norty303 Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 I've been looking at sunstrips for a little while now, and have recently noticed you can get a 3W LED (warm white) fixture for the same price as the active DMX version that uses the MR16's.Aside from the power consumption and re-lamping issues, has anyone any real world experience of the 2 fixtures and whether the LED is a real world alternative? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 A 3W LED is at best as bright as a 20W halogen, all other things being equal. The Sunstrip uses 75W lamps. Try one. Only you will know if it works in your situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomHoward Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 The Active version that we have uses 240V GU10s rather than MR16s, which I assume is true for all of them. It works fine, but is limited by the usual 'stepped' light output of GU10s - the beam is not pretty. There's no gel holder so you have to either use coloured lamps or improvise a way to attach gel. Ours are fine for uplighting drum kits etc but not a huge amount of use theatrically due to the peaky/uneven beam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norty303 Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 The Active version that we have uses 240V GU10s rather than MR16s, which I assume is true for all of them. You're right, looks like Thomann have their knickers in a twist as the description states GU10 socket, but the title for the Sunstrip active has MR16 in brackets next to it.http://www.thomann.de/gb/showtec_sunstrip_active_dmx.htm I'm looking for a bit of eye candy/blinder-lite for the stage rear for dance/band gigs, rather than actually lighting 'stuff'. I've got some 3K strobes for blinders too, but like the colour temp and fades of the regular sunstrips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 ...but like the colour temp and fades of the regular sunstrips. Well you won't get that with the LED version. The colour temp is fixed whatever the brightness, same odd peachy colour at 10% and 100%, and you have to program any fades yourself on the console or it's just snap on, snap off. I have seen convincing blinders done with LED but it takes a bit of programming, whereas the halogen lamps do it all by themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomHoward Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Do you need the individual lamp control of the Sunstrip Actives? There's a huge price different, the actives are £185 for 10-lamp version, whereas you can get the Sunstrip IIs (20-lamp 12V MR16, which in series should run straight off a 240V dimmer channel) for £55. Although obviously you'd only be able to flash the lamps as an entire unit as opposed to by individual lamps. I think the 12V lamps should last a little longer than the mains halogens as well (the mains low wattage lamps I find a bit fragile, no doubt because of the thinner filaments) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossmck Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Where are you finding LED ones for the same sort of price as the Sunstrip Active (£160 ish?) - I'd be interested to see the spec of these units... I use the Sunstrip Actives quite often and find they're great and really versatile. You mention you're looking for eye candy which the DMX Sunstrip Active is great for, and made particularly easy to create some great effects if you have something that can do pixel-mapping. That said if you're just wanting to use it as a traditional blinder (and don't need individually controllable lamps) you'd be better with the generic Sunstrip II at half the price :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Where are you finding LED ones for the same sort of price as the Sunstrip Active (£160 ish?)cpc's latest flier has em for £150 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norty303 Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 cpc's latest flier has em for £150 ^^This (although its +vat) CPC seem to be doing a number of HQ Power products which seem to be rebranded units of other names, but at prices that are even more competitive than Stairville. Distributed by Velleman. I want the actives for the individual control and not needing to have a dimmer to run the regular one. I use MagicQ so the mapping is a possibility. http://www.velleman.eu/products/view/?id=386248 From the video, and taking the viewing angle into account (and the higher apparent glare from LEDs), they look quite good. They also have a 12 cell tri-led RGB strip that is even cheaper and from the specs seems to have a higher lux rating Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niclights Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 To echo Tim, if you like the colour temp and fade why would you consider LED? I definitely wouldn't. The tungsten is what makes them unique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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