Fire Effect Circuit (with fluoro starter)

[natjones]

Many, many years ago, when I was still a young 'un, my lecturer (Dave Horn) showed us how to wire four lamps (2 red, 2 clear) and a fluorescent starter to create a fire effect for props.

 

A student came to ask me how to do the same effect today, without having to set up chases etc, and for the life of me, I can't remember how to wire one up. Does anyone on here know what this is and how to do it, please? Have tried googling it, but most results point to LED or silk effects.

[PeterT]

Starter goes in series with one of the lamps. Ideally you should have 2 flicker and 2 static or 3 flicker and 2 static (which is the one I made up years ago) each flicker needs its own starter.

[natjones]

Starter goes in series with one of the lamps. Ideally you should have 2 flicker and 2 static or 3 flicker and 2 static (which is the one I made up years ago) each flicker needs its own starter.

 

BOOM! thanks

[timsabre]

N.B. you need real tungsten bulbs of about 25-40W for this to work. Low energy/LED won't flicker and anything bigger than 40W will cook the starter fairly quickly.

[natjones]

Thankfully, I'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to tungsten lamps, so I've got a healthy supply.

[Junior8]

Oldie but goodie

[sunray]

My entire disco lighting was exactly that for a while.

I used to get empty Coffee tins about 6" diameter and 10" high from a hospital (Mum worked there)1.125" q-max punch in the bottom for a lampholder and starter mounted beside it.

Single or screwed together in blocks of 3 or 7.

 

Also used them and a load with 60/100W reflector lamps as the main lighting source for Halloween tours in tunnels around 1988.

 

Who needed Strand anyway? :)

 

Oh yes and made some for a friends band.

[adam2]

Yes, starter goes in series with the lamp. Several lamps each with it own starter, and a couple of lamps always on in addition to those in series with the starters. As yellow lamps tend to be brighter than orange, I have used 6 lamps in total, 2 yellow 25 watt each in series with a starter, 2 orange 40 watt each in series with a starter, and a couple of 25 watt red on all the time. This simulates the continuous red glow of embers at the bottom of a fire, and the yellow/orange flickering flames.

 

And not only do you need old fashioned incandescent lamps, but you also need genuine glow starters, electronic starters wont work. Preferable use starters of different ages, brands, or ratings and not a handful of identical new ones out of the box.

 

 

 

[Salazar]

I'm in Canada. Here I would use a number of C7 - Clear - 7 Watt - Candelabra Base - Christmas Lights in series with the starters. Say 5 or 6 per starter to get to 35 or 40 watts. Allows for some redundancy with burnouts, etc. These come in red, orange, and yellow (and blue) so you can mix and match. I'd use 5 or 6 starters too, so 25 to 36 or 40 lamps, so lots of light.

[adam2]

That sounds a good idea in Canada or the USA, but over here 120 volt Christmas bulbs are hard to find and would need a transformer. 240 volt Christmas bulbs are almost unknown. E12 bulb holders are rare also.

[themadhippy]

but over here 120 volt Christmas bulbs are hard to find and would need a transformer.

Or stick with tradition and wire em in series,added bonus is you you eventually get to play ye ole worldly christmas game of find the blown lamp.

[sunray]

I built a set of a house on fire which was just a flat with 4 openings for windows. it was approx 10ft high and 8ft wide (+/- a few house bricks) and this was about 3 ft away from a chalk face. IIRC there were only 2 or 3 reflector lamps (60 or 100W) of yellow and red to illuminate the chalk face. Plus a 25W or so pearl bulb on another starter in front to make the brick paintwork visible and an endless loop cassette with crackling sound effect. I found that too many lamps on starters, illuminating a surface made the flickering effect disappear. This may not be the situation with lamps in a fire grate, which I have not tried.