230V birdies

[timtheenchanteruk]

ok, not 100% theatre based, but wondered if anyone could help here.

 

Im looking to use a couple of birdies on a display board (for a theatre group, so loosly based in theatreland!!) for proximity reasons need something fairly cool running. the lamps will be reachable by hands etc may end up in a corner against curtains etc.

 

looking at LED, but they are rather expensive for anything worth having, and wondered if somthing like these CFL GU10s would fit in a birdie fitting?

 

the cheapest LEDs I have seen, for somthing that would work are £14/15, these are only £3, so a large saving.

 

any help, gratefully received.

[Brian]

The CFL GU10s I've seen are absolute pants; you'll get more light from a glow worms bum.

 

Does it need to be birdies? Could you not get away with a striplight across the top of the display board.

[Andrew C]

We've had a few fitted in the theatre bar. Not as bad as Brian paints them, although the warm up is long. Nothing like as bright as halogen, but not totally useless!

[timtheenchanteruk]

its not that a strip wouldn't do the job, it just doesn't look very nice, hence the thought of a few birdies, trying to balance the function and the form a bit, just looked at my wholesalers catalogue, he does higher power CFLs than the 7W in the link (thinks its 7, 10 and 14W) a 14W lights my living room, so might just get a couple, see how it goes, as long at the lamp fits the fitting, Im ok!!

[timsabre]

We've had a few fitted in the theatre bar. Not as bad as Brian paints them, although the warm up is long. Nothing like as bright as halogen, but not totally useless!

The main problem with them is the beam angle is very wide (if you can call 180 degrees a beam), so although they do output a reasonable amount of light, it's very spread out.

 

They might work OK in a birdie with silver insides, if there is such a thing, as this will capture all the light.

[paulears]

CPC GU10 LEDs start at around £3 - so price wise - they're not too expensive.

[david.elsbury]

In a past life I used to sell the things (CFL GU10) and it's worth noting that all the ones that I saw were a good deal longer than a standard halogen GU10. Also the front of the fitting was much wider and so you would need to check how the lamp is retained into the fitting to ensure there were no issues.

The best brand that I saw was Megaman, but no idea what you guys have over there in the UK.

Hope this helps :)

[timtheenchanteruk]

CPC GU10 LEDs start at around £3 - so price wise - they're not too expensive.

 

yeah, I bought a couple of them for the kids bedroom, and took them out again, they have an uncanny ability to light nothing, yet burn your eyeballs when you look towards them, if you know what I mean, the actual visible (useable) light output is very low, the beam angle even less.

[paulears]

I have to admit I have done exactly the same thing - as a light source, small LEDs just can't cut it, but that applies to all small CFLs too, doesn't it. Can't beat a nice bright current hungry halogen! (yet)

[stillwave]

The CFLs have a very different light to halogens & don't look very theatrical (if the theatrical look is what your after).

if these are the only light near the notice board then CFL for the wider beam angles, if these are for the effect (if the notice board is readable in the room with the room lights) then LED

 

For leds look for the lamps that have 3 of 4 leds max around 3 or 4 Watt as these tend to have high power leds in them rather than the '1st gen' multileds (which have 20-60 leds on them). the beam angles on these is more narrow & the latest ones have a similar 'colour' to halogens.

 

You can pick them up from ebay for £8.95 from a UK seller

or even from Te$co for £10 for a GE lighting branded one! (checked pre panto so prices might have changed)

 

edit to add: even the higher wattages of LED 5W+ have longer lamp dimensions (the GE ones are about +5mm) than a standard halogen so which ever you go for bear this in mind!

 

Regards,

 

Ben Wainwright