp (may have been: 20122 - Specifications - GE Commercial Lighting Products) to one of the R&R Lighting companies in the area. I also built a "curtain" from 21x PAR46 6V, 30W lamps (plastic "cans" on 18" centers) all wired in series. Was glad I didn't have to maintain it.