Trigmg Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Hello All, I've got two pendant lights (well two cords and lightbulb holders) that I have found in my office. One has a 13amp plug on it, the other has none. Is it safe to add a 15amp plug to the other so I can hang it off my rig and dim it etc? My main concern is there is no earth wire in it and I don't think I've ever rigged anything without one before! I assume it is because it is double insulated (class 2), but I wanted to throw the question out there in case I was missing anything obvious. Any advice on this appreciated! Thanks in advance :D Tracy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 What sort of bulb does it have in it? If it has a normal tungsten bulb, then it is no problem to put a 15A plug on and dim it.Any other sort of energy saving type bulb, not ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigmg Posted November 13, 2015 Author Share Posted November 13, 2015 What sort of bulb does it have in it? Thanks timsabre! Looks like a halogen one, I'd probably replace it to be on the safe side and a larger bulb will look better on stage if I can get one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Also what are your dimmers? Anything modern should dim ok, but older dimmers might need a bigger lamp ("load lamp") connecting as well to make them dim properly. You then hide the bigger lamp somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigmg Posted November 13, 2015 Author Share Posted November 13, 2015 Also what are your dimmers? Zero88 Chilli Pro Dimmers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Zero88 Chilli Pro Dimmers Should be fine with a 40W or 60W tungsten lamp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigmg Posted November 13, 2015 Author Share Posted November 13, 2015 Great! Thanks so much for your help! Sorry if it was a painfully newbie question for a Friday morning :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Sorry if it was a painfully newbie question for a Friday morning :D Not at all, someone once asked me to design a stage set with about 20 sets of fairy lights on it (back before the days of LED fairy lights) which they wanted to dim. I was convinced it wouldn't work but our old strand permus racks just did it no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 Regarding the earthing question ... if the lampholder is metal (brass, chrome-plated, etc.) it'll have a terminal on the top section near the cable entry for an earth connection, and should be earthed. If it's plastic, no earth required. Whether or not a pendant lamp is dimmable isn't dependent on the holder - it's the lamp that you put into it. Stick with old-fashioned incandescent, and you'll be fine (with the possible addition of a load lamp as stated above - although you quite often don't need to add one, I've just done a show with a couple of dozen 60w incandescent pendants driven from our aging STM and Permus racks and they were OK without an additional load). Any 'modern' lamp technology, though - LED, CFL, etc. - and you'll not be able to dim it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigmg Posted November 16, 2015 Author Share Posted November 16, 2015 Regarding the earthing question ... if the lampholder is metal (brass, chrome-plated, etc.) it'll have a terminal on the top section near the cable entry for an earth connection, and should be earthed. If it's plastic, no earth required. Thanks Gareth, it's a plastic holder so no issues there, it was more my own insecurity overriding my logical thinking! (That and the panic of potentially electrocuting students!) :D I tested the light the other day and it all worked perfectly with an incandescent bulb, hooray! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte_R Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Just to note that halogen lamps can be dimmed - they are what I use at home in rooms with dimmers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 I got some nice spooky effects using three of these hung over mortuary tables in one show though I think I had 150W ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Must admit that the thought of a T1/P28 big globe lamp from a Pat 23 was interesting, maybe warming too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_h Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Not that it is a huge issue for use in a show but, at in a previous job, we found that the halogen substitutes for traditional filament light bulbs did not last as long as the inefficient lamps they replaced. This may have been because the house lights never went off completely and they spent most of the day at a low dimmed setting. Luckily they were easy to reach with a ladder unlike some of the other lights in the building. The place gradually got dimmer as the EU reduced the availability of higher wattage bulbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I used the 500W es lamp from a flood as a hanging "cell light" (think Callan) and because it was oversize it actually looked to scale in the arena presentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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