2k light on household power?

B

borax

Active member
I have read that the 1500k is the highest watt bulb you can run from a standard socket. If so can someone comment on this light?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=4965&A=details&Q=&sku=330739&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

It says it supports 1000W, 1500W and 2000w bulbs. But can you run all of the bulbs off of a standard household socket?

"Sporting a 6.9" (175mm) lens, the Arri Black 2K Stand Mount Fresnel shares all the features of the 1000 Watt Fresnel. The 2000 watt fresnel accepts your choice of three 120 volt lamps and one 220 volt lamp (purchased separately)."

Here is a bulb listed under accessories

General Brand
this item is required.
CYX Lamp - 2000W/120V
Price $57.50

Would you recommend this light to someone who wants to use the brightest lights they can but only has access to household power?

Thanks
 
I run a CYX in a Mole Fresnel off household with no problems. Might need a 20A (as opposed to 15A) circuit though, I never checked. Also, it should be a circuit that isn't being used by anything of high demand of course (fridge, AC, heater, etc.)
 
vidled said:
Might need a 20A (as opposed to 15A) circuit though, I never checked. Also, it should be a circuit that isn't being used by anything of high demand of course (fridge, AC, heater, etc.)
Click to expand...

Exactly. A 2000w light will trip a 15A breaker. You'll need a 20A circuit.
 
Older houses might have 15A circuits (and who knows what kind of wiring, in what condition, etc). 2000W would be pushing it on an older home's circuitry. On a newer house it should be more practical to run a 2000W light; technically a 20A circuit should be able to handle somewhere between 2200 and 2400W. But that's really pushing it. You'd need to find a circuit that's isolated from the other circuits, and you couldn't run anything else on that circuit.
 
Also depends on the age of the breaker. If you are on a breaker that has carried close to its max for a while it will be more likely to trip. I use my 2k Moles and when I am in a house I break out the old "Stove tap".
 
Hey Brian,

Tell us more about the "Stove tap"! I'm guessing it's a 220V splitter of some type. Where did you get it? I understand that they are easy to build, but I've never done it.
 
I built mine. I have a dryer tap and a stove tap I will post a couple of pics this weekend. They are not "code" or "legal" in some places but hey work. But they are safe I should add.legs to breakers, breakers to outlets.
 
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I sometimes use the 2k bulb in my Mighty Mole, which is also a 2k open face instrument. It will work in most modern buildings with 20 amp circuits. If you do use the 2k bulb, you had better also use huge 10 ga. or even 8 ga. stingers as these lights will MELT a smaller ga. stinger.

Be careful, a 2k is on the bleeding edge all of the time on tripping a circuit breaker, even on a 20 amp circuit. These lights also get unbelievably hot when they have been on for an hour. Personally, I would tend to use the 1500 watt globes versus the 2k whenever possible.

I have been using the Mighty with the 1k globe a lot lately and it works very well as a 1k source through my Medium Chimera.

Best,

Dan
 
one thing to really keep in mind is...on a circuit even though rated at 20a it will trip at 16a. also it's not just the one room you're in that's on that line. you need to throw the switch and see how many rooms are affected then account for how many devices are on. just because a room has 4 15a plugs doesn't mean you can run 60a of power. so if two or three rooms are on the same line then you may not be able to run the light. if there's a computer on in a room on the same line hta's about 4a of power leaving you with 12a - 1440w.

you're best bet is a generator or some other supply.
 
So as long as I check into the amp levels on the circuit I could possibly run a 2k light.

Would anyone recommend the Mighty Mole over the Arri light that I have listed? The Arri is $600 but allows 3 different bulbs to be used, as opposed to the $373 Mighty, but can you use also use a 1k and 1.5k bulb in that light?

The Arri might be more flexible for small inide films. But if the Mole can do it, the price makes it the better option.

The main reason I am checking into this stuff is so that I can light exteriors at night on a small budget.
 
Another thing to keep in mind is the in rush current requirements for a cold filament incandescent load. In the case of a CYX globe it has a cold resistance of about 1 Ohm.

This means that under the worse case conditions (switch closing at the V peak of the sine cycle) the inrush current can be an amazing 20,365 Amps!

This of course does not take into account the source impedance, but illustrates the massive requirements necessary to start up such a large cold filament.

Here is the math:

I peak = SQRT 2 * (E^2/R)

where E = 120 VAC
and R = 1 ohm

Simply look at the interrupting current rating of any breaker and you will see the peak current that it can safely interrupt (a high quality industrial 30 Amp breaker will usually be rated near 65,000 Amps), houshold breakers are typically much lower in this rating (under 12,000 Amps).

So, while you might be able to run a CYX globed fixture on a 20 Amp household circuit, you really should be using proper distro and cabling to avoid damaging the household wiring and meter panel.
 
khmuse,

Would your equation possibly make a 1.5k light dangerous to run on a standard socket as well. I should be able to figure out what other devices the circuit is powering by turning the breaker off and on but I wouldn't want to fry anyones power.

But for exterior night shots I would like to run as high a wattage light as possible through extention cords from inside the nearest home.
 
Hello borax,

Is this 1.5k light an incandescent? I wouldn't think so based upon that power number. If it is an other type of source, the in rush current wouldn't be as high, so it might not be as big of concern.

In general, I don't like to run incandescents greater than 650W on household power.

Post the specifics of the source and I will be happy to answer your question.
 
Well I haven't yet purchased a light with more punch than a 650w Arri Fresnel light.

The lights that I am looking at are the:

This Arri that supports 1k,1.5k, and 2k
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=4965&A=details&Q=&sku=330739&is=REG&addedTr oughType=categoryNavigation

and the Mighty Mole which looks like it only uses 2k bulbs
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=Search&A=details&Q=&sku=192266&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

another option could possibly be a Barger Baglite although in other post people have metioned that you can't run all three lamps off of 1 socket and you need have to buy a chimera for it, making it an expensive option. The nice thing is you could just switch on the lamps as needed.

http://www.barger-baglite.com/GT_3.html

Or maybe I could go with something like a Source Four Par light but I don't know much about them.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=Search&A=details&Q=&sku=435237&is=REG&addedTroughType=search


Basically I just need some insight into what light will give me the most bang for the buck, produces the most light considering avalible household power, and be flexible enough to use for future projects.
 
All the instruments that you have listed are incandescent sources and all exhibit the very high in rush current issues that I previously described. What you really need is much more light for a lower power input if you want to be able to run on household power.

This really points to HMIs as being the best choice. A 1.2k HMI will far exceed the output of a 5K tungsten. The down side is cost. HMIs are much more expensive. Have you considered renting for the occasions that you need this type of punch?

The other possibility is to do a meter tap with a distro box (not legal in all areas and very dangerous if your gaffer doesn't know what they are doing). Done properly, you can run a 5k on from a 100 Amp service with perfect safety and no damage to the household wiring. A genny is also another thing that you might want to consider.

If you have never used an HMI, rent one. I doubt that you will ever go back to using big tungsten sources after using one.
 
Hi:

The Mighty Mole can use 1k, 1.5k and 2k globes. I bought the Mighty over the Arri because I received a very good deal on it. It's a great light and works well. What I like best about it that it uses a true, old-fashioned metal yoke and tension knob on adjusting the angle of the light.

What this means in practical terms is that I can mount the Mighty using a Mafer on my Manfrotto black matte boom pole. I then mount a Chimera aluminum speed ring onto the Mighty and my medium Chimera to the speed ring. I can suspend this source a good six feet over my camera when keying multiple interview subjects (two or three person interview). The big deal about the Mighty is that if I really crank down on the metal knob that holds the light to the yoke, it HOLDS the light and the huge medium Chimera at any angle I desire. Arri lights have plastic (Nylon) tie downs on their yokes and they slip in situations like this. The biggest open faced Arri I own is the 1k, I am not sure that the Arri 2k also features the Nylon tie down knob but I bet it does since the Arrilite 1k and 600 do also.

Other than that, I love Arri lights, I own 18 of them but they do have cheap, sucky tie-downs that make it difficult to hold a Chimera at a desired angle. For my Medium Chimera, I almost always use my Mighty over an Arri. When I use it with an Arri, I actually use a series of workarounds like mounting the Chimera on the square Mighty speed ring, then I clamp the speed ring to a grip head on a 40" arm on a C-stand, then I mount another 20" grip arm onto the 40" grip arm upside down which results in a mounting for the Arri 1k. PITA but it works. But lately, I find the Mighty much easier to do that. The only downside is that the Arri 1Ks I own are part of the Softbank IV kits I own whereas the Mighty has to ride in it's own milk crate with it's speed ring, barndoors and scrim bag. This increases the amount of stuff I have to drag into locations so it just depends on how much other junk I am dragging to a location as far as deciding which light I want to key with.

KHMuse has a great idea with an HMI, HMIs rule if you can afford them. Sounds like you probably can't, most 1200 watt HMI PARs cost around the price of a new HVX new. You can pick up used 1200 watt PARs for closer to $3,000.00.

BTW, the Bargers are great too. If I didn't already own the Mighty, I would seriously consider one, they are great lights, especially if you are wanting to what you say you are trying to do. I have a friend who owns the Barger and we have done some nice work with it.

All the best,

Dan
 
borax said:
...But can you run all of the bulbs off of a standard household socket?...
Click to expand...

I run 2k's all the time off new and old sockets/wiring. To date, no problems. But every time I plug in, in the older houses, I'm expecting the house to burn down:Drogar-Smoke(DBG):.

Pete.
 
Thank you for your comments on your experiences Pete.

However, being in Australia, you have a distinct advantage over us in North America, namely, your 2k globe consumes half the running current (8.3 Amps vs. 16.7 Amps) and only one quarter of the inrush current. This is a tremendous advantage and therefore your experiences are not as applicable to this application and the safety concerns that arise from trying to use a 2k with a 120 Volt domestic service.
 
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