LED House Lights

[medina]

Hi

At my theatre we are looking to replace our aged house lights with perhaps some LED fixtures.(thinking of energy saving and what not) Our original lights are 9 metres up and a real pain in the rear to get to.At the moment we are using just 300w halogens 3 on each cluster. I was thinking of replacing them with maybe short nose par 64 LED like these http://www.stagelighting.co.uk/Downloads/S...%20Par%2064.pdf Has any one else tried these fixtures? or used an alternative? or is this really not a good idea? any input you could give would be much appreciated

 

Thanks

[Chris Beesley]

There are a few LED fixtures on the market with only White (Clear?) LED's - they may be better suited to houselights. As for the brightness/output maybe see the LED Par Can thread or wait for the other guys to advise.

[niclights]

As you are replacing clusters of 300w halogens I assume these are more 'work light' than 'pre show' type houselights?

 

I'm afraid these won't come close to producing enough light to replace 300w Halogens. I have 40 of these units (albeit in 56 frame) and they are wonderful as effect light but would not be suitable as work light. Additionally, the white is awful & control/dimming is not great.

 

I've looked into replacing halogen floods for work light but found nothing bright enough yet, at least that is realistically priced. Pulsar make some dedicated replacements but for the cost I am not convinced about output.

 

I have considered LED's for pre-show lighting for the same reasons as yourself, but although there are plenty of fixtures bright enough for this I find myself unhappy about the harsh, cold white.

[medina]

the led's are intended for preshow house lights not workers, the original halogens were installed a long long time ago by people who did not know better and look horrible. I was thinking that the colour mixing would be a quite nice effect for audience coming in etc if the output and spread is suitable

[niclights]

9m is a long throw. I really don't think these LED pars will be capable.

 

I like the warmth of tungsten/halogen and would be most concerned about the LED's being harsh and cold but would be interesting to hear others experiences with using LED for this & whether there are any bright enough with tight beam angles.

[Renny]

This is something I have been toying with for a while, seems like a nice lightweight adaptable solution. We have several possible seating configurations and I'm bored repairing old dodgy Coda 500's.

[dave singleton]

See now this is where people go wrong with LED stuff, maybe its because I have used them a hell of alot, both the cheap stuff (I own 18 cans) and the JTE Pixelpars (used on 3 shows only) but I would welcome the idea of using them. Given a little creative design they could work well with a house light system or soley as a house light system.

 

The best way to think of anything currently on the market being LED is NOT to replace conventional lights for actual output etc but to use them in different ways to create the effect. I'm not 100% sure how to describe this but most people reading this thread will imagine taking the floods down and replacing them with LED cans. I agree, wont work. But how about take away the floods and use LED cans as uplighters on the wall all the way around the venue with possibly a few narrow downlighter spots for isles. That would be far more effective, provide ample light and look fantastic. AND it still does the same job, but in a compleatly different way.

 

I may well get gunned down for this but I wish people would think outside the box.

[JDLX]

9m seems like quite a steep throw for LED fixtures so you would need a fair few of them to get any kind of intensity. Personally I'd be inclined to go for a more specialised House Light system rather than stage lighting, I guess it depends on what kind of budget your working to though.

[dave singleton]

9m seems like quite a steep throw for LED fixtures so you would need a fair few of them to get any kind of intensity.

 

most people reading this thread will imagine taking the floods down and replacing them with LED cans. I agree, wont work.

 

[Ken Coker]

This may not quite be what you are looking for, but it may help:

 

Stage Electrics and Apollo Victoria

 

I find the AC ColorBlock fixture bright enough for most things.

 

Ken

[lonfire]

hi guys,

when I was looking for LED products to import I found some LED replacements for street lights.. they might be ok.. I'll see if I can find the pictures again..

 

rgds

chris

 

<EDIT>

Found one example:

 

LED 3W X 30 pcs

125w

Not sure about the dimming capabilities though..

 

http://www.useful4all.com/led_street_light_module.jpg

[niclights]

I must admit I was wondering if alternative location was intended or possible. I agree with Dave that used differently, such as uplighters, they are effective. That's a lovely example :huh:

 

The ColourBlocks are definitely bright and in a different league to the LED pars but of course at almost 10 times the price of those fixtures, also in a different price league. They also need a controller. So, is this then a viable option?

[robloxley]

Have you done the costings:

Tungsten houselights on for say 45 min before the show, 20 min in the interval and 30 min afterwards; at which point you turn on some efficient discharge floods for general working light. Also if you use the houselights just for show times, lamp replacement will be less of a frequent issue.

Versus expensive LED fixtures & control systems, that have various limitations/drawbacks etc.?

[gherriott]

At the college I am at, we have done quite a bit of research into different LED fixtures, especially the Pars. We have just bought some par 56 led's, and the output wasn't too great, however, in the Japanese market, there are some par 64 lamps with 496 or something leds per lamp, which compared to the usual 159 led fixtures that you get here, are a lot brighter. Maybe it's worth looking into those fixtures instead. However, I agree with a previous poster, about how you have got to think differently with LED fixtures to conventional tungsten, as there is no way that they can be compared. If you are thinking of using LED's, try different lighting arrangements, such as up-lighting, as you do not need to worry about safety in terms of the heat they give out, as it is almost non existent!

 

Anyway, hope this might help, have a look especially on ebay at the moment, not in terms of buying from them, but just to see what is out there on the market, and what will soon be available to the UK without the worry of getting done for import tax for buying bulk over ebay from japan!

[Tomo]

Actually, the costs of the LED control system should just be pulling the DMX cable, and possibly a DMX splitter.

 

The existing Express 48/96 could either go into wide mode and control the LED houselights on the last few fader channels, or put the LEDs into the very top of the desk channels and set them up via the keypad onto a submaster.

 

However, the cheap LED fixtures only work well in large numbers, and you'll have to think about the rig very carefully as the throw distance is rather short.

A 1:1 replacement probably wouldn't work - but rearranging into a new rig may work wonders.