Lighted Sculpture Question

[Lux Luthor]

How big is this globe? I assume it's hollow, so that if it's large enough the heat would dissipate through the air. Incandescents bulbs aren't very sensitive to heat build up, but LEDs are very sensitive to it. So if it's really small, I wouldn't use LEDs unless you underdrive them, and have a lot of them, which would be expensive.

However, if the globe has a nice glow to it with an incandescent bulb (I don't know what it's coated with), I would certainly use an incandescent.

LEDs are useful to produce nice pure colors, but generally would not be as bright as an incandescent.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

it's about a 9in. diameter...do you mean the globe is coated with something? Would Xenon or Halogen be brighter?

 

[Lux Luthor]

If the globe is 9" in diameter, I don't think the heat build up would be too bad.

However, it still seems to me that this is an application for an incandescent. If the glass already has a red color, you should just need to light it up (I misunderstood originally, the glass is dye red throughout, I now assume). In any case, I would just put a bright incandescent inside. I don't see anything to be gained by using LEDs, unless you are prohibited from changing light bulbs from time to time.

Xenon is generally whiter than other Halogens, and may look better, and is also brighter.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Forgive my stupidity, but I really know *nothing* about lights, and I really really appreciate all your help. Is an incandecent the same as a Xenon or Halogen? Yes, the globe is "dyed" red...it's almost completely opaque, and the light inside need only be white. I can change the bulb occasionally, but I need a bulb that is tiny. Like, not bigger than a 1" diameter.

 

[Lux Luthor]

The term "incandescent" is a general name for what most people would consider a regular light bulb - those used in household lamps, flashlights, car headlights, etc. These produce light by heating a metal filament to the point where it gives off light.

The term "halogen" refers to a class of gases that are used inside the (incandescent) light bulb. These include gases such as xenon, krypton, and others, such as argon.

In any case, what I was saying is that you should only need a regular standard light bulb. A good source would be Home Depot, or any hardware store, if you simply want a small bright incandescent light bulb. I assume you will hook it up to a regular household AC power source, so I think this would be a good place to look. If you will battery power it, you might try an auto parts store.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

do they make incandescents that are under an inch large and would give off enough light?

 

[Lux Luthor]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by EvilJordan:
do they make incandescents that are under an inch large and would give off enough light?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

There are small incandescent bulbs. A car brake light uses a bulb around an inch in diameter (perhaps a little larger). Some decorative lights for the home are that small, but probably put out only a few watts. Refrigerator bulbs are also pretty small.

Just curious. Why does it have to be less than an inch in diameter if the globe is 9" in diameter? If you can do with a 2" diameter bulb, I would say you're all set, and would have no problem finding one.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

the way the glass is blown requires a hole at one end...it *could* be 2in, but that's getting a bit large...i wanted to keep it around 1 for aesthetics.

 

[Andre]

Either something like a high-intensity "Tensor" lamp (40W) or a small halogen lamp (50W) would be 1" dia. or smaller, and very bright. The halogen would need a 12 volt, 5 amp or so power supply, though. It would also need a special high-temperature socket/base to plug into.

There are probably other places (Home Depot) to find the bulbs but this is the first place Google gave me. You can at least use it for reference. See items 40S11-CLEAR and 50JC.
http://www.tensorlamp.com/bulbs.html

Hope this helps,
Andre

 

[Lux Luthor]

Hmmm. I see what you mean. I hadn't thought about the glass blowing or the aesthetics.

My guess is that there are bright AC (I still assume) powered bulbs that are that small, but I can't name any.

However, I think this thread now has enough posts that it will attract enough attention tomorrow morning, and someone will show up who can recommend such a bulb. Unfortunately, I can't. So I would wait until then. Good Luck!

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Thank you both so much!

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Hi! I'm building that sculpture. It has a glass globe and the rest is steel. There's a light inside, that needs to illuminate a mostly opaque glass sphere to the point where it's bright enough to cast it's red light onto the wall behind it. I thought I would perhaps order six, 6 LED Arrays, and glue them into the shape of a cube, then mount that on its corner inside the sphere, that way, every directions would be illuminated, and there'd be enough light to cast the red glow...This, however, is quite expensive. Are LEDs the way to go? Would a Xenon bulb accomplish the same task? Something major for me to consider is heat; there can't be very much, cause it would have nowhere to go in the glass sphere. I'd really appreciate any ideas you guys could throw out. Thanks so much!

 

[Lux Luthor]

EvilJordan,

Why don't you post this on the General flashlight forum, or the general lighting forum? Now that it's narrowed down, you could just post a thread asking for a bright 1" bulb. Maybe include that globe pic to add interest to it.

 

[lux0]

"The term "halogen" refers to a class of gases that are used inside the (incandescent) light bulb. These include gases such as xenon, krypton, and others, such as argon."

Not quite. the gasses, xenon, krypton, neon and argon are inert gasses...non reactive. They're used to fill the globe to reduce the pressure differential.
Halogens are elements such as chlorine, fluorine, bromine and iodine. They're added, in small quantity, to 'halogen' bulbs to reduce the sublimation of the tungsten filament. This process only works at high temperatures, which is why halogen lamps should not be dimmed.

BTW, you can get small (1/2" D) 12V halogen bulbs, as low as 5W, but 10 and 20W is more common.

 

[McGizmo]

A good marine supply store (chandlery) will have small 12V halogen bulbs as well as loose sockets to accept them. These bulbs and sockets will fit easily through the hole in the sphere. Jameco Has inexpensive 110 VAC to 12 VDC transformers that you can match to the current requirements of the bulb that you choose.

 

[LED-FX]

"This process only works at high temperatures, which is why halogen lamps should not be dimmed."

Yup, the `halogen cycle` only works at high temperatures, where the halogen takes the evaporated tungsten from the filament and re-deposits it back to the filament, at lower, dimmed, temperatures the tungsten will condense out on to the wall of the envelope causing lamp blackening.

In architectural applications where the lamps may be dimmed for long periods, it is common to program in a full brightness `clean up` phase to clean the inner walls of the envelope.

So you can dim halogens, but remeber to run them at full brightness for a good few minutes every few days to stop the lamp enevlope blackening.

For the original poster`s question, 12V capsule lamp in as has been suggested 10W or 20W would probably give the desired effect.Think 50W may slightly dazzling, depemnds how opaque the globe is.Lamps and holders should be available at a good electrical wholesaler.

Adam