More Efficient Lighting

The lighter side of things
kittyfritters
Posts: 241
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:13 pm

More Efficient Lighting

Postby kittyfritters » Tue May 16, 2017 8:04 pm

The indoor venues out here are usually gymnasiums that are owned by a parks and recreation department or a school. Lately, these organizations have been installing more efficient lighting systems. At Stonehurst, for example they changed, some years back, from florescent lighting, in flush fixtures in the ceiling to halogen lights that hang down about two feet from the ceiling. That made the 24 foot ceiling a 24 foot ceiling with two foot obstacles. When they did this the installer did not frame in the holes left where the florescent fixtures were removed and install ceiling tiles in their place. The resulting holes. about three by six feet, were covered with thin plastic sheeting like that used for painters drop cloths. However, some of the plastic has come down leaving open holes that have swallowed a few models into the black hole of the attic to which we have no access.

OK, the lighting is better and probably uses less electricity. The lights have rounded shades with a square transformer box above them. Models will bounce off the rounded shades, and if they have good stall recovery, with no damage. No one has yet had a model hit the transformer boxes directly so I don't know how much damage such a collision would cause, but there is just enough space between the top and the ceiling for a small model to make a landing. Fortunately, the lights have built in hoists for maintenance and the park custodian has a remote control (just like a TV remote) that will lower the light down to about waist high so we can remove a model.

Last Friday, I went flying in the Luther Middle School gym, which is like a large, wooden Quonset hut with a high, vaulted ceiling. There they have gone a step farther and replaced the halogen fixtures with small blocks of LED lights. The blocks are square and just large enough for a No-Cal to land on the back of them. I know because I had one of my P-36 models flying at the apex of the vaulted roof and it landed on one of the lights. Dave Gee had his 30 foot retrieval pole (Yes, I know, I forgot mine.) and was just able to knock it down. I do mean just able, for the light put out by these things is really blinding, even with dark sunglasses, and the model was invisible. All he was able to do was tap the light box with the end of the pole and hope the model fell off. Later in the evening I was flying a Wright Amount of Wrong, Embryo, and put a few too many winds in it. It hit one of the lights and recovered but when I picked up the model I noticed that when the upper wing hit the sharp corner of the light box it cracked the leading edge.

I doubt that there will be any more records set in the Luther gym, but (Heavy Sigh!) we can't stand in the way of energy efficiency, and with the scarcity of available indoor venues, we will adjust.

Howard
Ubi sublata omnia praecepta legis

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