What the difference between molefay, mole cool, and mole par

Max Moosbrugger · December 22, 2020

I’m considering buying a mole Richardson tungsten based lighting setup. I like to say for the record I’m not wanting this to turn into a debate ant tungsten vs LED as I’m already feeling overwhelmed with technical terms and whatnot?. I seeking clarification on some of mole Richardson’s lighting terms, particularly

-molefay

-molequartz

-mole cool

- mole par

what do these terms mean and how do they correlate with one another. I can assume mole par is their line of parcan lights, but then what does molefay mean cause all their molefay lights just look like smaller mole pars.

Max Moosbrugger · December 22, 2020

By the way, the model I’m considering purchasing is either the mole Richardson 4711 or possibly 4721

Ed Conley · December 22, 2020

Wattage.

Fay= 650 watt globes
Par - 1000 watt globes

they are both 'Mole Quartz

David Mullen ASC · December 22, 2020

A FAY is a 650W tungsten PAR36 globe with dichroic coatings to convert it to daylight.

A Molepar uses a 1000W tungsten PAR64 globe but no extension tube in front, which would make it a PARCAN.

Usually a Molefay uses a bank of FAY globes but they also sold a single globe version.

PARs are sealed beam units like a car headlamp.

A Molequartz is not a sealed unit, it is a reflector dish with a separate quartz-halogen bulb in the center. I think a Molecool had blue glass in front to turn the tungsten light closer to daylight.

Ed Conley · December 22, 2020

Those two fixtures seem to be old stock numbers.

Mole Cool- Older style par 600 watts

David Mullen ASC · December 22, 2020

FAYs are PARs. FAY is a General Electric label I believe but I don't know what it stands for, if it technically refers to the connector or not.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/832913-REG/General_Electric_41668_FAY_Lamp_650W_120V.html

We had a discussion here 15 years ago on the topic:

Max Moosbrugger · December 22, 2020

2 hours ago, Ed Conley said:

Wattage.

Fay= 650 watt globes
Par - 1000 watt globes

they are both 'Mole Quartz

Thanks you very much this is just what I needed.

David Mullen ASC · December 23, 2020

All their tungsten lamps use quartz halogen bulbs -- PARs, fresnels, etc. -- so the "Molequartz" label is a bit unnecessary. Sort of dates back to 1959 when the industry started switching over to halogen bulbs:

http://www.historyoflighting.net/light-bulb-history/history-of-halogen-lamps/

Again, FAYs are PARs -- they are 650W PAR36 globes instead of 1K PAR64 globes.

Max Moosbrugger · December 23, 2020

2 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

A FAY is a 650W tungsten PAR36 globe with dichroic coatings to convert it to daylight.

A Molepar uses a 1000W tungsten PAR64 globe but no extension tube in front, which would make it a PARCAN.

Usually a Molefay uses a bank of FAY globes but they also sold a single globe version.

PARs are sealed beam units like a car headlamp.

A Molequartz is not a sealed unit, it is a reflector dish with a separate quartz-halogen bulb in the center. I think a Molecool had blue glass in front to turn the tungsten light closer to daylight.

I see now thank you very much Mr. Mullen. Would this mean that a mole cool would be difficult to convert to tungsten use. Ik I can just gel it but would the output loss be, given the main reason I’m purchasing this is given the lights large output.

David Mullen ASC · December 23, 2020

I would avoid the MoleCool and MoleFay, tungsten filtered to daylight is not energy efficient.

Max Moosbrugger · December 23, 2020

No I’m wondering whether I would need to filter a mole cool light in order for it to be tungsten. U said something about a glass coating that turns the color temp Closer to daylight. If this is the case then should I avoid molecools as the goal is too have a tungsten light source with a lot of output

David Mullen ASC · December 23, 2020

Yes, if you want 3200K, avoid the MoleCool and MoleFAY. Otherwise you are filtering a light from 5600K to 3200K that is already being filtered from 3200K to 5600K. That's a lot of lost output.

Phil Rhodes · December 23, 2020

12 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

FAYs are PARs. FAY is a General Electric label I believe but I don't know what it stands for, if it technically refers to the connector or not.

It's an ANSI code. It doesn't particularly stand for anything, but it does imply a few things about the bulb, including (if I remember correctly) the size, power level, dichroic coating and ferrule connectors. The non-filtered tungsten version would be FCX.

I've long been looking for an authoritative list of these codes but have never been able to find one. I don't know what the ANSI standard number is for it and it resists googling. More or less everything has an ANSI code; for instance, EGT is a 1kW tungsten-halogen bulb with G22 base that would fit a conventional fresnel. A lot of the PAR36 types (that is, four and a half inches diameter) seem to begin F, but then you'd expect FCX to differ only in one letter as the only thing that's different between FCX and FAY is the presence of a dichroic coating. I have no idea what if any rationale is behind it.

The live events industry (and even parts of the film industry) has a tendency to refer to anything that's an array of sealed-beam lamps as a FAY, even when it's a bunch of 1kW PAR64s, which is of course not really correct.

P

Ed Conley · December 23, 2020

Max,

what is your budget for buying some tungsten lights?

Do you want a Par style for particular lighting effect? or do you just want some 650 and 1k Tungsten?