Lighting that goes across the front on a tent?

My tent setup is like a jewelry counter and right now I use a number of whose bendable walmart lights with CFL's in them. It's ok, but I've seen some of those high powered jewelry lights where they have just a couple and it BLOWS my lighting away. It's like night and day! (puns!)

I was wondering if there are some go-to brands or products that are highly recommended? The last show I was at I asked the guy about his lights but he couldn't remember and only said it was from a jewelry show and told me the type of bulb but that led me nowhere.

What I imagined was something like a track light that I can easily just strap up top. I use an EZ UP right now but recently bought a Trimline.

Another thing I was worried about was energy efficiency, but it seems like that is a non issue because a few shows I've paid a seemingly outrageous $50 for electricity even though I was using 6 CFL bulbs. I can't imagine if they were those hot bulbs it would matter.

What I had been thinking is ideal is something like these http://www.direct-lighting.com/track-lighting/kits/halogen/line-voltage-kit-2543FC but obviously it needs a regular plug. Of course, being bright is the most important so I'm not sure on the number of bulbs I would need. Like I said I saw this one jewelry booth and it was 2 lights and bright as day! Really caught your eye as you move around.

I'd like to get a track of LED directional spots and floods since that technology is finally coming into its own and going down in price. They are still expensive, but bulbs could last more than 10 years each when burned for 16 hours per weekend. They're at least $20 per bulb since you'll want to get one with the highest lumens possible. A typical 100 watt incandescent will burn at about 1600 lumens. So keep lumens output in mind when shopping. The wattage used by LED's is considerably lower, like 17 watts or something to burn that many lumens. So 10 lights uses less than 200 watts! This is all very recent technology, mind you. That means marine batteries don't have to be recharged until after the show, or that you won't need to employ more than one marine battery during a show.

Just go to Home Depot and look at LED options and their lumens output. I think this is a no- brainer, really. I don't know if one particular brand is that much better than another. If you have a data plan on your cell or you have an ipad with plan, you can read reviews while you're in the store.

Another option for me since I'm 2D is buying LED's for my picture lights that I already own. If I have six single bulb lights for small works and 6 double bulb lights for large works, I've got 18 LED bulbs burning 6 watts at 500 lumens each, or something like that. They don't have to be as bright since they are directly on the work and close to it. But that fact may also be what you are responding to where jewelers are concerned. The lights might be very close to their work, so they appear to really blast the work with bright light. Move those same lights two to four more feet away and the brightness really diminishes.

A funny story about show lighting... We were at Brookside some years ago, and the photog couple next to us seemed to have more money than sense. These folks completely enclosed their display within their tent with black fabric and paneling so that outside daylight couldn't be seen inside from any direction. They ran a track of hot halogen lights through the center of their booth and powered it throughout the days with four marine batteries they had nestled in one of those garden carts with big knobby wheels. They had a small motorized utility tractor with which they wheeled all of their wares out of a large Wells Cargo trailer attached to their dually-clad pickup. Needless to say, their equipment and gear had equipment and gear. None of this went over very well despite it being quite the spectacle. During show hours, while the man photog hand-colored his B&W photos, the woman was packaging the things in recently delivered clear bags--all happening just several feet in front of their booth so SHE could regulate the in and out traffic flow through hell and back. He never looked up or payed attention to anyone but his narcissistic inner child.

Replies

Alison Thomas February 4, 2015 at 9:52am

I recently bought some of the new lights that pro panels offers and I really liked them. I already had some 7W LED lights that I used with them. You do need to have pro panels for them to work. I had originally planned to use 4 of my bulbs and ended up using only two.
Barrie Lynn Bryant February 4, 2015 at 8:44am

I'd like to get a track of LED directional spots and floods since that technology is finally coming into its own and going down in price. They are still expensive, but bulbs could last more than 10 years each when burned for 16 hours per weekend. They're at least $20 per bulb since you'll want to get one with the highest lumens possible. A typical 100 watt incandescent will burn at about 1600 lumens. So keep lumens output in mind when shopping. The wattage used by LED's is considerably lower, like 17 watts or something to burn that many lumens. So 10 lights uses less than 200 watts! This is all very recent technology, mind you. That means marine batteries don't have to be recharged until after the show, or that you won't need to employ more than one marine battery during a show.

Just go to Home Depot and look at LED options and their lumens output. I think this is a no- brainer, really. I don't know if one particular brand is that much better than another. If you have a data plan on your cell or you have an ipad with plan, you can read reviews while you're in the store.

Another option for me since I'm 2D is buying LED's for my picture lights that I already own. If I have six single bulb lights for small works and 6 double bulb lights for large works, I've got 18 LED bulbs burning 6 watts at 500 lumens each, or something like that. They don't have to be as bright since they are directly on the work and close to it. But that fact may also be what you are responding to where jewelers are concerned. The lights might be very close to their work, so they appear to really blast the work with bright light. Move those same lights two to four more feet away and the brightness really diminishes.

A funny story about show lighting... We were at Brookside some years ago, and the photog couple next to us seemed to have more money than sense. These folks completely enclosed their display within their tent with black fabric and paneling so that outside daylight couldn't be seen inside from any direction. They ran a track of hot halogen lights through the center of their booth and powered it throughout the days with four marine batteries they had nestled in one of those garden carts with big knobby wheels. They had a small motorized utility tractor with which they wheeled all of their wares out of a large Wells Cargo trailer attached to their dually-clad pickup. Needless to say, their equipment and gear had equipment and gear. None of this went over very well despite it being quite the spectacle. During show hours, while the man photog hand-colored his B&W photos, the woman was packaging the things in recently delivered clear bags--all happening just several feet in front of their booth so SHE could regulate the in and out traffic flow through hell and back. He never looked up or payed attention to anyone but his narcissistic inner child.

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