Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Aisle lighting

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Topic: Aisle lighting

Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 11-06-2001 08:26 PM

Can anyone recommend a good quality aisle lighting that is DIM? I specify "dim" because most aisle lighting I see is too bright for my tastes (probably for safety reasons).

I wonder, I know there are EXIT signs that glow in the dark...has anyone come out with glow in the dark aisle lighting?

Thanks.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 11-06-2001 08:51 PM

AFAIK, both incandescent and LED aisle lighting can both be dimmed by reducing the current. How that would be done depends upon the type of power supply used. Of course, you would still need to meet all building code and safety regulations.

How do the regulations specify the brightness of aisle lighting and exit signs? Is it an objective measurement (e.g., footlamberts)? Or is it a subjective judgement made by the inspector?

Unpowered "glow in the dark" materials are either energized by being exposed to bright light, or contain radioactive materials. Neither is probably practical for widescale use in a theatre. There ARE electroluminescent "cold light strips" that are powered, and give off a softer glow than LEDs or tungsten lamps.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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William T. Parr
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 823
From: Cedar Park, TX
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 11-06-2001 08:54 PM

Hey Brad,

After you left my theatre Saturday I figured out what the Big Riostats in the booth for each auditorium were. They are for controlling the brightness of the Aisle lighting in the auditorium. a regular house light dimmer will do the same. I had those at the Padre Staples 6 on the Ailse transformer in each auditorium.

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Will Kutler
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1506
From: Tucson, AZ, USA
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 11-06-2001 09:02 PM

Brad-

Century Theaters has an excellent standard Tivoli isle lighting set up for their theaters. They designed them to be controlled by a dimmer switch at the projectionist's window. The lights do burn out and have to be replaced--but I am not sure how often/how much $$. Yes, those lights are wired in parallel. They do a good job of meeting the objective--even if som burn out. Thanks to that dimmer switch, the light intensity can be adjusted. Remember folks, those isle lights are very, very important for insurance reasons-CYA!

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 11-06-2001 09:34 PM

We also use the Tivoli isle lighting, but ours have LED's in them and rarely burn out. At first we would have them dim during the show, but found it was not worth it. Now, we just leave them at the dim setting all the time (we just put a transformer in that gave us the level we liked.) We have pretty good ceiling lighting in our auditoriums during intermission, and those get reduced by half during trailers and ads. So the Tivoli lighting is really not needed until the actual feature is on.

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Greg Mueller
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1687
From: Port Gamble, WA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-06-2001 11:46 PM

I use those rope lights from Costco. I use a step down transformer that I had laying around so that I'm only feeding 50-60 vac out. It's just the right brightness and cheap too

------------------
Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut
http://www.muellersatomics.com/

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 11-07-2001 12:18 AM

Tempo Lighting makes a good aisle lighting product. The bulbs are individually replaceable by simply popping a lens cover off of it (rather than ripping up part of the strip). The name of this particular system is "Tempo Solution." They have a standard dimmer switch in the booth for brightness control.

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Pete Naples
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1565
From: Dunfermline, Scotland
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 11-07-2001 01:56 AM

Over here aisle, exit and maintained lighting if usually fed via one fo those rotary domestic dimmers, you set the level and leave it alone. It is common practice to wire in a contactor that drops out on mains fail or fire alarm, and shorts out the dimmer, raising the lights to full brightness. (These lights are on a battery backed up supply)

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Jonathan M. Crist
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 531
From: Hershey, PA, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 11-07-2001 11:46 AM

Stay away from Permalite. We've had a lot of burnouts (particularly on the long runs from the transformer) and the service after the sale is non-existant. Although I have repeatedly requested replacement bulbs, the answer is that they couldn't have possibly burned out.

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Ron Fleming
Film Handler

Posts: 26
From: Eastlake, OH, USA
Registered: Sep 2001

posted 11-07-2001 04:31 PM

We just remodeled our theatre and installed red LED step lighting with a rotary dimmer. You can set the brightness as you please.

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Will Kutler
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1506
From: Tucson, AZ, USA
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 11-07-2001 05:55 PM

Thank you Ron Fleming for mentioning color. Anyone feel free to correct me if I am wrong, I come to think of it red or amber lights should be used--old night vision trick....

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 11-07-2001 06:07 PM

Will said: "I come to think of it red or amber lights should be used--old night vision trick...."

Yes, since red light does not excite (and fatigue) the rods of the eyes, your dark-accomodated night vision is not lost. Red light would be a good choice to illuminate entrance hallways to an auditorium.
Sounds like you've stood night watch a few times, or are a stargazer.

On the other hand, the eyes are most sensitive in the green portion of the spectrum, so green LEDs can be really dim and still be seen in the dark.

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Don Sneed
Master Film Handler

Posts: 451
From: Texas City, TX, USA
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 11-08-2001 03:56 AM

Hey Brad, Here in Japan they use a solid lighting strip that is a blue/green color, that is bad ass !! it is made by Tivoil, no dim control, but never a complaint...

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Andy Bergstrom
Film Handler

Posts: 44
From: St. Cloud, MN
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 11-09-2001 02:56 PM

LED Inc. out of Henderson, NV makes great aisle lighting products and are very easy to work with. They are excellant at standing behind their product. We use red led with smoked cover. That combo is about the right intensity.

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Gordon Bachlund
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 696
From: Monrovia, CA, USA
Registered: Aug 1999

posted 11-16-2001 09:33 AM

While perusing this thread, I recalled a wonderful house that I patronized in my early teens, the Fox Academy Theater, located at Crenshaw Blvd. and Manchester Blvd. in Inglewood, CA, and I thought some of you might enjoy this reminiscence.

The Academy was designed built in the early 50s as a first run movie theater. Apparently Fox spared no expense to ensure that it represented the latest state of the art, and that the customers knew it!

To begin with, a poster case in the lobby was devoted to technical information for the amazement of patrons, featuring brands and details of projection and sound equipment including photos, and house mechanical details.

While the aisle lighting was the usual code-required style of incandescent fixtures on alternating seat ends, the aisle carpeting had fluorescent dyes in the floral pattern, and recessed UV downlights in the ceiling caused the carpet to glow beautifully when the house lights were dimmed. This made navigating the aisles in the darkened house much easier. The title curtain, when closed, was bathed with slowly moving clouds from an effect projector in the booth.

The architecture featured a tall pylon with a spiral ramp from top to bottom that served both as an architectural feature and for sign maintenance. Vertical neon letters broadcast the name ACADEMY on two sides, and special neon letters that were separately switched spelled the word PREVIEW on nights when new releases were previewed.

This house still stands, albeit serving as a church. The original curved marquee’s ACADEMY lettering remains, though the marquee letters now spell out service times and other pertinent information.

Truly this was a theater where the spirit of showmanship reigned supreme!

“Those WERE the days.”

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