Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Problem with aisle lights

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Posted by Mike Lauber (Member # 1486) on 07-02-2004, 10:51 AM:

I've having a problem with the isle lights going up the steps in 3 out of our 4 stadium Theatres. The lights are controlled by a Luminary L-E Automatic low voltage lighting control. The circuit breaker on the outside of the lighting control breaks instantly upon turning on the lights. However, the lights on the ground and sides remain on. Only the lights going up the stairs will not go on. I don't know if perhaps there could be a short in the wiring somewhere. However, this seems unlikely to have happened in three of the theatres. In the fourth working theatre, the ciruit breaker does not break, and everything works fine. I'm not much of an electrician, but I thought this was perhaps a problem some of you have run into or could help out with. Thanks alot!

Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 07-02-2004, 11:27 AM:

Sometimes the filament inside the bulb itself can cause a short. Sometimes a bulb can be crushed inside the plastic runner and short the filament supports together. A short anywhere inside the plastic runner whether the bulb itself or it's wiring will blow your breaker. You may have to pop the runner cover off and inspect that entire area for bad bulbs/wires/connectors. Time consuming, but needs to be done.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 07-02-2004, 08:24 PM:

Also the possibility does exist that the conductors are dislodged from their channels and can very easily short out.

Pull the caps off and and take a look for something like that. Soft drinks seeping in may have caused corrosion of those dislodged conductors and if they are corroded and touching each other, it maky not cause a problem until there is a start-up surge current. Then they will flash over.

Kind of like how a corroded contact might act in a micro-switch.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 07-03-2004, 12:23 PM:

I've been in the middle of a fight like this for a long time. We have step lights in the balcony.

When customers come in and step on or kick the light strips with their feet or when your housekeeping crew runs over them with the sweepers they get all torn up and start shorting out. Also, if your housekeepers are using too much water when they mop the floors, the water gets inside them and corrodes the wires and contacts, eventually causing a short.

This COULD apperar to happen in more than one theater simultaneously because the damage tends to accumulate over time. If you have, say, 10 houses it's easy to imagine how two of them could develop a problem at the same time.

Do you know where the wires run through the floors/conduits? Get to the junction box(es) and test for shorts with a multimeter. (Beter yet, get your service man to do it!) I would also suggest you go through all your theaters and make sure all the little lamps inside the strips have been replaced and are working. (As much as you can.)

Most stip lighting set-ups are wired in the same fashion as Christmas tree lights. If one goes out the rest stay lit... BUT... the rest of the lights have to take up the extra voltage and/or current. This means that they other lamps are more likely to give out. You get a cascade effect where more and more lamps start blowing, faster and faster. Eventually, you might even end up in a situation where the wires inside the strips overheat and start burning up or shorting out. I have seen this on more than one occasion. Most often in poorly designed systems but I have seen it once in a system where most of the lamps were burned out and nobody ever bother to replace them.

You should always be fastidious about keeping your aisle lights all working. If more than a couple lamps are blown, you should get somebody down there right away to replace them. You will prevent cascade failures like mentioned above. (Furthermore, it keeps your collective hind ends covered in case of a slip & fall lawsuit.)

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 07-03-2004, 12:34 PM:

Does anyone here know the part numbers or where to get replacements for those clear "Tivoli" aisle lights? Those are the kind we use, and they are a row of bulbs inside a plastic strip. Usually 72 or 96 inches long. You can't access the bulbs inside the strip. If one goes out, the strip goes out and you have to replace the whole thing.

These are the really cheap kind of aisle lights that just plug into the wall inside the auditorium. The strips have connectors on each end and "plug" together. The last one has two wires coming from it that attach to two screws on the transformer that plugs into the wall.

These are especially a PAIN to replace, since they fit together so tightly, and years of soda spills fuse them together. So when it's time to replace one, say 6 strips down the line, you have to pull the whole row out to get at the bad one. They're also connected to a breaker upstairs, which would trip when people so much as stepped on them. We've since replaced all the ones in the offending auditorium.

But we're out now. And the ones that were left over in the booth don't have part numbers on them. Just "Tivoli" and I think "10v" on them, but I will check for sure tonight.

=TMP=

Posted by Ron Yost (Member # 1850) on 07-03-2004, 01:51 PM:

Thomas,

Here's a link to Tivoli Lighting, made by Targetti in Italy and distributed by Targetti USA in Southern California.

Tivoli Lighting

They have a lot of product brochures in PDF form online, but I didn't dig deeply enough to find if there's a replacement parts page. They say the lamps are 'easily replaced' .. yeah, right. [Wink]

Ron Yost

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 07-03-2004, 02:25 PM:

Ron -- THANKS SO MUCH!! I found what I needed. [Smile]

=TMP=