# What Watts?????



## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

I tried to find the answers in previous threads but couldn't really find what I was looking for. I've seen some amazing lighting examples throughout the forum but just am not sure how to achieve it. I bought a 150 watt spotlight and a blue globe - the globe is only 80 watts. We plugged it in at home (inside) but it just didn't seem to put out a whole bunch of BLUE light. My plan was to get a few of these to put throughout the graveyard - maybe backlight with amber and use blue/green/red throughout the tombstones - but I'm a bit worried now that they aren't going to be vivid enough. Any thoughts?


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## stagehand1975 (Feb 22, 2010)

Watts is the amount of.energy an item uses. With incandescent lightbulbs, a lot of that energy is in heat. 150 watt spot concentrates all of its light in one direction where as the globe spreads it all around. With cfls and leds, they make just as much light with less what's. They also generate less heat. While listing there actual wattage, there is usually a marking somewhere on the package stateing what its incandescent equivalents are.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Incandescents don't put out a lot of light in the blue end of the spectrum, so that might be part of the problem. A lot of people on here are running LEDs to get pure, saturated colors...deep blues, rich reds, pure green, etc. If you need a lot of light, you might look into a colored compact fluorescent. These are available in most colors of the rainbow, and UV blacklight.

Though conversely, for accents - often times you don't need a lot of light - considering most peoples eyes will be somewhat dark adjusted anyway and illumination in the 'not so bright' range does add to the creepy atmosphere...nothing is very creepy with 10 street lights shining down on it!


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

When ever I have used blue light it only seems to work well in total darkness and by itself. It tends to get lost when you use it with other colors, that is unless you have the light right up close to the object you want to light up.
I prefer blue light for my grave yard as it gives me the mode and and the dim light effect I want. And if I want to high light something I still use blue light, but closer to the item. I don't like to mix colors. And adding to the effect is the fact that humans don't see blue light very well, We do better with green, yellow and red. 
So when you tried the globe inside were the lights all off, other wise it would get washed out. I think you idea will work if you keep the other colored lights small and up close to the object. A single LED spot light would be about right for your other colors.


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Yeah Bone Dancer we turned off all the lights inside. I was just expecting it to be a bit more "blue". There wasn't much light or color. Just wasn't what I had anticipated. Now I'm not sure what to go with. I've looked around but can't find colored LED's here. All the garden lighting is just plain white light.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

http://stores.ebay.com/id=43968882&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSX:SST&_trksid=p3984.m1543.l2533

Here is where I got the last leds I bought. They come prewired which is really nice, and the prices are fair. You can get leds in different voltages too to match you power supply.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Another thought - part of the reason the lighting looks amazing in the pictures you see posted here is because the camera sees the blue more intently than the human eye. We use a blue spotlight for part of the yard (I think it was a blue compact fluorescent bulb) and the color we see vs the color that shows in the photos is not the same.


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Thanks for the link Bone Dancer - unfortunately they only ship to the USA. And I have ABSOLUTELY no understanding of electronics or wiring so I was hoping to get something that I could either just plug in and switch on OR at least be able to speak to someone and be shown how to put the puzzle together. The last thing I want to do is electrocute myself or someone else. Bad form to kill a guest in the graveyard I suspect!!!! LOL

Roxy what you say makes sense as well - the camera shutter would be open for an extended period for a night shot and therefore allow more light/color in. It just wasn't what I had anticipated.

This morning while it was still dark outside I plugged the light in to an outdoor point on the back verandah, switched off all the other lights in the house and peeked out the window. It did look better and clearly the blue tends to reflect better from lighter colored objects. A white pot was clearly illuminated. 

These spotlights together with the colored globe added up to about $18 which was less than I had expected. I wondered whether additionally some cheap LED torches would work to just spotlight key points in the graveyard (and the haunt for that matter). They only have to run for about 2 hours while the party guests go through the haunt.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

We've used little battery powered, LED flashlights stuck in wooden holders (painted black) to highlight individual tombstones and props in our yard display for a couple years now. They work very well and easily last an evening and more.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

http://myworld.ebay.com/hongkongsuperseller/&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2754

Here is another place for leds out of Hong Kong .


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Sorry - torch = flashlight...... yes - it sounds like my level of ability - click a switch and they are on!!!!! LOL 

Roxy did you do anything to change the color of them or were they all just white light? I did read somewhere that leadlight paint might be an option to color the lenses.

Bone Dancer, we're back to that lack of a clue what to do with all those little components..... Name should probably be Clueless not Headless!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

We left the flashlights (aka torches) pretty much as is - spots of white light. Depending on placement, the beam can light up to three closely placed tombstones. The flashlights we use are small - palm of your hand or pocket size. Local box stores like Home Depot and Lowe's often have them in multipacks for a few dollars. I don't know what the equivalent store would be in Australia.

I think Spooky1 may have experimented with taping a small piece of a colored theater gel over some of the lights at one point. I don't remember the outcome.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

Not to worry. I just started tinkering with leds last year. Working with them is fairly simple and makes a good first tech project. 
And like Roxy said there are all sizes of led flashlights that you can get. Check ebay or if you have one, a dollar store. Its all low voltage so you can't hurt yourself.


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Thanks for the info - I think I will give the flashlights a try for the extra light this year. I may have a play with the LED's when I get a little more brave!  I also managed to pick up a few UV LED flashlights last year pretty cheap from Ebay - a seller in Hong Kong. They work great and we gave two to each group of four people who went through the haunt.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/UV-Ultra-Violet-Blacklight-9-LED-Flashlight-Torch-Lamp-/190683930349?pt=AU_Sport_Camping_Hiking_Lamps_Torches&hash=item2c65a5deed


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