Light & Wattage

Jigger said:
Why ask for advice and then refuse the well thought out, logical solutions? Seems to be the pattern here DCP.
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IM glad IM not the only 1 that noticed that. :rolleyes:

It's almost like he asks for advice but only listens to the answers that he was waiting to hear. It's more like he just wants to hear people confirming his opinion than hearing other ideas. :(

Brian
 
Pool Room lights

I saw a few responses as to the correct way to light a table. There have been a few posts here as well in the past. The wattages will have nothing to do with how much light output. There are a few other way to look at what types of lights to use.

Incandescent: If you plan to use a fixture that would use a typical incandescnet bulb, I would highly recommend going to a screw in type compact fluorescent. You can buy a 13W C.F. to replace a 60W incandescent and it will give off the same light. You will use approximately 20% of the energy and get the same light output. The lamp life of a C.F. is also much better than an incandescent. The incandescents have a life of about 1000 hours as compared to a C.F. of 10000-12000 hours. When looking at what wattages of bulbs, make sure you look at the lumen output of each lamp. As you double the lumens, the illuminance (foot candle level) should approximately double. Here are a few comparisons: (see the attached picture)

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Fluorescent: If you plan to use a 4 or 8' fluorescent I would highly recommend using a T8 lamp. Each 4' section would use 32W as compared to the 40W T12. The lamp life is also much longer on a T8 as compared to a T12. A standard T8 lamp should also have 2850 lumens whereas the T12 would have 2200 lumens.

From what I have been told, you can't even install an incandescent bulbs in residential applications in California anymore. Their energy code has become so strict that they do not allow them.

I believe you should be looking for an average of 50 footcandle on the bed of the table for the proper light. There are some lighting formulas out there that would tell you what you will be getting.
 
APA7 said:
It's more like he just wants to hear people confirming his opinion than hearing other ideas. :(

Brian
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nope, not at all.

but when i CLEARLY state a pool table light is NOT a consideration, and then some respond with the idea that i should put up a pool table light, it makes me wonder if they read the thread and understand.

DCP
 
that one light you showed you were interested in would throw some pretty wicked shadows on the table........i guess over time you would get used to it but it would drive me nuts.
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
ok, here's the deal. if i expand my garage apartment out by 12 feet the pool table is coming back upstairs. and if that happens i'd like to have a light over the table - but not a regular pool table light. i'd like to get something a little more decorative/ornamental, dunno what the word is, in case one of these days i ever rent this place. and if i do rent i wouldnt want a pool light right there.

so, my question is, i noticed in Home Depot and Lowe's they have some nice looking lights and i am wondering how much wattage i need to adequately illuminate the 9 foot GCIV? most of these type of lights are kind of "centered", if you know what i mean. would one with three bulbs (180 watts) be good enough? or perhaps one with five bulbs (300 watts)?

DCP

p.s. some of those types you can actually point the bulbs slightly in one direction.
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Just wondering have you tried artist/painter's lamp? "Natural light" bulb cost like $30-$50 (or more depending on the size) a pop, but they offer superior illumination. You know you have a good lamp when you don't see shadows.
 
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i used to have tables upstairs, years ago, before me and my uncle turned part of the garage into a pool room. all i had then was one ceiling light that had those little 15-20 watt bulbs (4 of them) and a couple of floor lamps that had 75 watt bulbs in them.

that got the job done, had plenty of light, and dont recall any problem with shadows. however, about the shadows, that is a good point, thanks for mentioning it.

DCP
 
crosseyedjoe said:
Just wondering have you tried artist/painter's lamp? "Natural light" bulb cost like $30-$50 (or more depending on the size) a pop, but they offer superior illumination. You know you have a good lamp when you don't see shadows.
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Joe,
what exactly are you talking about here?

DCP
 
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100469359&N=10000003+90401&marketID=401&locStoreNum=8125




http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100017539&N=10000003+90401&marketID=401&locStoreNum=8125



http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100090430&N=10000003+90401&marketID=401&locStoreNum=8125

These would do you much better than that POS you were looking at before.

The idea of a pool table light is to focus light directly on the playing surface.

I still don't understand why you can't put a nice pool table light up and then take it down when you move out!

Or is your significant other not allowing you to put a pool table light up? Or is it your parents that won't let you put one up?

Just curious!
 
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txplshrk said:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100469359&N=10000003+90401&marketID=401&locStoreNum=8125




http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100017539&N=10000003+90401&marketID=401&locStoreNum=8125



http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100090430&N=10000003+90401&marketID=401&locStoreNum=8125

These would do you much better than that POS you were looking at before.

The idea of a pool table light is to focus light directly on the playing surface.

I still don't understand why you can't put a nice pool table light up and then take it down when you move out!

Or is your significant other not allowing you to put a pool table light up? Or is it your parents that won't let you put one up?

Just curious!
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that last one is a possibility........

but the first one, the one with 3 bulbs, light up the table satisfactorily?

have no significant other, nor are parents a consideration.........:cool:

DCP
 
If you have nobody to answer to then why can't you put up the right light?

Then when you move take it down and put something cheap up in it's place. The renters won't know the difference and they won't care!

It only takes 3 wire nuts and two screws to hang up a stinking light into the light box! It doesn't take a lot of time, or a lot of know how.


And those 3 light ones will work if you put Compact Flouresent Lights in them that are the daylight spectrum! Get the ones that are equivelent to 150 watts..............that would be like having 450 watts of regular lighting only the CFL's only use 35 watts per bulb!
 
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If you are expanding the space, have you considered putting in can lights into the ceiling? I'm not sure what the rest of the space looks like, but canned lights work in a lot of different spaces.

I have can lights above my table in the basement and they work really well. I also have the lights on a dimmers so that I can better control the lighting. I put 3 lights over the center of the table and another 3 just off of the side rails.

Good luck...
 

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DrCue'sProtege said:
Joe,
what exactly are you talking about here?

DCP
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Painting is my hobby. I use a painter's lamp inside the house for lighting. It simulates outside day light, no glare, true color, and the light is diffused not focused to avoid shadow.

It's a highly specialized lamp that you will find in art stores. Maybe Home Depot will have a comparable one if you can figure out exactly what kind of bulb/lamp it is.

By the way, I'm just talking about the bulb. You might still need to find/create a suitable fixture for it if you are going to mount it over the table.


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Are you looking for a specific ambience? You might want to post a picture of the room.


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davidwoj said:
If you are expanding the space, have you considered putting in can lights into the ceiling? I'm not sure what the rest of the space looks like, but canned lights work in a lot of different spaces.

I have can lights above my table in the basement and they work really well. I also have the lights on a dimmers so that I can better control the lighting. I put 3 lights over the center of the table and another 3 just off of the side rails.

Good luck...
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Do you have any pics of your set-up.....I would love to see them.

Here is a few pictures. Two of pics of the can lights that I want to put up. Everyone talked me out of them because of drilling 4" holes in the ceiling. If I went to sell the place, I would be in trouble...blah blah blah. So I decided to put the light that I have now.

I want to put up the can lights so that I can hang a web cam from the top. I would wire it into my computer and then into the tv also. This way if you have a bunch of friends over, you can veiw the table layout and watch them shoot from a view above. The lights are fairly directional, but the good news is that I have 12 of them. I was thinking 4 down the length of the table and 3 across the width. I think the bulbs are 50 watts each.
 

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Oh....here is a pic of my room with the existing light.
 

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I adjusted the camera and turned the lights on...a little better pic.
 

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