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Redhead bulbs exploding and potential eye damage


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Hi there, I'm lighting with a combination of LED lighting and 800w redheads, and the latter have proved unfortunately volatile. I've had a few issues with exploding bulbs, and just wanted to know if they could pose dangerous in terms of eye damage for anyone in front of the light? The redheads themselves prevent glass from escaping but the explosions are quite bright. Obviously I don't want them to explode, I'm taking all the precautions to handle the lights carefully and only ever move the bulbs with gloves, but incidents can happen.

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You should always have a safety glass on the front of Redheads, that will retain any exploding material from the bulb. With that fitted the main effect is surprise or shock from the bang. I'd go for the glass over the safety wire meshes because any small particles will be retained inside the light housing.

 

The only time I've seen a problem is when a safety glass wasn't fitted, although no damage was done, a hot bulb isn't the best for the carpet or landing in someone's lap.

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....800w redheads...... I've had a few issues with exploding bulbs... The redheads themselves prevent glass from escaping but the explosions are quite bright.

Are you using the best quality bulbs? Are you ever using the lights in a way that limits heat disipation. In an enclosure, or pointed straight at the ground for example.

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Of course the other reason for having glass in front of something like that is that quartz halogen bulbs (which a redhead uses) have high enough energy to emit quite a bit of UV even under normal operating conditions. Many kinds of plain glass behave as at least something of a UV stop filter.

 

P

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Safety glass is supplied by the manufacturer, so you'd buy it from whoever you bought the light from or from the manufacturer's main agent in Australia. It's usually listed in the catalogue.

 

Redhead has become a generic term, originally it was a design of film light by Ianiro and the term was used for that unit, but now a number of manufacturers sell using that name. I assume it was never trademarked, the light was originally given that name by British film crews, while Ianiro refers to it as the Varibeam or the Ianebeam, not Redhead..

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I'd be worried that sealing up a redhead or a blond with glass would generate enormous heat that would actually blow the bulb. Maybe I'm wrong. Fresnels obviously have enough venting through the top but those smaller hotlights sometimes dont cause the front is open face. But always make sure that wire mesh or a scrim is used.

 

Red heads generally aren't used for talent. You light background and the set with those open face lights and use fresnels or flourescents on subjects. Both of those are more pleasing visually and offer more control than open face units.

Edited by Michael LaVoie
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The safety glass is a standard accessory on redheads provided by the manufacturers, I've got it in my Redheads and Blondes and the bulb life is usually close to what the manufacturers claim..

 

Redheads get used for all types of lighting situations, especially in documentaries, often with diffusion, a chimera or for bouncing light into reflectors. Their wide beam comes in useful in those situations.

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