|
Ask Elvis"Understand this, truth is like the sun. You can shut it out
for a time, but it ain't goin' away. So when things go wrong don't go with them.
Do what's right for you, as long as it don't hurt no one. If you're still lost
have a look see if I can help you out. But don't criticize what you don't
understand, son. You never walked in that man's shoes.”
So er, yes by this we’re pretty sure Elvis means he’ll answer any questions you have whether it involves lighting or not.
So ask away and we’ll ensure the King’s answers are posted here (and possibly rephrased or rewritten to make more sense).
Please note that Lighting Styles accepts no responsibility for claims of The Kings' continued existance, nor liability for any advice given.
"Thank you very much". |
|
|
|
|
|
Asked by Anon |
Hey Elvis I wish to wire up my soffits with maybe upto ten 12 volt one watt LED GU10 bulbs, controlled by a `Eterna` photocell timer fed from a fused spur in my garage. I have a `Landlite` 50Hz / 1.67A / 20VA Transformer with only 6 strange feed holes. My questions are as follows - Is this transformer suitable ? If not what transformer do I need ? Do I need & what is an LED `driver` ? And finally how on earth do I wire the soffit lights ? I assume each one does not require separate wiring back to the transformer as I would need miles of wiring. Can I run a wire to one which continues to the next & so on before terminating at the final furthest light or do I need to loop back to the transformer ? Were you really involved in the May '72 Watergate raid? Please advise Mr King!
Oh questions questions and as I have worked for the man I can’t give too much information about that nice ‘ole hotel. But I will say that the room service is very fast with lots of well suited staff running around and opening doors without using keys!
As for your dilemma... GU10 lamps need mains voltage so you won’t need a transformer or LED driver. LED “drivers” are either constant current i.e. 350 or 700 ma or constant voltage i.e. 12v or 24v DC power supplies. Your Landlite transformer is more than likely 12v AC so it won’t kill yah but it’ll break most of the more “complicated” LED lamps. You need to run your cable out in “parallel” so wire live and neutral to the terminal block on the first lamp holder and loop out the wiring (both live and neutral) to the next light.
|
|
Asked by Lisa |
Hi Thinking of getting the switched spotlights and wondered Elvis
if they would be safe for my kiddywinks, ya know what they are like
for sticking sticky fingers where they shouldn't!! Are they low heat
as the old fashioned one's we have inherited from the previous home
owner get mighty hot?? Love ya work x
Hi Lisa, I’ve not been around a lot lately to answer y’alls questions but I got yours and thought it was about time I posted again. If we’re talking about ‘Adjustable Wall Spot – 4 Fantastic Colours’ the amount of room between the lamp and the housing is about a millimetre so y’all got virtually no hope of getting little fingers, jelly sandwiches or anything else jammed in there. I know what yuh mean about them lights, some of them are hotter than the sun. Because the compact fluorescent lamps in these luminaires run cooler than tungsten or halogen they are less likely to burn although remember they are NOT cold to touch and could still end in tears.
|
|
Asked by Jane |
Dear Elvis, it was very kind to send us a catalogue (Volume 2) from beyond the grave. I may well Ebay it for a high price. We found some great lights for our new wall but it has no price list and the lights aren't on your website. Searching for a code or name is worse than useless. When I typed Simplew I got fibreoptic Christmas trees, which you must admit is dispiriting. Could you send us a price list or a link to the Secret Website that has reference to the catalogue? Thanks for the music, man.
Jane, I’ve got a new friend arrived here a couple of weeks ago and it’s breaking my wooden heart seeing him like this, missing his tour and all so I’ll keep this short and sweet. The price list is available to download from the catalogue order page here. Just look down at the bottom of the page and you should see the link.
The fitting y’all are after is on the website as ‘simple-white’ and are here.
|
|
Asked by Sidney |
Hi Elvis, give it to me straight on energy efficiency. If I dim my lights to 50% output do I save half on electricity costs or are there "losses" somewhere that mean I'm using more? I read on a forum somewhere that dimming doesn't save any energy - this isn't true is it? Lastly can you tell me why anyone would want to be a politician?
Sid, y’all don’t mind if I call you Sid do you? When I was a kid we had some dimmers but back then we had what they called rheostats which didn’t save any energy, when you dimmed down your lights they just ‘wasted’ the extra energy by changing it into heat. These days you folks have what they call Triac switches in your dimmers. These work by switching your lights on and off real quick, and I mean REAL quick …. up to 120 times a second. Your eyes can’t register this fast switching, they just kinda mush it all up into about 20 frames a second. This means that when the switching is slower, say 60 times a second the Triac is off for longer which makes the light appear dimmer and saves you energy. In fact a Triac switched dimmer running a light at 50% output can save you up to 40% on energy and increase the lamp life.
Why would anyone want to be a politician? Well there are some questions that even I can’t answer.
|
|
Asked by Jesus |
Hey Elvis, I got a tiny bathroom with no natural lighting. Yeah, I cut myself shaving all the time. I knew you were going to ask that. So I'm thinking of fitting some SELV downlighters.
How do I calculate how many I need and where do I space them in the
ceiling for best lighting? Thanks buddy.
Howdy buddy! How many lights? Surely there was only the one, I’ve sure seen it! Anyway, a little less conversation a little more action.
Light output is measured in lumens and illuminance in lux. 1 lux is 1 lumen per square metre and in most areas y’all want to be looking for average illuminance of about 400 lux. Still with me? Well a low voltage downlight (like you’re talking about) has an efficacy of about 16 which means it outputs 16 lumens per watt. That means a 50W lamp is going to output about 800 lumens which in a room space is going to be enough to light 2 square metres effectively. So the basic rule is take your room size in square meters and divide it by two to work out how many lights.
So if y’all want to light up a room that is 5m x 4m you need 10 lights for illuminance but for best distribution of light you probably want a grid of 4 lights by 3 lights totalling 12 as the ratio is more in keeping with the room, inset these from the walls by 500mm. Now 12 lights might be a little too much light, so either step down to a 35W lamp or install the lights on a dimmer.
|
|
Asked by Luke |
What are the main differences between the Dirac and Schrodinger equations of quantum mechanics?
Luke, my relativistic quantum mechanical wave equations are a bit rusty but subjects of the theoretical, physical and/or meta-physical are all just fine. Dirac’s take on quantum theory was to define a solution based on a statistical or indeterministic interpretation which was in fact an extension on the Pauli Equation and led to making the discovery of the positron, or the antiparticle of the electron. This theory pretty much unliked by many in the field of quantum mechanics including Einstein and Schrödinger. The thang is Schrödinger’s own theory predated Dirac and was based on a deterministic interpretation of how an electron would behave if it were assumed to be a wave surrounding a nucleus. He treated electrons as waves with each electron having a unique wavefunction and these were to be later called ‘Schrödinger Equation’ in his honour, but I kinda digress. Dirac’s analogy was to that of satellites orbiting a planet, Schrödinger’s to waves, one deterministic one indeterministic, and that my friend is the fundamental difference between the theories.
Hell, I'm just doing the best I can, personally I’m more of a fan of economic theory and Nash. Or maybe it was just that Jennifer Connelly as his burning love. Undoubtedly a position the families of both Dirac and Schrödinger identify with …. a universal constant if y’all like.
|
|
Asked by Paul |
Does a humanitarian only eat people?
Paul my man, that is a good question. I like the premise ... if a vegetarian only eats vegetables then for sure a humanitarian must only eat humans? Personally I think they should only be eating vegans.
|
|
Asked by Shaun |
Why am I dying to live, if I'm only living to die?
Well Shaun, that's a little deep for a Monday morning but I'll give it a shot. Have you ever thought ... Why am I trying to see, when there aint nothing in sight? Or maybe, why I am I trying to give, when no one gives me a try?
2Pac and Biggie here on the other side are gonna get might unhappy if I keep on using all their lyrics so my advise to y'all is this. You either get busy livin', or you get busy dyin'.
|
|
Asked by Danny |
I am working on a Lutron lighting scheme.I have also worked on Leax and Mode. Which is the best system and why?
Ohhhh Danny boy .... I reckon you're gunna be needin' a three sided Dime my friend. It's all gunna come down to personal preference and the throw of coin.
Let me put it another way. Would you rather drive round in one of your Octavia's or in a Passat? They're both the same Vee-Doubleya car really, it's just one has the VW badge and one has the Skoda badge. It's the name and the price that makes your choice. Lutron, Leax and Mode is the same sorta thing, it's the same kinda control system just badged up differently.
|
|
Asked by Vradulla |
I have recessed halogen lights on the kitchen ceiling and i am not happy with it, it is always dark. We have an old house and the ceilngs are quite high. Do you have any suggestions?
Vradulla my heart bleeds for yuh…kitchens should be bright cos you’re doing alkindsa important work in there.
The 2 bit version of this answer is replace your mains halogen lamps with wide flood (60 degree) 12v halogen lamps - you’ll reduce the amount of shadows, (but they never were the same after Cliff Richard left), and get more light per watt of electrixity.
The long answer involves looking at how yo’w’l brain interprets the signals from your eyes. Yousee in a well lit room you should be able to completely close out the outside so no light comes in, and if the lighting is right you can stay in there for many hours without your mind telling yah to get the hell out or go to sleep. A well lit room should represent the sky.. the ceiling should be brighter than the walls and the walls should be brighter than the floor. If you’ve just got downlights shining down the ceilings gonna be dark and so are the walls – the floor may be bright as hell but you don’t look at the floor when you’re making a hot peanut butter and banana sandwich, in my place (of rest, we assume – Ed) I gotta keep an eye on my fingers!.
So try to get more light up on the ‘ole ceiling with recessed lights with drop glasses or install surface mounted lighting that gives some upwards light or supplement your existing lighting with some drop pendants. Get some light onto your walls, cupboards and artwork and revel in the reflected light.
|
|
Asked by T Jones |
In space could anyone hear me scream?
Well hi there Terry. Anyone from the Ridley Scott school of thinking knows that “In space no-one can hear you scream” and he ain’t tellin’ no lies. Screams, or anything that we would call sound, are actually just vibrations in the air that are interpreted by our ears. Space is a big ‘ole vacuum and if you ain’t got no air then you ain’t got no vibrations. Now, there are some gasses in space and yes these can propagate sound just like earth air. The difference is that interstellar gas clouds are much less dense than the Earth's atmosphere. So if a sound wave was travelling through a big gas cloud in space and we were out there listenin’, only a few atoms per second would impact our eardrum, and we wouldn't be able to hear the sound because our ears aren't sensitive enough. Maybe if we had a huge microphone or some big 'ole ears we could detect these sounds, but to our human ear it would be silent.
So it's not true that no sound can travel through space, but it is true that humans would not be able to hear you scream.
|
|
Asked by L Parker |
Where did swallows nest before there were houses?
Well Leigh, I’m sure glad you asked. Swallows nest in Europe, Asia, and Africa as well as America. Originally, they nested in caves, hollowed-out crevices beneath tree roots on cliffs and banks, and places like that but when folk started building structures, swallows immediately started taking advantage of them. Swallows don't compete with humans for food, and humans quickly noticed that swallows eat mosquitoes and other flying insects, so folk liked sharing their homes with them. Some cultures even believe that swallows nesting on a house bring good luck. As humans spread to more and more places and built larger and larger settlements, swallows increased right along with them.
Nowadays nesting structures are easy for swallows to find. They have more trouble finding flying insects now that a lot of folk use pesticides. But as long as there are mosquitoes, houses, and barns, there will be Swallows.
|
|
Asked by K Bates |
You once said that we could do anything but lay offya' blue suede shoes but can I operate 12v lamps without transformers?
You know sometimes saving a few bucks can cost you a lot of time, effort money. Yes you can use 12v lamps on a mains circuit without a transformer you’d need to wire them in series (what some folks would call “daisy chain circuits”)…
Wiring 20 lamps in series creates a larger version of the fairy lights used on a Christmas tree with double insulated cable, earth straps and high amp cables!
What’s more it will operate like a set of Christmas tree lights – if one lamp blows all lamps go out and you need to find the failed lamp. If you’re lucky you’ll replace the right lamp first time, if not it could be the 20th lamp. If two lamps have failed you could be there all day.
Seriously do not try this – just argue the point at the pub but don’t ever consider doing this. The guys at Lighting Styles would put me back in that padded room if you tried this out and you or your next of kin came back to complain.
|
|
Asked by J Langford |
I want to fit recessed lighting in my bathroom whaichy has a plastic suspended ceiling. I find that the lights I have melt the ceiling, any tips to stop this happening?
“Well there's a crack across the ceiling We're gonna find us a better home “ That’s a line from “Were Gonna Move” you know. Well Uh it sure sound like somebody in your home put up a suspended ceiling to hide the cracks! Huh huh so if you have a suspended ceiling that’s melting it sound like you have acrylic diffuser inlaid panels and acrylic or Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as it is known to it’s friends, has a melting point of 130-140 °C (265-285 °F). So simply put make sure you use light fittings with an “F Mark”. These are tested to ensure that the fittings (where they touch the mounting surface) do not exceed 80 °C making them suitable for mounting in or on a flammable surface. Short answer… do not use cheap pressed metal downlights as the bezel gets too hot, use die-cast low voltage fittings with dichroic lamps or use compact fluorescent downlights. Easy huh!
|
|
Asked by A Nonymous |
What is a shade?
Well that kinda depends where you're stood. Shade is a natural phenomenon which occurs when the sun goes in or you move behind a tree or building.
A shade is also a piece of glass or fabric that covers the lamp (bulb) and sits on a light fitting.
|
