ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Fibre-Optic Lighting

I saw an article in a recent Trade magazine that outlined the new lighting scheme in our National Museum in Wellington "Te Papa".
And it mentioned that most of the lighting used for the exhibit lighting used, a central light source (usually 70-150W Metal Halide) and a whole heap of fibre-optic threads with a coloured head on them to supply different shades of light to the exhibits.
The biggest thing here, was the fact that they wanted no heat to be generated in the exhibit cases, so what better way than this?.
Have any of you guys ever heard of this type of lighting system being used before?.
I reckon, if you wanted to "tart" your Lounge up, this could be the way to do it!.
Considering you could have a motor driven colour-wheel, over the bulb and clear heads poking thru the cieling!.
The ultimate Retro trip.
They reckon that you can drive up to 40-50 heads off a single bulb.
What do you guys think?.

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 01-19-2004).]

It's certainly a system which I think will be exploited more in the future.

I remember my family had one of those decorative fiber optic lights back about 30 years ago. It was just a small flashlight battery with fixed colored gels and a "tree" of fibers, splaying out to form a near-sphere about 6 inches in diameter.

Fiber optic based Christmas tree lights are becoming widelky obtainable now as well -- My friends just bought some this last Christmas with amotorized colored gel to give changing colors.

Trumpy,
I have used fibre optic lighting many times. The earliest was in 1987 for a large Local Council project just outside Belfast. I was very impressed with the finished product and to some extent I am suprised that fibre optic lighting didnt enjoy huge popularity.
Draw back was price back then and the loss of all optics on the failure of a central lamp.
On one relatively recent high profile job we fitted fibre optic cables from a windowless corridor to dome lights. Really useful during even the darker winter days. I dont know about payback but it pushes the right green buttons!

Thanks for your input guys!.
Lyle,
Just reading your post above sprang an idea into my head.
It makes me wonder why this sort of a system isn't used in areas with Hazardous (Explosive) Atmospheres?.
I reckon it would make the ultimate Intrinsically-Safe lighting source, instead of big bulky Flame-Proof fittings.
And with no heat at the fittings either!.