2000w Halogen lighting for living room

[Twinbee]

Am I the only one mad enough to want to light my living room up with 2000 watts of halogen light?

Previously I had an 85 watt CFL, which looks like a regular spiral CFL, only much bigger. It outputs the equivalent of about a 300-400 watt incandescent bulb.

But even that light was quite dull, especially compared to daylight shining through the window.

This is where the 1000 halogen watt comes into play. It would be equivalent to around a 1200-1400 watt incandescent due to the efficiency increase with halogen bulb.

I have to say, the brightness is wonderful at night. It's like a studio/supermarket now - everything's almost like daylight!!

Here's a pic:


I plan to get another 1000 watt bulb to put in the same room, and get it even closer to daylight.

Yes, I am mad Seriously, everyone should want one of these

[bfg9000]

Just 2000w of Halogen? Look at 2800w of HID from a real madman!

[jtr1962]

You're not crazy for wanting to light this brightly, but about 400 watts of T8 tubes (about 12 F32T8s to be specific) will do the exact same thing without acting as space heaters. As a bonus, something like these will get you closer to sunlight than halogens ever could. And you get a nice, even illumination, much like being outside, rather than the extreme glarey, shadowy illumination of two point sources, or a single 85 watt CFL.

[Probedude]

Ever see how much light a 600W HPS fixture puts out? Color rendition is horrible, but it's insane!

We've got 400W metal halide fixtures in our assembly bay at work. Fantastic amount of light, very good color rendition, long bulb life and of course much less power than a 2KW halogen!

[Twinbee]

Just 2000w of Halogen? Look at 2800w of HID from a real madman!

Oh wow, I'm drooling over that now But safety also comes into play, at least if I can convince my parents to put up with it

You're not crazy for wanting to light this brightly, but about 400 watts of T8 tubes (about 12 F32T8s to be specific) will do the exact same thing without acting as space heaters.

Well at least no energy is wasted, particularly as it's still chilly over here in the UK at this time of year.

The T8 tubes are fine and dandy, and I love their lifetime and colour temperature, but it would be massive job to fit all of them to the ceiling, along with the ballasts and power requirements

We've got 400W metal halide fixtures in our assembly bay at work.

I'm still tempted by these HID metal halide ones. Does any company supply everything so I can just fit it into a wall plug socket? I don't want it going into the light bulb fixture for obvious reasons.

Oh and if metal halide bulbs are so efficient, then why do they get so hot? They're supposed to even more efficient than CFLs.

[Probedude]

Originally Posted by Twinbee

I'm still tempted by these HID metal halide ones. Does any company supply everything so I can just fit it into a wall plug socket? I don't want it going into the light bulb fixture for obvious reasons.

Yes and no. Typically these are either exterior industrial lights so they're bolted to the sides of buildings or on poles or inside the building hanging from the ceiling about 50 ft up in the air! (like what Costco uses)

That said, people that have reef or marine tanks (saltwater fish tanks) have been using metal halide lighting since their corals need bright light to live. Those lights do come with a 3 prong plug, but I don't think any of them are using 400W bulbs, maybe 250W but several of them.

Oh and if metal halide bulbs are so efficient, then why do they get so hot? They're supposed to even more efficient than CFLs.

Good question, I'll have to think about that. Maybe it's because the size of the bulb that is actually emitting the light is extremely small in a HID or HPS/MH bulb vs a 4 foot fluorescent tube where the whole length of the tube can dissipate the heat.

[Twinbee]

Can you make a guess as to why everyone doesn't use 10-250w versions for universal light usage (industrial and domestic)? As long as the safety issues have been sorted (which I think they are), and the fitting is heat proof, then surely they're better than CFLs and incandescents in almost every way? (plus they can go much brighter).

[bfg9000]

The shorter lifespan of the low wattage ones make them uneconomical, and most people don't like to wait 3-4 minutes for their lights to come on.

If you think about it, a small 400w anything will get darned hot, just less hot than a 1200w thing (that generates the same amount of light). But it's still hot.

[broadgage]

Originally Posted by bfg9000

The shorter lifespan of the low wattage ones make them uneconomical, and most people don't like to wait 3-4 minutes for their lights to come on.

If you think about it, a small 400w anything will get darned hot, just less hot than a 1200w thing (that generates the same amount of light). But it's still hot.

I use metal halide lamps at home as I prefer the light they give.
I use the 150 watt double ended blue lamps made by BLV, they are used in the correct enclosed fittings.
These blue lamps are not saturated blue, but a full spectrum with a bias towards the blue.