cuepaul
Registered
What a subject ... pool table lighting ...
I purchased an Olhausen New Orleans 9 foot table (in maple stained traditional mahogany, with gold simonis 860 cloth because of my light beige carpet and the rest of the room's coloring) a few weeks ago, which is to be installed on September 1st ... in my large living room. I read and read and read about how best to light pool tables, and learned that there is very little helpful information out there. I thought I'd share what I've chosen to do, and then report back after the table is installed and I've played on it for awhile.
First, I searched and searched and studied and studied, and discovered that most of what is called pool table lighting isn't worth buying, for it won't adequately do the job required (that didn't surprise me, for I found the same thing to be true about pool tables, where I surmised that only Olhausen, Connelly, and Schmidt were worth my while to consider purchasing). There is a market out there for someone enterprising enough to fill it, especially for 9 foot table fluorescent lighting that can be dimmed....
Next, I was tempted just to buy either a Diamond or Brunswick light, with their nondimmable fluorescent tubes ... but hey, I won't be owning a Diamond or Brunswick table, I didn't think either such light would look very good in my living room, and I wanted to be able to dim the light, given the room in which it will be installed.
Next, I went down the road a bit with Charley Bond, best known for his Break-Rak products, but also a part-time pool table light maker. Charley had some great ideas for lighting my table, and I recommend him to anyone who wants to go that route.
All along, however, I wanted to be able to use fluorescents (to save $$$ long-term, and also to keep the living room cooler than hot incandescent lighting would do), but also be able to dim them. For anyone who has done any research into that, you'll know those two desires do NOT match up well, if at all.
To do so with Charley, we were looking into some solutions that would have cost me too much, and been too novel for my comfort. Someone else may blaze that trail, and, if so, I hope he or she shares here what works....
Then I happened upon a new product, the Toltec Arizona tiffany 74-inch 4 light incandescent fixture (404-BRZ w/4 #984K) (see http://billiardlight.com/arizona.html ), and loved the way I imagined that light would look and work in my living room. I let Charley know I'd not be going down the lighting design and custom manufacture road further with him, which was sad because I had greatly enjoyed him.
The Toltec fixture's four light sockets can each take up to 150-watt incandescent bulbs, but I knew I wanted to use compact fluorescents instead, especially if I could find any that could be dimmed. I found only one compact fluorescent bulb that approaches a 100-watt equivalent (none are higher, that I could find, anyway), GE's 29-watt dimmable soft white 100 (see http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/default.php/cPath/25_44_169_207 ). I then had to find a conventional wall dimmer that had the below 20% dimming cutoff that such a compact fluorescent needs. The folks at GE weren't helpful, but I found a TCP dimmer (40600WH) that would work (see http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/default.php/cPath/39_740_741 ).
Meanwhile, I found a local electrician and scheduled him to come to my house a week before the table's installation. He and his crew came last Thursday, and did that job (and many, many more I had, most to do with more efficient ceiling fans and compact fluorescents, the outside ones with photocell auto-on at dusk technology). The light looks GREAT, dims PERFECTLY, and I can't wait to see how well the table looks under it, and how well the table is lit. I know already that the light adds NO noticeable heat to the living room, and its lovely tiffany glass helps illuminate the room, but still concentrates the vast majority of the light downward, to where the table surface will be....
I haven't yet mentioned the adventure I had trying to determine at what height to install the light. Really, folks, that surprised me. I found recommendations anywhere from 58 inches above the floor to 70 inches or more. I found one recommendation that in the end made the most sense to me: the nose bridge height of the average player who will use the table. For me, that translates to 59-60 inches above the floor. So that's where the light height has been placed for now. If I need to adjust it after the table arrives, I can do so. (But I hope I won't need to do so, for that's easier said than done.)
I'll report back after I have played on the table awhile. If anyone wants to know anything more, just let me know. I hope that this might save at least one person's valuable time, by letting y'all know one possible way to go, given today's technology.
(About that, in the long run, my guess is that the relatively new T5 fluorescent tube technology will advance to the point where good dimming solutions will exist for use in pool table lighting, without costing an arm and a leg. That will be a great advance for all of us home players.)


I purchased an Olhausen New Orleans 9 foot table (in maple stained traditional mahogany, with gold simonis 860 cloth because of my light beige carpet and the rest of the room's coloring) a few weeks ago, which is to be installed on September 1st ... in my large living room. I read and read and read about how best to light pool tables, and learned that there is very little helpful information out there. I thought I'd share what I've chosen to do, and then report back after the table is installed and I've played on it for awhile.
First, I searched and searched and studied and studied, and discovered that most of what is called pool table lighting isn't worth buying, for it won't adequately do the job required (that didn't surprise me, for I found the same thing to be true about pool tables, where I surmised that only Olhausen, Connelly, and Schmidt were worth my while to consider purchasing). There is a market out there for someone enterprising enough to fill it, especially for 9 foot table fluorescent lighting that can be dimmed....
Next, I was tempted just to buy either a Diamond or Brunswick light, with their nondimmable fluorescent tubes ... but hey, I won't be owning a Diamond or Brunswick table, I didn't think either such light would look very good in my living room, and I wanted to be able to dim the light, given the room in which it will be installed.
Next, I went down the road a bit with Charley Bond, best known for his Break-Rak products, but also a part-time pool table light maker. Charley had some great ideas for lighting my table, and I recommend him to anyone who wants to go that route.
All along, however, I wanted to be able to use fluorescents (to save $$$ long-term, and also to keep the living room cooler than hot incandescent lighting would do), but also be able to dim them. For anyone who has done any research into that, you'll know those two desires do NOT match up well, if at all.
To do so with Charley, we were looking into some solutions that would have cost me too much, and been too novel for my comfort. Someone else may blaze that trail, and, if so, I hope he or she shares here what works....
Then I happened upon a new product, the Toltec Arizona tiffany 74-inch 4 light incandescent fixture (404-BRZ w/4 #984K) (see http://billiardlight.com/arizona.html ), and loved the way I imagined that light would look and work in my living room. I let Charley know I'd not be going down the lighting design and custom manufacture road further with him, which was sad because I had greatly enjoyed him.
The Toltec fixture's four light sockets can each take up to 150-watt incandescent bulbs, but I knew I wanted to use compact fluorescents instead, especially if I could find any that could be dimmed. I found only one compact fluorescent bulb that approaches a 100-watt equivalent (none are higher, that I could find, anyway), GE's 29-watt dimmable soft white 100 (see http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/default.php/cPath/25_44_169_207 ). I then had to find a conventional wall dimmer that had the below 20% dimming cutoff that such a compact fluorescent needs. The folks at GE weren't helpful, but I found a TCP dimmer (40600WH) that would work (see http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/default.php/cPath/39_740_741 ).
Meanwhile, I found a local electrician and scheduled him to come to my house a week before the table's installation. He and his crew came last Thursday, and did that job (and many, many more I had, most to do with more efficient ceiling fans and compact fluorescents, the outside ones with photocell auto-on at dusk technology). The light looks GREAT, dims PERFECTLY, and I can't wait to see how well the table looks under it, and how well the table is lit. I know already that the light adds NO noticeable heat to the living room, and its lovely tiffany glass helps illuminate the room, but still concentrates the vast majority of the light downward, to where the table surface will be....
I haven't yet mentioned the adventure I had trying to determine at what height to install the light. Really, folks, that surprised me. I found recommendations anywhere from 58 inches above the floor to 70 inches or more. I found one recommendation that in the end made the most sense to me: the nose bridge height of the average player who will use the table. For me, that translates to 59-60 inches above the floor. So that's where the light height has been placed for now. If I need to adjust it after the table arrives, I can do so. (But I hope I won't need to do so, for that's easier said than done.)
I'll report back after I have played on the table awhile. If anyone wants to know anything more, just let me know. I hope that this might save at least one person's valuable time, by letting y'all know one possible way to go, given today's technology.
(About that, in the long run, my guess is that the relatively new T5 fluorescent tube technology will advance to the point where good dimming solutions will exist for use in pool table lighting, without costing an arm and a leg. That will be a great advance for all of us home players.)
