500 watt 13000+ lumen incandecent

[woodsman]

I am thinking about getting a few 500 watt incandecent 13,000 lumen bulbs for my ceiling fan. If I only use these while I am in the room will there be any fire hazards? The fixtures are all glass. Would it overload the wiring?
These bulbs are dirt cheap around 4.00 and only burn for 60 hours, but I would like to try them for the novelty. And the sheer power.

Thanks, Jeff

[raggie33]

rofl i wouldnt do it.most the fixtures in ceiling fans are rated around 60 watts

[paulr]

60 hours at 500 watts = 30 kwh = $3 to $5 in electricity alone, and yeah, make sure the fixtures are rated for that much heat. Otherwise, get some fluorescent tubes. Keep in mind also that the bulbs will warm the room considerably, which defeats the purpose of the ceiling fan trying to cool you off.

[woodsman]

Good points, maybe I'll grab a couple for the outside patio light. I will be using indoor lighting (since it's so close and bright) while I'm out there after dark. And since It backs up to the woods, I will like the extra wow factor to scare off any potential intruders. Only using it of course when I hear something outside.

[James S]

don't, raggie is absolutely right. The wiring and other fixtures will not handle that load or heat for very long at all. Having installed some fan light kits in the recent past I'm surprised that the wiring in there even carries the 120 watts of 2 60 watt bulbs without catching fire.

[paulr]

Get fluorescents instead, you'll thank yourself when the electricity bill comes.

[lightbox]

When I was in school, the dorms used a 60 watt bulb to light fairly large room for three people. One of the first things I did was add a dimmer switch and replace the bulb with a y-splitter and two 300 watt bulbs. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif[/img] We had people knocking on the door to find out what the light spilling out from under the door was from. When I pulled the stuff out at the end of the year, the splitter was slightly charred from the heat. Fortunately, the wiring of the place was fairly heavy duty and I didn't have to pay for electricity.

Anyways, I'd agree with the others that several 500 watt bulbs is probably a bad idea. Even if the wiring can handle the load, the heat may damage your ceiling fan.

[wasabe64]

That's lot of good advice here. The wiring may be able to take it, but the chain switches in the fan were not made to handle that kind of current.

[jtr1962]

Unless you own stock in your electric company get fluorescents. A 4 tube T-8 fixture will put out in the neighborhood of 10,000 to 12,000 lumens, depending upon the tubes and ballast factor, for maybe 100 to 125 watts of electricity. For the same power that one 500W bulb uses you can run four of these and get well upwards of 40,000 lumens. Either that, or look for 55W CFL bulbs for your ceiling fan. These will by safe since they're under the 60W rating of the sockets, and will put out maybe 3500 lumens each. Unless you live in a cold climate and are looking to supplement your heating, using 500W incandescents is horribly wasteful, not to mention that the damned thing will probably blind you by virtue of having that much light coming from a very small area.

[Zelandeth]

Hmm, this could be a solution:

http://www.emanator.demon.co.uk/bigclive/hamster.htm

[NikolaTesla]

Hey I had that same wise idea to replace a 250 watt pencil bulb in my upward indirect cheapo floor lamp with 500 watt. Makes a great side spill light for taking photo's. This turned out NOT to be a good idea. worked for a short while, but the little bitty wires in there got to hot and smoked. Those 500 watt bulbs are plenty hot and have short life. (I was able to salvage it by using dimmer and only cranking brightness for short period to shoot photo). If you want continious REAL bright in a roon, try 125 watt HID fixture. They usually use them out doors or on Gymnasium ceiling. They are big and have a ballast but last real long and don't put out heat. Very bright withing 20 feet too.

NikolaTesla [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

An Arc lamp is the Spark that takes away the Dark--HID Forever!

My Lights LightWar [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/xyxgun.gif[/img]

[woodsman]

A lot of great info. I have decided not to buy any of these bulbs. I have been looking at the Metal halide bulbs/ballasts, and am still considering it. Although for the price difference between the 175 and 400 watt versions I would probably buy a 400 watt version. If I remember right It puts out around 30000 inital lumens and 22000 mean lumens in the horizontal position. Thanks guys for steering me in the right direction. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[3rd_shift]

You would have about 26 lumens per watt with those firestarter 500 incandescants, not including light from the fires that they may start. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin07.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif[/img]
Your metal halide units should be closer to 50 - 100 lumens per watt depending on brand and quality.
Good luck, and keep a pair of sunglasses handy in case they warm up brighter than you expected. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif[/img]

[jtr1962]

Some of the state-of-the-art 1000W metal halide stadium lights get 110 lm/W. That might be an option as well if you have the cash and want 110,000 lumens. You can never have too much light, now can you? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif[/img]

I liked that "hamster" light Zelandeth linked to. I thought it was kind of funny when the person said they had to remove four bulbs because it was too bright. 9 18W CFLs is about 10,000 lumens, and that's pretty close to what the fixtures in my bedroom and my kitchen put out. I find this level of lighting (100 lm/ft²) very comfortable, and I have about 200 lm/ft² in my electronics workshop. I might even consider lighting closer to 1000 lm/ft² if electricity costs weren't an issue. That's about what exists outside on a cloudy day. Maybe it'll be feasible when we have 200 lm/W LEDs and solar-generated electricity.

[BatteryCharger]

[ QUOTE ]
woodsman said:
These bulbs are dirt cheap around 4.00 and only burn for 60 hours

[/ QUOTE ]

Where can I find some of these bulbs? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[woodsman]

BatteryCharger,
You can get these bulbs from. www.topbulb.com. Click on 250 watt incandecents, and then click on page #6 & scroll down. Sorry I don't know how to post a link.

Jeff

[thevirusunknown]

Is there a place where you can buy fixtures for very bright, high wattage lights like these?