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Peppers

I have some small Peppers (100 watt). I recently saw something that listed them as 100W/200W Peppers.

Anybody every tried a bulb larger than 100 watts in one of these small peppers?

Blain Brown
DP
LA

>Anybody every tried a bulb larger than 100 watts in one of these small >peppers?

I regularly use 100W, 150W, & 200W (FEV) in my Pepper 100's.

They get hot as a volcano , but no damage.

Bill Maheras
Director/DP
Sight & Sound Studios, LLC
Honolulu, Hawaii

Yes, 2 out of my 3 "100W" Peppers are configured w/200W lamps....perfect for corporate work, etc.

Don Daso
ACME Film & Video
Charlotte NC

Blain,

Go here:

http://www.ltmlighting.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=83&lastcatid=40&step=4

The Pepper 100, is for some reason I never understood, actually a 100 OR 200W unit. And Yet LTM also makes a 200W Pepper - The Pepper 200.

This has always led to confusion when renting if I've forgotten to specify that I wanted the Pepper 100, but with the 200W bulb. The Pepper 200 just has a slightly larger fresnel. On a unit of this size I'm not sure it could matter. But I have always used the 100 lamped at 200W

Randy "becoming more of a fan of the Arri 150 every day" Miller, DP in LA

>Anybody every tried a bulb larger than 100 watts in one of these small >peppers?

That's the way mine are set up, as 200 w. They work, they get very hot and they are more susceptible to needing repairs, things like wiring and the spot flood mechanism are vulnerable to the increased heat.

Mark Smith
Oh Seven Films
143 Grand St
Jersey City, NJ 07302

Any fixture that can take an FEV-type bulb can also be turned into a 12v unit. Ushio makes the JC bulb, which is a 12, 125w bulb that fits that socket. I keep a little kit that includes them plus a couple of adapters I wired for going from the Edison plug on the fixture to a 4-pin XLR or cigarette lighter plug.

Great for car rigs and other times that only 12v power is available.

Mitch Gross
NYC DP

Re running Peppers at 125 watt 12 Volt D.C.

How does the on- off switch, lamp base and associated wiring go pulling 10.5 amps D.C. instead of the usual <2 amps A.C.

I hired a bunch of 200w Peppers on a Picture ...found out why they are called peppers....boy do they get hot.

I don't know if we had a bad batch of replacement globes or they just got too hot. The globes would explode...with some regularity flattening the reflector.

The associated loud bang certianly was impressive...I don't know if this is normal as my usual kit consists of Deodos or Arri 150's.

Graham Rutherford
Gaffer
Australia

>Re running Peppers at 125 watt 12 Volt D.C.
>How does the on- off switch, lamp base and associated wiring go >pulling 10.5 amps D.C. instead of the usual <2 amps A.C.

That shouldn't be a problem, 10 amps can easily be managed by the 1.5mm leads in that short distance.

>I don't know if we had a bad batch of replacement globes or they just >got too hot. The globes would explode ...with some regularity flattening >the reflector.

In my experience globes do explode on the Peppers, which is very annoying for actors and the psychological well being of the crew, and that is reason enough to avoid them. If Dedo's can't be afforded, Inkys will do, and if the Inkys are too large, it is better to have the lower wattage globes on the Peppers, and to make certain that they are installed upright so as not to impair their already poor ventilation.

By the way, they produce a not very even beam and a tremendous amount of spill light (which is quite visible and troublesome in the low light situations where we normaly use them). Get plenty of blackwrap ready along with the peppers.

Victor Lefelman
Gaffer

I must admit that I don't really use the Pepper fixture too much, relyinh more on Inkies or Arri 150s. I've also wired some bare sockets to leads to stick into tight spaces. I found some glass cylingers that I can drop around them and e-tape into place.

Keeps things safe and I can even wrap diffusion around them, all in a 2" area. Never had a problem with burning out wiring, even when using zip cord.

Mitch Gross
NYC DP

>Get plenty of blackwrap ready along with the peppers.

...but bring ear plugs and safety goggles, as they tend to explode when you don't give the heat enough space to dissipate.

Never wrap blackwrap all around a lamp or along the top fans.

Carolina Schmidtholstein
Lighting Technician London

Carolina Schmidtholstein wrote:

>...but bring ear plugs and safety goggles, as they tend to explode when >you don't give the heat enough space to dissipate.

I've had my peppers for 14 years and never had any 200 bulbs explode. And there have been numerous times I have black wrapped the be-jesus out of them.

Mark Smith

Are you plugging 120 bulbs into 220?

I've never heard of a pepper doing that.

Art Adams, DP [film|hdtv|sdtv]
Mountain View, California - "Silicon Valley"
http://www.artadams.net/

Graham Rutherford writes :

>The globes would explode ...with some regularity flattening the reflector >The associated loud bang certianly was impressive...I don't know if this >is normal as my usual kit consists of Deodos or Arri 150's.

I used to hire LTM peppers for small jobs until I kitted myself out with Dedos in the 150 as well as the 650 varieties. The LTMs would often go through three and four bulbs in a day at Aus$65 each. I soon learned to switch on, focus and walk away. Once these were hot, you were asking for it....dreadful lamps.

Nick Paton
Director of Photography
Brisbane, Australia
www.npdop.com

>The LTMs would often go through three and four bulbs in a day at >AU$65 each. I soon learned to switch on, focus and walk away.

I wonder whether the 230v globes are less robust than the 114v. globes we use here in the US?

I am not a pepper lover, (except in food) but I have not had the regular explosion experience that some of you have had.

Mark Weingartner
LA based

Mark wrote:

>I wonder whether the 230v globes are less robust than the 114v. globes
>we use here in the US?

It seems that Mark struck the right chord about the Peppers, it seems that only americans (and probably other 110V people) are happy with their Peppers while the rest or the world (220V) suffer their explosions, ergo the 220V globes available are bad quality.

As for the Pepper in food, please remember that "hot" (like almost every other taste except sweet) is a learned taste, once you learn it is like an open door to tastes, not a barrier. Some of the best cuisines make extensive use of it; see Mexican and Thai.

Bon apetit and thank you for solving the Pepper controversy.

Victor Lefelman
Gaffer

>I wonder whether the 230v globes are less robust than the 114v. globes
>we use here in the US?

That might be it. The globes in my peppers run as long as those in my
Arris...at least, I haven't noticed a pattern.

>I am not a pepper lover

I like 'em. Mainly because they're small enough that I can fly a kit wherever I need. Of course, I'm mostly lighting simple interviews and such. (anything fancy and I get someone who knows what they're doing). But they sure get hot and take a long time to cool off...

Jim Feeley
POV Media
http://www.povmedia.com

Victor Lefelman writes :

>It seems that Mark sttroke the right chord about the Peppers, it seems >that only americans (and probably other 110V people) are happy with >their Peppers while the rest or the world (220V) suffer their explosions, >ergo the 220V globes available are bad quality.

They're not necessarily bad quality, it's just that the thinner filament is more prone to rapid failure and the higher voltage increases the risk of an internal arc through the spray of metal vapour from the ends of a ruptured filament. If an arc forms, then the higher voltage also ensures that a suitably high current will pass through it for the most destructive effect.

Clive Mitchell
http://www.bigclive.com

Indeed I've not heard of such "explosive" results with the Peppers. I don't
know if these lights I've got are specifically Peppers or what. I think they might be Altman. They're two very small, very poorly engineered fresnels in brown octagonal casings that take the two-post 100-200w globes (I forget the codes - FEV?). The globe movement is by simply loosening a nut and sliding it. They get incredibly hot and fry the wiring often enough, but I've never gone through an excessive number of globes or had them explode on me.

Overall, they tend to serve their purpose o.k. being a small light that can be rigged into cramped spaces to create a small spot -o- light.

I did have a globe explode in an Ultralight Tweenie one time and shatter the fresnel. That was scary.

Even scarier was when a 1200 w Sealed Par64 HMI globe exploded...
but kept burning.

Eeeek!

Roderick Stevens
Az. D.P.
www.restevens.com
12on12off

I've been waiting for someone to mention this, but so far no one has. IMHO the most common reason by far that globes explode is not from black wrapping them too tightly or for any other reason other than someone touched the bulb with their bare hand and didn't clean the oils off the glass before using it. By design, you have to hold the glass of an FEV to install it in the lamp.

A tissue with some alcohol or the little pre-packaged alcohol swabs will remove the oils, but it's better is to use gloves or hold the glass with paper around it so you never get oils on it to begin with. I've been using peppers with FEV's for years and don't recall any explosions. Maybe the reason that they don't explode in some of the other fixtures is that they don't burn quite hot enough to make the oil residues cause the globe to fail.

My two cents.

Paul Szopa
D.P.
Los Angeles

>I wonder whether the 230v globes are less robust than the 114v. globes >we use here in the US?

I know that low-voltage lamps are more robust because the filaments are shorter. That's one of the reasons that they're so long-lived even in a rough application like an automobile. Expanding this logic, are the 230V globe filaments even longer than the 120V? It makes sense that they would be, and that this would also make them more subject to damage. Chime in if you know for sure.

As far as "Peppers" are concerned, I thought that they were a great idea when they first came out. They were a big improvement over the open-faced lights that were the scourge of portable lighting kits at the time. (I never liked the Inkies with 200 Watt FEV lamps since they're only rated for 50 hours life) Then the Arri fresnels appeared with better lamps (not to mention Dedo). It was like the difference between a Yugo and a BMW. (The Usual Disclaimer: I have no connection to any of the companies mentioned)

Bruce Aleksander
LD+ Whatever it takes today
ABC / Disney
Houston, Texas