Cool Studio Lighting

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dom Franco
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Dom Franco

Dom Franco

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Tell us about your studio lighting....

I removed all florescent light fixtures from my house...and
Replaced them with track lighting. Some banks are colored and some are white to change moods.

During vocal overdubs I keep it dark in the control room, just the glow of the equipment looks great. And the singer is lit up with a few colored lights behind the glass in the vocal room, some how it just feels better to sing that way?

I have made a couple of "DO NOT ENTER WHEN LIT" red light signs
and I turn these on when using microphones.

Tell us your ideas..

Dom Franco:o
 
Fancy lighting is fun.. just be careful with dimmers... they can be "noisy"
 
Isn't is better to use a 12v lighting system? that way you only have 1 transformer, and the dimmers for them can be a standard pot.


Just a thought.


Rochey
 
No Dimwit Dimmers?

I don't use dimmers, I just turn on and off banks of light to have more or less illumination.

The 12 volt lighting is a cool Idea! I have a few 12 volt strobes from an automobile application, and I have hooked them up to a doorbell switch so there is no bell sound to ruin a recording, just bright flashes of light!

Also the phone "Rings" as a light no sound (silent phone ringer avaiable at radio shack.)

I may try the 12 volt stuff with potentiometers?

Dom:rolleyes:
 
Can you get 12V systems designed for home use? i.e. multiple 40-60 watt bulbs? Where?

Or do you have to rig something up from parts?
 
I'm running totally on a 24 volt system. I have around 550 watts of solar panels going into 275 amp/hr of batteries. No dimmer hum here ;)

cheers
john
 
John,

These topics are so very important to us newbies, since we are all starting off with very little experience in constructing studios. Can you point us to a link that describes these independent lighting systems, or share some more detail on yours? That would be great.

Bushice
 
John
Have you got any solar links you could post about the type of system you use? Hate those power bills!
 
try this: http://www.tasmanenergy.com.au/

What I have is a set of 60watt panels on the roof. I have 10 of them delivering 600watts at full power. They are wired together in pairs in series to make 24 volts and then all linked in parallel feeding into a controller that has a regulator into the batteries. The batteries are deep cycle heavy duty. One set is 4 x 6volt linked to make 24 volts. They store 75 amphours. That means they will deliver 1 amp for 75 hours or 75 amps for 1 hour. I also have a set of 12 x 2 volt batteries that also make up 24 volts. They hold 200 amp hours. So I have 275 amphrs total.

The output of the batteries return to the controller where it is split into two circuits. 1 is a straight 24 volt output that feeds the 24 volt lighting in the house. The other is sent to a 800watt inverter. (Full sine wave inverter) This converts the 24V DC to 240 AC to run 240 lighting, appliances. puter etc.

I'm in a 6 daylight hours region so I get most of my power between 10am - 4pm. On a sunny day I get around 100 - 150 amps into the batteries. which is 2400 - 3600 watts.

The formula is Power(Watts) = Volts x amps.

so one amp at 24 volts = 24 watts.
or one amp at 240 volts = 240watts.

My puter takes around 200 watts (the monitor is the killer) so I can run the puter for 12 - 18 hours on a days charge.

I use halogen lights that are very efficient. a 20 watt halogen = 100watt incandecent.

The cost:. They now make 120 watt panels that sell of AUD$1200 which is around US$600. 5 @ $600 is US$3000
The inverter is around $AUD$2000 = US$1000
the controller is around $AUD1200 = US$600
The batteries are around $AUD500 US$250 for the 4 6volt/75amphour batteries.

So you could have a system like the above for $US 5 - 6K

No more power outs - spikes - etc.

cheers
john
 
So, are you running the usual stuff like a refrigerator, dryer and stove too, or do you use gas for that? Any solar heating or hot water?

Man, what a cool set up! you've got. I seem to remeber you just moved in recently, did you convert it yourself or was it all set up? Sorry for all the questions, I love this stuff....

I might have to have a bit bigger system to power my outdoor hot tub- can't live with out that! :-)
 
Yes Dan - gas fridge and stove. The water is solar heated. I can run a small washing machine off the inverter as it will handle 3300watt peaks for 5 sec which happens when the motor starts up.
You need a 4WD to get up here but the view is spectacular and I'm surrounded by subtropical rainforest with all the associated bities like, tiger snakes, brown snakes, pythons that stretch across the driveway when they cross. There are dingos up behind who howl at night (dingoes have no bark, they howl like wolves).

The house was all setup, I just added extra solar panels so I could get puter time. :)

cheers
john
 
John,
There is an article in the current "Silicon Chip" magazine on solar power for domestic use.............the article tends to take the gloss off the whole "solar energy vs cost savings on energy bills" thing.

Obviously, their's is just one point of view and not necessarily the "full story" regarding solar energy.



:cool:
 
ausrock said:
John,
There is an article in the current "Silicon Chip" magazine on solar power for domestic use.............the article tends to take the gloss off the whole "solar energy vs cost savings on energy bills" thing.

Obviously, their's is just one point of view and not necessarily the "full story" regarding solar energy.



:cool:
Click to expand...


aus,

I did a very rough calculation for Johns system usng the tasmanenergy products, and assuming I would need something similar. The panels come out to around $6200 (10 - 65 watt unisolar), add about another $1500 for the inverter, regulator and meter, add the batteries whatever they may cost, I'll guess at least another $1000 for a sufficient amount of batteries. Total is $8700.

Based on my average monthly consumption of electricity right now, it would take me about 5 years to recover the costs of the equipment, not including installation. I'm not sure how well it would work here in the winter though, since that is when the sun is lowest for us, and our electricity use is highest.

Bushice
 
Yeah I agree bushice. especially when you consider the amopunt of power you are getting from the grid. I'm sure in winter you turn on a 2400watt heater all the time yet that is your total daily output with a solar setup. It cost around $2 per day for mains power in Aus. that's $730 per year plus you get all the power you want.

cheers
john
 
John,
Sounds like a beautiful place. Got any pictures we can see?

DD
 
I'm a sailboat tech, as a day gig now...and this kinda stuff is very popular on the boats nowadays. Don't forget wind generators...and of course water, if you're near a source. You'll possibly get a markup because stuff is labeled a "marine product", but the marine catalogs are a good place to price stuff like inverters, generators, and stuff like that. But...a typical "windbugger" wind vane generator can put out significant amps (like up to 20 amps @ 12 volts) given a decent 20 knot wind, and of course don't need to be mounted on a sailboat....and they go for around $400, as an average price. Solar panels tend to be pricey..especially when you get the bigger ones. Inverter (items that convert DC to AC power) prices hover around 50 cents a watt, when talking size...as a ROUGH guideline....at least for the marine stuff.

happy sailing....I mean recording!!
 
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