Office Lighting

[Edrick]

I made a topic a few weeks ago about a man cave which I'll need to update once we get started on the project. However I was at Barbizon today for a job interview and I saw these cool little lights you guys might like. They're 75 watts with a standard 15A Edison plug.

 

[BillESC]

Those are Par16's, about $ 20.00 available in black or polished aluminum. I have a couple dozen in rental. Lots of uses.

 

[Edrick]

=O Oh Boy 20.00 where did you get that pricing? I paid $36 for this guy

 

[Les]

I bought a set of 4 on eBay for around $60 new. Not the greatest quality, but they've paid for themselves!

These are also known as "birdies".

 

[shiben]

Check production advantage. Last time, I paid more for the lamps than the fixtures.

 

[derekleffew]

A caution when using these fixtures: they get extremely hot and thus are probably not suitable for residential use. I like using a 120V, medium screwbase MR16 lamp, such as the JDR.

General Brand JDR Lamp - 100W/120V - Flood 1001017 - B&H Photo

Note that the lamp is also available in an LED version. I'm not sure it's kosher to use the same ANSI code, however.

Amazon.com: JDR LED LAMP BRIGHT WHITE: Home Improvement

I've even seen party companies use them mounted ten to a 5' bar, wired in series ala ACLs.

stage-n-studio catalog page.pdf

 

[Edrick]

Yeah after I saw the price you guys paid for it, I did some searching online. But I figure although I paid a bit more I might as well support a local company and they seem to be pretty good quality (at least that's what I'm telling my self for paying so much compared to the online ones =O). I noticed they do get pretty toasty but I'm using them in my home office as an ambient light and I figure as long as I don't put it too close to anything it'll be alright. Plus I only have them on when I'm around and keep it supervised. Pssh those darned "Not for Residential Use" labels.

 

[BillESC]

We've used them with a very wide range of lamps, from 11S14 up to 150w halogen.

Yes, they can get hot at the higher wattages and eat gel as well. I use one with a 100w halogen mounted to a boom mic stand at my soldering station.

 

[BillESC]

BTW, this is a work center at my shop. The task lighting is being accomplished with a 40w T8 LED. No ballest, voltage 90v to 240v, 55 to 60K. (Three walls of the space are currently green. That may change.)

 

[gcpsoundlight]

Birdies are great, at Melbourne Gang Show this year, the first 8 cases of the truck were Mac 700's, the next case on top was birdies. Great for backlighting windows, just make sure you frost em first (preferably heavy)

 

[shiben]

Birdies are great, at Melbourne Gang Show this year, the first 8 cases of the truck were Mac 700's, the next case on top was birdies. Great for backlighting windows, just make sure you frost em first (preferably heavy)

Another place I saw them was in video from NIN concerts. One has to imagine that they had several extra cases of them for NIN tho, because if something goes wrong with the lighting, I would be not at all supprised if the birdie, mic stand and base that they were on would get summarily chucked through a wall...

 

[theatre4jc]

I was actually thinking about purchasing a few of these with LED lamps to do some lighting around my house...yeah I'm a total geek...

 

[Les]

For about a year, I lived in a loft style studio apartment where the upstairs bedroom had a rail overlooking the living room. The living room had zero down lighting, so I took three 50w par 16's and clamped them to the rail so that they lit the living room. I powered them off an Intermatic Home Settings® remote controlled dimming system, along with a torchiere or two. It worked out great until the par 16's pack fried. They just stopped working so I tried reprogramming the module. No dice. I opened it up and it looked like a bomb went off inside. I'm not sure what happened; the modules supposedly had a 300w rating. I still have the master controller and the remaining two packs, but I'm afraid to use it.

 

[Anvilx]

Can I venture to guess that the triad burned up or exploded. Like the topmost one in the picture.

Sent from my HTC Liberty

 

[Les]

I believe you're right sir! Why does that happen?? It sploded pretty good...

 

[DuckJordan]

I am looking to get a couple of these for personal inventory i was wondering if brands were important in these since most of which have the same design just different labels?

 

[Anvilx]

I believe you're right sir! Why does that happen?? It sploded pretty good...

What you are looking at is the guts of a dove dm406. If I remember correctly (this was like a year ago) the customer service rep told me that rarely when a lamp burns out it causes something like an arc to happen in the lamp? And for what ever reason puts to much on the little triac and it explodes leaving the triac stuck in either the on or off position. I hope someone can explain better. Oh and in the case of the pictured dimmer all I need to do is solder in a new triac to get that channel up and running.

 

[derekleffew]

... If I remember correctly (this was like a year ago) the customer service rep told me that rarely when a lamp burns out it causes something like an arc to happen in the lamp? ...

A lamp failure can indeed create an arc, as the electrons try to jump across the gap in the filament. OR, the filament breaks, and the unsupported portion falls against another part, creating a short circuit. Both scenarios happen way too fast for the circuit breaker or fuse to react. TRIACs are very susceptible to this, which is one of the reasons higher quality dimmers use a pair of SCRs.

Ever had a failed lamp trip a dimmer's circuit breaker? It's rare, but it happens.

 

[Chris15]

There is a reason that the general standard is to use a minimum of a 40A triac for a 10A dimmer, and it's all about coping with fault conditions.

You'll probably have more luck getting a HRC fuse to blow in time vs a breaker...

 

[zuixro]

I just got 2 of them for $28.50 on ebay. It was a "make an offer" thing. There's still a bunch of sets left if anyone else wants them:
2x PAR CAN 16 Black Light Stage DJ BAR PAR16 Lighting - eBay (item 190428183458 end time Aug-13-10 18:01:28 PDT)

Now I need some dimmable LED lamps for them.... Preferably with a 30ish degree spread.