In the UK we have Carnival Clubs, who make spectacular floats to compete in competitions every year. Many of the floats use literally thousands of high power tungsten lamps to create a blaze of light, but with the phasing out of tungsten lamps they are being forced to pay a lot more for lamps and potentially have to switch to different lamp technologies.
Aside from the fact that nothing really has the richness and physical radiance of tungsten lamps, there is a whole layer of complexity that results from switching to other light sources like LED. A significant issue is power factor, which skews load calculations, and the failure mode of some LED lamps that can go stubbornly short circuit, making it tricky to pinpoint the culprit amongst a run of hundreds of lamps.
The best option is probably to divide the lighting into lots of smaller circuits and test new styles of lamp for as long as possible before using them on a parade.
Here's a link to Ben's channel:-
https://www.youtube.com/user/valhalla418
A link to the very impressive Gremlins CC "Day of the Dead" float:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVcb1VIjmKw
A link to the Marketeers CC incredible LED-heavy "Space machine".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Svb-KGBqPk
Here's a list of most of the carnival clubs in the UK to make sure you're on YouTube for most of the night.
British Flag, Cavaliers, Centurion, Cobra, Crusaders, Eclipse, Gemini, Globe, Gremlins, Griffens, Harlequin, Hillview, Hot Rock, Huckyduck, King William, Lime Kiln, Marina Sydenham, Marketeers, Masqueraders, Mendip Vale, Newmarket, Nunsford Nutters, Pentathlon, Ramblers, Renegades, Shambles, Sid Vale, Toppers, Vagabonds, Westonzoyland, Wills, YMCA.
It's particularly interesting to look at older YouTube videos and see how the floats have evolved.
If you enjoy my videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
Aside from the fact that nothing really has the richness and physical radiance of tungsten lamps, there is a whole layer of complexity that results from switching to other light sources like LED. A significant issue is power factor, which skews load calculations, and the failure mode of some LED lamps that can go stubbornly short circuit, making it tricky to pinpoint the culprit amongst a run of hundreds of lamps.
The best option is probably to divide the lighting into lots of smaller circuits and test new styles of lamp for as long as possible before using them on a parade.
Here's a link to Ben's channel:-
https://www.youtube.com/user/valhalla418
A link to the very impressive Gremlins CC "Day of the Dead" float:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVcb1VIjmKw
A link to the Marketeers CC incredible LED-heavy "Space machine".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Svb-KGBqPk
Here's a list of most of the carnival clubs in the UK to make sure you're on YouTube for most of the night.
British Flag, Cavaliers, Centurion, Cobra, Crusaders, Eclipse, Gemini, Globe, Gremlins, Griffens, Harlequin, Hillview, Hot Rock, Huckyduck, King William, Lime Kiln, Marina Sydenham, Marketeers, Masqueraders, Mendip Vale, Newmarket, Nunsford Nutters, Pentathlon, Ramblers, Renegades, Shambles, Sid Vale, Toppers, Vagabonds, Westonzoyland, Wills, YMCA.
It's particularly interesting to look at older YouTube videos and see how the floats have evolved.
If you enjoy my videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
I was thinking lower voltage and resistors to limit current too, although I was thinking somewhat lower than what you talked about. I tend to favor a lot of 12V (or 13.8V) stuff here. I wasn't aware of 60V lamps like you described, but that makes a lot of sense.
Wow! Thanks Clive this took me back to Somerset where i lived from 2001 to 2017 before emigrating. The carnivals and these amazing floats have to be seen to be believed, and the links brought a joyful tear to my eye! (yes i went into the youtube black hole)
Hi Clive. Interesting video. I've learned a bit about power factor thanks to you, AVE and Wikipedia. The latter suggests that power factor can be 'corrected' by using a freewheeling motor, though I'm not sure how practical that is on a carnival float. Is there any scope for running DC with LEDs on carnival floats to get around the problems caused by domestic LED lighting?
Can do you a video explaining power factor please? I'm having a hard time comprehending what it actually is.
That power meter looks beautiful when it's not flickering
I think harmonics could be a real problem here. Your current could go sky high.
If you ever get a chance to go backstage to Disney's (Magic Kingdom) parade barn, take a look at the current Electrical Parade floats.
All Disney parade floats are DC, and run on 12V lead-acid batteries. No liquid fuel of any kind is used in any of the parades.
The electrical parade floats are almost all LED and electroluminescent panels. All the LED's are white, but have different color lenses.
One of the big problems, is the colors fade in sunlight, so the floats have to be kept indoors or under cover during the day…
Am I all messed up? I try to go with transformed dc with most electronics. The whole idea of caps etc and a.c. being so close makes me nervous.
Tangent acquired and ventured upon! thanks BC!
What would i search on Ebay for a HOPI meter¿. I tried searching for a "HOPI Meter and it came up with everything but That Meter
So this may sound like a dumb question, but can't you correct for power factor? Power factor correction for industrial facilities was drilled into us at my college, and that was correcting an inductive load by balancing it with a capacitor. Inductance and capacitance is a dual situation — certainly one could take one of these lamps do the calculation, and pick an appropriate inductor to wire in series?
Some behind the scenes on this channel if u wanna have a look thanks for mentioning are name in the comments