Is the world ready for LEC lighting?

JD

Well-Known Member
Not a typo! Light Emitting Capacitors ! They come in sheets of flat plastic and are currently being used for effect lighting. Currently, Red Hot Chili Peppers are touring with a drum set covered in it. The flexible panels contain a phosphors manufactured by Osram which glows bright white when they are charged with electricity. A company called CeeLight L.L.C. is making this stuff, and is expecting to use it on everything from scenery to billboards. Here we go again!
 
I think its used around STL for backlighting some billboards and it looks great. In theatre I would love to see drops lit that way.
 
I don't know if the world is ready, but I am. I saw them at a trade show as a demo, and they are cool and cheap. It it is the same stuff, it comes on sheets or in a tape like roll. You just hook the power pack up to it (which is pretty simple) and they glow. Not incredibly useful in theatre, but great for music/clubs/DJ/etc... They make nice truss warmers, etc....

On a side note, can't we at least get LED's to a level where they are truly useful in the theatre before the next product comes out!!!!
 
Maybe I'm just confused...but what exactly is this (i looked at the website and it sill makes no sense to me) and how will this be able to be used in theater?
 
Here is the stuff that I have a piece of. It is pretty cool, and I think that it is the same stuff that JD is talking about. You can get wide sheets of it as well. A cyc would be cool with this, but it can not change color, as far as I know.

http://www.lighttape.com/
 
From what I understand The military has been researching these for a couple of years and have developed what is, essentially, a roll up monitor. imagine a sheet of plastic the you unroll, plug a socket onto, and viola instant monitor. Anyway that's the real high end use of this stuff. Now that would be usefull in the theatre. No more scenic painting, just design a look in Corel and run it on the walls.
 
Chances are they have one that changes color, probably not the full spectrum yet, but applying different voltages or reversing voltage (same as in multi-color LEDs) we could get different colors.
From their website:
"LOVES TO DANCE, FLASH IT, DIM IT!
Unlike fiber optics, Light Tape® loves to be flashed. Flashing will not only enhance many applications but will significantly extend its life. Electro-LuminX® offers multi-channel sequencers and as well as flasher units. The voltage and frequency may be adjusted to vary the brightness as well as color hue."
 
We used lighttape in a production last year. It is very cool stuff but limited in its durability and also is not always uniformly bright.

We used it as "circuiting" on a giant motherboard we constructed that suddenly came in durring a black out. It made for a good effect. also works well hidden illuminating from corners as a boarder cove light or very dim sunrise. also, the connectors for it are not very well insulated and we had several issues with sparks and shocks when trouble shooting in the begining. If they keep working on it (and it gets cheaper) i could see it make its way into more productions.
 
From their website:
"LOVES TO DANCE, FLASH IT, DIM IT!
Unlike fiber optics, Light Tape® loves to be flashed. Flashing will not only enhance many applications but will significantly extend its life. Electro-LuminX® offers multi-channel sequencers and as well as flasher units. The voltage and frequency may be adjusted to vary the brightness as well as color hue."

I can see this being used for a lot of band tours.
 
Looks like this might be the stuff they used in the Blue Man Group touring show to make a light up "roll of lifesavers" striped dress.

Cool stuff.
 
Looks like this might be the stuff they used in the Blue Man Group touring show to make a light up "roll of lifesavers" striped dress.
Cool stuff.

Nope after further research I found this webpage... looks like it's a bunch of super thin strips. I was a LONG way away from the stage.
 
If you remember the Super Bowl, the band had light tape on their uniforms, and were illuminated. That is a useful application, have it sewn into costumes. (I can't think of a show off the top of my head, but I'm sure there is one out there)
 

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