UV Lamps

[timtheenchanteruk]

At the moment the only UV lamps we have are fluorescent fittings with UV tubes, which are in need of new tubes (some lemon threw them in the store, and broke 3 of 4 tubes) what we were looking at: is there a replacement lamp for a 500W flood, such as the Coda or similar.

 

I've had a search but only found either specialised lamps for UV fittings, or there are some normal type bayonet/screw fitting lamps and compact florrys, but nothing for a flood, is there such a thing or not??

[bruce]

There is some discussion on UV fittings HERE, but it doesn't specifically address your question.

 

but wouldn't it be easier to simply pick up some new tubes for your existing fluorescents? 7 quid each at B&Q, as well as your usual specialist suppliers.

[musht]

Most UV lamps can think of are discharge lamps of one type or another ,including fluorescents,

because of the high UV output from a mercury discharge.

 

Wont find a K series, linear halogen, lamp.

 

There are the dire `Party Lite` GLS lamps with a deep blue coating, but tungsten outputs very little at the UV end of the spectrum , so they are basically useless.

 

UV LEDs are around but at sub 400nM price rockets and lifetime is still short.

 

CFL blacklights can be pretty good and as Bruce said B&Q do a 4ft blacklight blue tube at a decent price. Suggest getting some foam pipe lagging strips while in B&Q to help protect tubes in storage.

[MattR]

Hi Tim,

 

Have you contacted one of the major lighting companies at all? A quick call to someone at Whitelight/AC Lighting/Stage Electrics etc might point you in the right direction of a supplier assuming these lamps exist.

 

Alternatively, how often are the UV lights used? If there not used that often then I agree with Bruce...pick up some new fluorescents from B&Q.

 

HTH

 

Matt

[david.elsbury]

PC deleted the post I crafted earlier... grr... was going to suggest that depending on the application you may get away with getting some colored high-temp glass (181 or similar) to replace the glass on the front of the unit?

[Ike]

As others have said there is no direct replacement.

 

Something like this is probably too expensive but how about building something along the lines of these but with UV LEDs? There are always the lowbay fittings from Thomann which are more flood than the more traditional cannons.

[Jamtastic3]

I would think of having a quantity of strips than cannons. IMO the strips are safer and give out very good UV output compared to even a 400W cannon. UV cannons don't like excessive heat, liquids or vibrations affecting them. I've seen a couple of cannons explode over the dance floor - NOT NICE!!!

[Ike]

...IMO the strips are safer and give out very good UV output compared to even a 400W cannon. UV cannons don't like excessive heat, liquids or vibrations affecting them. I've seen a couple of cannons explode over the dance floor - NOT NICE!!!

Do you have anything to back up the fact that they don't like excessive heat or vibrations?

 

We have a large number of the cannons I linked to installed in a themed attraction that are actually vibrated by a pneumatic ram and the only modification we have found necessary was to put a bit of tape over the thumb screws that hold the mesh in place and a bit of thread lock on the ballast and lamp holder fixings. Likewise I've seen them used in very hot clubs in the Mediterranean for example without problem.

 

The fact they don't like liquids I don't really see as a valid point either as I can't honestly say I know of any open fronted fixture that does, you might get away with it with a tube due to the lower temperature but if you're using one in locations where splashes are a possibility you really should be looking at an IP rated fixture on grounds of safety anyway. Again we have had a substantial number of units installed in very hot and sweaty clubs here in the UK for a good number of years and have never once had a lamp explode.

 

I stand by my argument that if used sensibly they are perfectly safe, it seems a lot of people must be doing something very wrong... :D

 

Sorry about the rant, in all honesty I think it probably isn't what the OP is looking for however it might prove useful for other readers.

[Jamtastic3]

No you have valid points Ike, like I said it was in my opinion which is taken from my personal experience. I'm just not a big fan of UV cannons that much. I had 3 installed in a fairly hot/humid nightclub and over a couple of weeks, 2 cannons exploded due to the heat of the venue. I took them out immediatly and replaced them with strips. Also, there was a clubnight one time that had a UV cannon rigged above the dancefloor. Some stupid punter through a pint of water in the air and what happened....? In the same circumstance I would expect a UV strip to sustain that kind of condition over a UV cannon.

Of course all cannons would have been seen as being rigged and positioned as safe as possible in their environments.

[Jivemaster]

I've never seen a K series sized UV tube. For occasional use a new set of 4ft uv tubes is easy. I have seen arrays of small (2ft?) tubes in a parallel array of about 10 tubes so they look square. CFL UV lamps are available, -- easy to make a fitting just fasten batten holders to a batten of wood.

 

ADDA supercases always supplied fibre cases for 4ft and 2ft fittings and the tubes last longer in a box!

 

Beware the BC fittings and discharge lamps, some have a bayonet with three locating pins on. (To stop you putting the lamp on hard power without the ballast.

[timtheenchanteruk]

cheers, had thought it might be the case, a trip to B&Q in order then, we were just thinking that a flood type lamp would be easier to rig, take up less space, and we have half a dozen floating around, budget doesnt stretch to new dedicated fittings, so back to the florrys!