PARcan graveyard.

I feel bad about this. These weathered old PARcans have seen duty in many hundreds of runs of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. But now the time has come to weed out the older battered ones and replace them with 50 NOS (New Old Stock) genuine Thomas Engineering units.
It may seem strange that we use such old, hot and power-hungry light in this day and age, but they are used for several reasons.
They provide an even wash of rich full spectrum light independently of the automated lights.
They offer a means to provide illumination backup in the unlikely event of a full control system failure.
They will be first to recover in the event of a power disruption.
They provide a camera friendly wash of light when the show is being filmed for broadcast.
They're silent. No fans.
They're "weather resilient". No delicate electronics to get upset by rain. (Except if they get drenched and trip the RCD/GFI.)
They have a self-drying function. Running them at low level will usually drive out any moisture quickly.
They draw no power while unlit, unlike the discharge lamp fixtures that keep the lamp lit (at reduced power) but just shutter it off.
CP60 (clear) narrow beam, CP61 (mottled) medium beam and CP62 (lensed) wide beam.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.co...

[@daddytwins2003]

I like these behind the scenes videos! I hope you can do some more!

[@andywood2012]

Me too, I adore the occasional glimpses into Clive's professional life.

[@guyh3403]

+1

[@alexandermackay9377]

Specifically the Tattoo ones, I have been to the show a few years in a row and being someone who does work in theater it is fascinating to see and hear him talk about it.

[@croyfer]

I agree! Love the behind the scenes!

[@Sarge92]

absolutley every year we see just a tiny glimpse id love if job permitting we could one year get a more extensive look behind the scenes maybe have a go pro attatched to your helmet and record everything and just turn off the cam or edit out the parts that you cant show for legal reasons

[@dgedi78]

"Let's give the diameter in 1/8 of an inch!" "Good idea Nigel!"

[@tin2001]

dgedi78 Fluorescent tube diameters are in 1/8 inch too. I wonder what else is that we never pay much attention to.

[@IrishSkruffles]

Damn it Nigel..

[@dgwdgw]

That was one of the things that surprised me the most when learning about different lamp types. It's like… why inches? Why eighths?! But given the general shape and the diameter of the lamp in eighths of an inch, you can generally find exact replacements for whatever light you're using. That includes household bulbs (A19 being terribly common here in the US).

[@markevans2294]

You can also encounter PAR56 (7"), PAR38 (4.75") and PAR36 (4.5") along, no doubt, other sizes.

[@jimstanley_49]

It's a convenient way of putting the size in a part number without fractions or decimals. Eliminating a '.' or '/' can actually be important in compressing information into a short part number and avoiding characters that your inventory system may deem illegal. One system I use at work every day is length in 1/32 of an inch. Fasteners like an A1AMS0612G screw has a 6-32 (06) diameter/thread and is 3/8" (12/32) long.

[@MaxKoschuh]

I was working at a rental company as a service technician, 15 years ago. I did service PAR cans, moving lights, electronics and cables. I loved to do outdoor service though. When a large project failed, and I was the one to bring everything back to life. This was awesome.

[@pileofstuff]

Ahh the memories. I can't begin to count how many of these (and their "chrome" finish brothers) I hung up and took down back in the '90s

[@SpaceMountainLarry]

I myself have some old outdoor Thomas par cans and those lights are mighty tough. I've seen them get engulfed in flames and have seen them operate under torrential downpour and they keep on humming away. Newer, intelligent lighting may be more versatile, but if you want a basic, no frills, solid light, these old Thomas cans are the way to go!

[@douro20]

You won't get the same lighting quality with LED, that's for sure...

[@Motorman2112]

Can we see the power distribution for all of this pretty please?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Nice. Long time since I've used the Vari-Lite electronic ballasts. They were great for drying clothing quickly during a very wet show,

[@madinatore]

clive casually "these are rated about a KW each"

[@madinatore]

would make them alot more expensive and you would have to work for the extra "wash" effect and additionally you loose the indisturbable workhorses

[@mrosenblatt]

Yes and no. LED technology just isn't there yet. There's simply no true Par 64 equivalent made in LED at this point. If you Google for it, you'll find many attempts. I promise you, none of them compare. Not yet, at least.

[@chillbro1010]

Also I would guess you get a different type of light making it a 100% commitment (mixing different types of light looks terrible and gives headaches when talking about stage lighting), They would most likely continue to phase out old PARcan's with the olderr style ones instead of replacing 100% of their stock at once. From the website I found, Par64 cans are around $35 and the bulbs sold separately are $20. --- Those carts were 10 in a row, and had 4 rows, and 3 carts. ($35+$20)*10*4*3=$6,600 before tax *And also understand they had more lights that havnt been sorted, so this isnt even the full number* Which, is quite an investment. And assuming you would need new cans or new electronics to handle the new bulbs, as well as that technology being more costly at the moment you could easily be looking at $15,000 for a replacement of those 3 cards. Thats significantly more money than say, $2,000 replacement per year of old/broken/finicky lights --- Also with lighting engineers I would assume that since LED light is different in color and wavelength and intensity, you would have to rewrite the book on intelligent lighting. Kind of like how you would have to learn drawing with white on a brown canvas if you've only ever used charcoal on white canvas.

[@superdau]

Read the description.

[@NeneExists]

mipmipmipmipmip - it would be considerably more money for something which would be significantly less robust to sitting out in the Edinburgh weather. A venerable P64 is about as simple as a lamp gets. As Clive described, it is literally a metal can for a PAR bulb, with a lamp base inside, and a metal grill to stop things getting into the can. They hardly ever go wrong, and when they do it is trivial to fix or just swap the whole lantern for another one. If they lose power, the parcans will be the first back, because it takes almost no time to reboot a dimmer pack, and no one ever asked how long physics takes to make a glowing piece of tungsten work. You know what else? They just look nice too. It's very soft, you don't get super obvious edges, and they don't cast harsh shadows. It's a deep forgiving warm white. Everything I do, I always have some parcans. When you need open white, why would you not? Something else to consider is that each lantern goes back to a dimmer. So each lantern you see uses at most one DMX channel. Once you go LED, you might have at least four DMX channels per fixture, and the DMX goes right to the fixture itself, so you have more DMX cable to run, and you have to provision for more DMX universes in more places. So let's take the desk I prefer to order for a show - it has four physical universes, and a further capacity for 12 remote universes. The parcans and other incandescent lanterns take up one universe, but if I replace them with LED fixtures, I might have to use ARTnet processors for extra universe outputs. At the same time I can't get rid of the power, just the dimmers. So I have introduced complexity and cost, gained only RGB lighting which I could already do, have to contend with worse looking shadows potentially, less overall light output, and it costs me a lot more, in both time and money. Why would I ever get rid of parcans?

[@daShare]

Ahh... PAR cans and the whole wacky world of size designations, 100V vs 220V, splitters, etc.

[@kathyquinlan5922]

I always ran 110V globes and used them in pairs (Rock concerts and Theatrical use) With what we called a "Twoffer" I used to use round earth pin plugs for all my 110V globes and had adapters which had two round earth pin sockets with flex going in to a 50mm square box with 16mm nylon glands then out came a flex that had a normal plug top (This was not the usual construction ;) but the Office of Energy Approved my design after a local hire company was fined for the version bellow ;) Some companies had other methods including complete racks of cans 8 on a bar which plugged into a bit of metal ducting that then had a multi pin connector on it. This then ran back to the dimmer racks on a "Par Can" cable and plugged into a "Par Can" patch module that allowed for the series connection so you could technically have a pair of cans with one on each side of the stage. This version is technically illegal in Australia but just about everybody does this, each Can has a plug that is not a normal plug (usually the active and neutral pins are right) but instead of a flat earth pin they have a round earth pin. These then plug into a socket which is then wired with flex into the back of a standard plug (both earth wires under the earth screw, Active from one can to the Active of the normal plug and the neutral of the other can to the neutral of the normal plug) the left over Active and neutral are joined and either screwed connected or soldered then (usually taped up)

[@hughieandrolf]

I remember working as a tech on the Tattoo when the stand was a ball and bar construction like a giant chemical molecule model. I think it was one of the first times it was used as other techs were complaining that it was more dangerous that the standard scaffolding used in previous years.Very few access ladders or walkways. We would frequently step onto or grab hold of a bar to discover it was a 'spinner' and be left hanging from a harness which we wore, not because it was a H&S rule (there was no requirement at the time) but because it was a necessity. No plugs and sockets on cables and lamps, just insulated and non-insulated crimp connectors wrapped in PVC tape and 'twin and earth' oval cable. No storage hanger, just an empty field. Had to remove a maggot ridden dead cat blocking a main cable duct under the Royal box. Very unpleasant. Because vehicles were prohibited within the castle, 5 and 10kW lamps with 100's of metres of 2nd hand 10 &16 mm T+E cable had to be carried or hand carted up to the top towers of the castle sometimes at least a mile away from the store room. In those days they were mostly fresnels and 'beam-lights', very few par cans. There were 2 custom built follow-spots with huge lenses that alone must have been over 2' in diameter and 6' long. They could pinspot a bag-piper from 400 yards provided it wasn't raining. The beam just stopped half way in the rain. One of the main electrical distribution points was in the moat and would, of course, regularly flood. The whole rig was run from a state-of-the-art Rank Strand Duette with a re-written military operation manual that was in 2 thick volumes. Must have been around 1982.

[@bigclivedotcom]

+hughieandrolf That was the Northern Light era. I did work on it in that era too, and had the delight of working on the old spinning bar Mero structure.

[@FindLiberty]

Yikes - Those were the days. Not a job for a modern "snowflake", lol.

[@lufferov]

FindLiberty and by Snowflake you mean someone who values their life more than their pay packet? :-)

[@bigclivedotcom]

Danger is the spice of life.

[@lufferov]

To be fair, I've done more than my fair share of "stupid shit" over the years. I'm older (and possibly wiser) now though, and I would prefer to be in a position where I can spend the money I've earned! :)

[@turboslag]

Had absolutely no idea what a PARcan was until this vid, which prompted me to look it up!

[@ThisIsARubbishName]

It's pretty cool when you do the behind the scenes looks at these events! Hope the new PARcans have a good life (and a long one too!)

[@kiwingenuitynz7799]

Been a sparky for 15 years - finally know what PAR-nn means - thank you muchly BigClive

[@Bloeki123]

Still having a dolly with 4 six bars to clean up and repair in my storage place. I just have to find the time to polish them... But I love conventional lights. Nothing greater than a light show made with PAR cans. Addictional points for not using any gels. White PAR cans. The most minimalistic lightshow one could imagine. But with a bit of creativity it's all you need for a great show. Thanks for the video!

[@bigclivedotcom]

We use a touch of CTB. (Correct to blue) to provide a colour balance with the automated lights, mainly for the BBC filming.

[@Bloeki123]

Nothing better than 201 to make you look sick!

[@whiskeythrottle9369]

Refurbish the old ones and sell them to clothing stores as vintage (old AF) lamps. There´s money to be made there.

[@cup_and_cone]

Sad to say, in most companies it wouldn't be worth the time fixing them up. The company I work for scrapped an old asset that had a potential resale value of around $10 million because it wasn't worth the hassle in their eyes.

[@mcgamingproyt]

I would buy some :)

[@Klonkiller361]

Danni Houmøller or just sell them on Ebay without doing anything. They are still worth more than 100$ each

[@ppsarrakis]

10$ million asset? was it an airplane?

[@ppdan]

Why should people pay 100$ for an old par can if they can buy a new one with the par lamp for less! A used par can is only worth a few dollars.

[@MooseStuff]

Usually I am a little behind the ball on most of what you show but I really enjoyed knowing everything about what you were talking about. About to finish a short Jane Austen persuasion tour in London this week.

[@SigEpBlue]

I see a potentially fabulous army of Daleks.

[@willybee3056]

SigEpBlue So that is where baby Daleks come from? 😲

[@jameslaidler4259]

SigEpBlue Paint them pink and have them say "EXTERMINATE YOUR BUTTS!!!!!'

[@aserta]

EX-PLAIN! *angered plunger waving*

[@odonovanmaol8689]

Instead of a lab tour you could do a warehouse tour when it’s full as I expect it’s fairly empty now for the Military Tattoo in August.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I'm never here when the stands are parked in the warehouse. Just when they're installed and ready for us to put the lighting on.

[@raptureboi]

I love these "extra" videos. They are so informative. Thanks Clive!

[@rongrip1]

Great video Bigclive ... In L.A . We still use " ParCans" in TV and commercials as a dependable back up and great tungsten source ... love your videos here in CA. Thanks

[@Garcansdad]

I worked lights and sound in our college theater in the 70s. We built our own patch board with twist-lock sockets. We had a few par cans and had to make extras using large soup cans and sheet metal barn doors. Crude but effective.

[@blubbspinat9363]

The good old Thomas PAR36 cans actually fit Intel boxed coolers for i3-i5 series CPUs. This makes them ideally suited for conversion to 50W LEDs. Probably the brightest PAR36 cans you can get ;)

[@TheMoulie]

Takes me back to my roadie days in the early 90's. Spent a summer with a company in Greenford that hired out stuff to shows and tours. Spent many, many hours spraying up bars of 6 and re-wiring them....

[@ChloeStandingUpstairs]

I'd love to see more of your videos about your job at with the Edinburgh military tattoo. I've done some work at the Melbourne PRG factory, as well as work when the Tattoo came to Melbourne. Lighting is my dream job and i'd love to learn more.

[@jayzo]

I think the videos of you at work are my favourites, I love seeing the vast array of "high-end" equipment used by big events. Also, I know they would probably say no, but I think it'd be awesome of your employer would let you autopsy any retired or broken equipment (it may even be fixable for them).

[@MarkShannonroad_videos]

The lamps reminds me of the old style headlamps used in cars. Very interesting.

[@smmoom1212]

woah, didn't know you worked so closely with the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo! My grandfather used to play drums for the tattoo!

[@willtree8142]

Always love these lighting videos. Keep up the good work

[@ceneblock]

Considering how I watched you make popcorn in one not too long ago, this is a great followup.

[@yshouldicar3]

You could totally retrofit them and sell them on as floor lamps or restaurant lights. They love vintage style lamps

[@MartinGod3992]

such a shame Thomas went through that whole truss debacle and basically went bankrupt, cause their par cans were the best made

[@NivagSwerdna]

They burned briefly but shone brightly. RIP Parcans.

[@RevScott]

I love these videos. As far as I'm concerned you could do a longer video tearing one of these PARcans down and explaining what goes into lighting work such as yours.

[@clashwithkeen]

Been watching your videos here and there for over a year. Didn't know you did stage lighting. Cheers!

[@AeroMad91]

FAO people who think LED's should be used: there's a couple of reasons why the industry hasn't entirely replaced incandescent / halogen lights. LEDs have a lower colour rendering index (CRI) in comparison to old lamps. And although they consume less power, they create neutral currents.

[@Joe-dt7wp]

More lighting videos please! I have done aspects of lighting engineering and also enjoy electronics, so this is very interesting for me.

[@BurpleRX7]

PARcans seem to have come back in fashion of late, ok not a stage full of them like a black sabbath or pink floyd tour but some LDs seem to be speccing them more and more, which is a good thing i say, the battleships of the lighting world, a rather eccentric LD named Rob (with a spectacular coloured ink pen collection) taught me all about that 1/8" fact , still seems fairly nonsensical even now

[@nintendolife]

I know Clive's videos are well lit but I think this is overkill.

[@iainbanachowicz8318]

I love parcans. A place I worked at was quite cheap with their lamps, They decided to replace their PAR's with Ray lights which housed the T11/T19 lamp base.

[@Lighting_Desk]

They are the work horses of Lighting!

[@TheTardis157]

I love parcans. They're so easy to deal with and are quite easy to find. At least here in Los Angeles.

[@LydonThorpe]

I never knew you were a theatre person. Very interesting!

[@cigarboxguitar9519]

i always wondered what PARcan meant. Now I know. Thanks Clive.

[@AdamWelchUK]

Our PAT testers recently failed a number of our Parcans because they didn't have that cap covering the access hole to turn the lamp at the back of the lantern. We've had to get some welding mesh and cover them over, and of cause now we can spin the lamp!

[@zx8401ztv]

Take some of the battered ones and drill holes in the side, add coloured cylinder and add a normal bulb in the center, interesting garden lamps :-D

[@lufferov]

New Thomas Parcans? I wasn't aware that Thomas made Parcans anymore... I thought the company was long gone. Can't beat a genuine Thomas Parcan though!

[@bigclivedotcom]

The labels on them date back about 17 years.

[@Zadster]

I'm surprised there aren't commercial companies shotblasting these, re-enamelling and pushing them out as cheaper refurbs. I love seeing behind the scenes though. Far more interesting than 99% of the Fringe etc!

[@ablemagawitch]

Great video, I've been learning and following you from back of the day of R.A.T.S. For those that don't knew that name, it was the stage technician's newsgroup on USENET. When Abbreviated it spelled RATS from the naming structure Rec.Arts.Theater.Stagecraft. A very ironic and yet fitting name for the industry greats who hung out and answered questions from people doing productions in high schools and churches to various people in the levels of professional work. Who would have convinced that par cans would have been threatened and shrink bread back when coming off the big hair metal bands you had to 400+ 1Kw cans rigs or you weren't a tour/light show. ...You just need Frank woods to come debate you about Congo Blue and Black Light effect.... ;)

[@bigclivedotcom]

+Able Magawitch Ah, the wondrous years on RATS with hit and run dial-up grabbing all the threads and then working my way through them before doing a hit and run to upload my contribution.

[@ablemagawitch]

@@bigclivedotcom KZbin finally gave me notice you replied. Two years later... Do you remember that most worthy flame that broke out on Frank Wood? I think it was by Chris(?) can't recall the screen name but think the sig file had an email address of Rigger [at] something(?) [dot] com Along with an always changing sig quotes on the messages. I'm having no luck finding the original via Google Groups(Miss the good old Deja News archive days), but here's a partial copy I had emailed to myself. Frank Wood, you old marmot-felching fellator of diseased yaks... We haven't had anyone this appallingly misanthropic and just plain spiteful since the Chebucto Chunderhead. We do appreciate your attempting to crawl out of the primordial slime and better yourself by running a club here. Unfortunately, you were bettered in the entrance exam by a frozen turnip, a broken toaster, and a stretched Harley-Davidson Panhead primary chain. The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has said: "Frank W is transcendentally stupid." Regarding Frank, Pope John Paul II said: "If I waddna the pope, I'da kicka you stupid monkey ass." Jimmy Durante came back from the dead to say: "Dat tea-bag Frank is so stoopid, I never seen nuttin stoopider. Inka-dinka-doo." Mary Magdalene said I give him a mercy fuck but I don't want anyone that stupid in my bed. Scarlett O'hara, of Gone with the Wind, said: "Oh Frank, I do believe you are the stupidest man I've evah seen." Stephen Hawking, in "A Brief History Of How Stupid Frank Wood Is", stated: "F. Wood is an example of what we call Singularity Stupid. Stupid collapsed on itself so far that even the neutrons have collapsed. Stupid gotten so dense that no intellect can escape. He emits more stupid in one second than the entire galaxy emits in a year." The Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, pointed at you, and said, "STUPID WOODs!!" Howard Cosell: "Well, Frank... After your inept displays Of egregious intellectual dysfunction, There remains but one question. How could anyone be so stupid and slack?" The State of Texas has passed a resolution to have a "Gawdam, that Frank boy is so stupid he couldn't pour piss out of a boot with a hole in the toe and instructions on the heel" day, because of your *Texas-sized* stupidity. Bob Dole said: "Bob Dole says that Frank Wood is stupid, and when Bob Dole says that Frank wood is stupid, Bob Dole means what he says. Stupid. Right." Oprah Winfrey says, "Hi, on "Oprah" today, we are discussing how Frank can be that stupid." Beck has written a song with the lyrics: "Frank Wood is a loser, baby, why don't ya kill him" Jesus Christ said I can't heal that level of Wood's stupidity I'm only the son of god. You'll need more divine intervention to help that poor boy You are weary, stale, flat and unprofitable. You are grimy, squalid, nasty and profane. You're a fool; an ignoramus. Monkeys look down on you and laugh. You are a waste of flesh. You have no rhythm. You are ridiculous and obnoxious. You are a living emptiness; a meaningless void. You are sour and senile. You are a disease, you puerile one-handed, slack-jawed, drooling meat slapper. Every story you have ever posted or said has been told before by the original person. And it was better their time. You are a half-witted peter puffer, and you clearly show yourself to be the most socially-inept, boorish, flame-inviting idiot that ever has ever tried to operate a sound or light board. You quote the misguided and completely wrong technical specifications, you have heard from people outside the industry like its a fact. You didn't even bother to get your facts straight before you distorted them. You repeatedly initiate incoherent, flaky, boring, and mindless drivel, and you egregiously assume moral, intellectual, and physical superiority. It must suck to be you, but then, you already know this. You have greatly misunderstood the purpose of Production. You have greatly misunderstood the science of the business. You are a loser. You must have spent your entire life in a skinner box to be this clueless. Did I mention that you are stupid? I cannot believe how incredibly stupid you are. I mean rock-hard stupid. Dehydrated-rock-hard stupid. Stupid so stupid that it goes way beyond the stupid we know into a whole different dimension of stupid. You are trans-stupid stupid. Meta-stupid. You are so stupid you make Beavis and Butt-Head look like Nobel Prize winners. You clearly show yourself to be the most neanderthal, snotty, first-against-the-wall-when-the-revolution-comes, raving, hemorrhoidal misogynistic, slope-browed, eye-rollingly-sub-human, crappy, threat-to-the-gene-pool, backwards, in-bred, sack-of-pus, walking-advertisement-for-a-state-sponsored-sterility-program, boot-licking, unfit-for-human-consumption, irritating, disgusting, onerous, worse-speller-than-I, glassy-eyed, flame-inviting, creepy, spiritually-devoid, whiny,clingy, needing-of-professional-supervision, humorless, vile, sexually-undesirable, hell's-pawn, lacking-in-any-sort-of-grace-or-erudition, "Me-Too"-posting, addled, un-repentantly-and-wickedly-perverse, trash-talking, toejam-sniffing, anus-for-a-mouth, toad-like, trying-on-one's-patience, filthy, sheet-and-pointy-hat-wearing, evil, reprehensible, mucus-dripping, just-turn-them-insideout-for-a-few-more-days-smelly-underthings-wearing, no-neuron, sunken-chested, piss-poor, foul-mouthed, scum-sucking, rent-boy, sickeningly-ugly, clue-repulsing, "Make-Money-Fast"-spamming, bringing-a-pen-knife-of-an-intellect-to-a-nukefest-of-a-battle-of-wits, incapable-of-coming-to-terms-with-your-own-wretched-existence, white-trash, boorish, rat-like, living-proof-of-why-cousins-shouldn't-marry, can't-be-allowed-sharp-objects, socially-inept, classless, inexcusable, plaid-pants-wearing, zt00pId-laMer-Ta1k3inG, netscape-enhanced, offensive, hate-filled, god-damnedest, insulting, unredeemable, make-me-wish-I-had-a-big-hammer-to-beat-some-sense-into-you, fearlessly-posting-disgusting-insults-with-a-stupid-handle, idiot that ever has ever walked through a venue's door. And I wish you would go away. Realistically, I don't think you have the intellectual wherewithal to make such a decision, i.e., a correct one, so you will stay here, spooging your petty stupidity of the great Designer Frank Woods knows what do, while getting spanked down every time by reality and science. ***End of Flame*** The Flames were often brutal in R.A.T.S. even for Newsgroups/USENET back then. Although that one has always stuck with me for the length and level of burns. I remember several people actually going to England on Tour and getting a photo with him as if it was prize/trophy to have. Were you one of the ones?

[@bigclivedotcom]

@@ablemagawitch That was harsh even by RATS standards. The rigger.net email was Dave Vick who is still about.

[@jameslaidler4259]

The "lovely assistant" was amusing.

[@pboy124]

We used a rack of these to take the full inductive P.F. out of the genorator, nice to have resistive elements hanging around

[@topherglatastryuser]

I thought my self stage lighting for an AS level with the schools 30 year old equipment and to me this is a lightinggasm

[@Mrboomal]

Glad to see you're back at the coalface Clive.

[@Pillowcase]

This was really interesting - I'd love to see more about the lighting you work with.

[@claircoupe8470]

Random question but where did you get your bag from? I have been looking for one like that to use as my teacher bag moving things to and from school :-)

[@LieseFury]

Hey Clive, I love your videos. They're getting me into circuits and stuff, even though I've never really done anything with electrical stuff. I recently watched your solar power meteor light project and was wondering if it'd be practical and safe to make a similar device just to charge phone batteries (obviously without soldering the wires onto the contacts). What changes to that circuit would make that feasible? Also, I'd like to use it to charge a Nintendo 3DS battery, which is removable and appears to have a similar structure and specs (3.7 V, 1750 mAh, 6.5 Wh). Would I need a separate device specifically for that or does your arrangement work for any variety of Li-Ion batteries? Thanks in advance!

[@Richard1977]

Maybe I am old-school but I still like the good old par can. And maybe that is because when you use par cans, you need to put some thought in how you use them and the colors you use them with. Nowadays with LED you have almost every possible color under your fingertips. So I just bought a shit load of par 46 cans for literally no money in good old black, stuck some Osram LED floods in them and use them for small and medium events to supply some nice lighting of whatever needs to be lighted. Even bought me a new LEE Folters Designer Edition filter book....

[@ccleake1]

RIP cans. Mind you, MUCH nicer than the crappy ProShop LED Par's I have to work with.

[@MrBlackdragon1230]

Its been a long time since i worked with those. I kinda miss my days as a stagehand, just cant physically do it anymore. :(

[@bigclivedotcom]

+Paul George It takes a heavy toll on your body. Our current automated followspots weigh 70kg and have to be lifted overhead into a tight area.

[@lfpi07]

Loving the behind the scenes videos, keep them coming :)

[@kwakamonkey]

Clive. Does the lamp have a vertical or horizontal filament? I know some spot light can be supplied with either . The bulb filament size and shape combined with the reflector design determine the concentration of a focused beam. The shape of the filament will determine the type of Beam, e.g. a vertical filament (VF) bulb will give a circular spot beam, whilst the horizontal filament (HF) will give a slightly oval spot. .can the parcans use that principle?

[@kwakamonkey]

Thanks . I used to work in an electrical warehouse that sold par bulbs . Not that big I don't think. Was 20 years ago and I had little interest in them ha ha. I know that some hunting spot lamps have vertical and horizontal bulbs.

[@guyrumsey5023]

Oh to love tech theatre! Lighting booth antics!

[@Subgunman]

Since you are in the "lighting" business, do you know of any supplier in the UK that sells supplies to make your own Dock Boxes? I know of a few in the states but shipping prices are quite radical to get the stuff to Greece.

[@NoKetsujo]

It would be nice to see more like this. I'm starting a sound/light engineering course this September, and this is quite interesting to see.

[@BonesMcoy]

is there any way I could possibly get my hands on some of the old ones? I'd love to try and do some things with them.

[@RWBHere]

Thanks for the explanation, Clive. I always wondered what those things were called.

[@Geethreeohm]

Knowledgeable as always.

[@StripeRose]

I am. SO. jealous of your job right now.

[@DanielW118]

PAR Can: Headlamp in a bucket. That's what we call them at my place!!

[@NeneExists]

DanielW118 - do not confuse with a bucket of sunshine. DEFINITELY DO NOT CONFUSE WITH A BUCKET OF SUNSHINE!

[@stanpatterson5033]

@DanielW118 & Nene ... Well now I AM confused. Which of the two would I need to blow a little sunshine up someone's ass ?

[@NeneExists]

A bucket of sunshine is a euphemism for a nuclear fusion device. That may produce too much sunshine. Sufficient, in fact, to remove the entire ass.

[@trustnoone81]

Jebus, 1kW _each_. For how many hours are they used at their full rating in any single event?

[@lwilton]

Lamp life before burnout is rated at between 60 and 500 hours depending on lamp type, if I recall correctly. Figure a production runs 2 hours, some instruments may be on from dusk to morning as work lights or aisle lights. Others may not run 15 seconds total during the whole event. When they are on, most likely they spend most of their time at considerably less than full intensity. That said, I'd bet the generators or city infeed are rated at a couple of megawatts for the event.

[@Anvilshock]

That said, they are often run at very low current to just about glow dimly to reduce the inrush current and the heating shock to the filament.

[@mrosenblatt]

Not so much these days -- Clive mentioned moving lights, so it would be a safe assumption that some are potentially used for front wash but most are used as effects lamps. On smaller stages using par cans, most of them will be on the entire show if they're the primary light. On larger stages, they're more or less used for visual effects. KZbin for "kanye par can stage" and be amazed. I believe it was just shy of 800 par cans all used as primary lighting.

[@Anvilshock]

Well, yes of course I meant to say that can be done when they're meant to "not on".

[@jfan4reva]

I was thinking they weren't too different from old sealed beam automotive headlights until you said 'about a kilowatt each'. Yikes!

[@tonysansom]

CP60 lens looks like it's from an old car.

[@hydrusje]

Correct! And next time you see an aircraft look at the landing lights... Although not exactly the same as CP60, some planes have lights that look very similar to CP60, they are called ACL lights (aircraft landing lights) These ACL bulbs are also used in R&R shows in the same cans as Clive showed. 28v each (they are used in series, 8 pieces in one string) Their beam is even narrower then a CP60

[@Anvilshock]

ACLs are sexy!

[@NeneExists]

hydrusje - am I using a different lamp to you? I thought they were 110V, wired two in series to go on 240V. Very nice though, love how they look. We moved on to sunstrips with ten individually addressable halogen lamps quite a while ago, but I still love the look.

[@hydrusje]

Yep, different lamp. That's the FFN lamp, they are not true ACL's (the lens of an ACL is flat, or even bends a little bit inwards, and as I said, is 28V) I have used the FFN a lot too, it's a nice compromise and the abality to flash in pairs instead of groups of 8 is cool. Although there was one company that made 28v dimmers so you could dim ACL bulbs individualy, as did the Studio Due CS2 and CS4's.

[@markevans2294]

Or four in series in North America. There are a few other types of lamp which you can use in place of the PAR64. Such as a separate reflector and lamp assembly or an LED array.

[@tengelgeer]

Yeahhhh, more videos like this while you're out there :D Whole rack of 1kW bulb, hell yeah :D

[@Lumibear.]

0:19 they look like the sort of thing Star Wars or Doctor Who would buy up and use as set decoration or a prop.

[@ickipoo]

Show us the very busy dimmers, buzzing merrily, please Clive.

[@1pcfred]

I think that building would be just about big enough to use as a workshop for me. A bit tight at times, but I imagine I could manage.

[@tactileslut]

So what sort of failure would relegate a PARcan to the graveyard? Are these rusted or crossthreaded or has the insulation gone brittle? Will they be refurbished for use or sale?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Just very old with failing insulation, corroded metalwork and missing bits.

[@KeithCassidy]

1kW. Holy moly. What's the power budget for the whole show?

[@jime386]

Geez Clive. My crappy cans saw everything from juke joint bands to Nazareth.... They live in Alaska now

[@TonyFleetwood]

weeding out all the ones with PARcansins disease?

[@HometownUnicorn]

Clive what are you doing with the old ones? I live nearby I can come and collect. thanks

[@johnrehwinkel7241]

Heh, if it didn't cost so much to ship them, the retired ones would be great prizes for contests! Looks like the newer bulbs have halogen capsules inside instead of bare filaments.

[@bigclivedotcom]

They've always had an internal halogen capsule in the reflector.

[@antonykahil]

Just sent a 48k rig out, however we use source 4 pars now rather than cans, however we have maybe 240k in pars still sitting in the back of the shop waiting for their next run

[@vincentjpk]

I read PACman and got excited

[@mitch19636]

lol

[@SianaGearz]

Avatar fits the comment so well!

[@fabimre]

I used them in a previous life/career (1980-1984). I didn't know the (English) name then. We just called them stage-lights. When just switched off: Don't touch!

[@zelfaldor]

I am curious, what kind of light board do you use for your lighting setup?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Hog 4 at the moment I think.

[@themaconeau]

Has lighting tech caught up to parcans yet with LED or similar tech, reducing heat but matching or beating PAR benchmarks?

[@bigclivedotcom]

+Mac·au Not yet in this application. Especially in a weather exposed location.

[@ElliottVeares]

So you don't use lots of coloured gel filters with them?

[@bigclivedotcom]

+Elliott Veares Just CTB (Correct To Blue) for the BBC filming.

[@16bittech]

bigclivedotcom Huh. I've always known it as Colour temp, blue

[@NeneExists]

Lee 201, full C.T. blue tungsten to daylight. 3200 K to 5700 K. mired shift 137 and a meagre 37% transmission. I guess it'll make it fit more nicely with the moving heads too, but I guess it's so they don't have changing white balance as natural light is replaced by the parcans.

[@geofflotton5292]

Maybe they should include a tribute in the parade for all the fallen PARcans.

[@lnwolf41]

That was interesting. Is there any system set up to switch these to LED's ?

[@AlexTheAverageKid]

also let's be honest with ourselves - EVERYONE has taken the parsafe cover off and worn it as a helmet at some point..

[@Katnipp_]

not using standard mains plugs. here in Australia all our lights are standard mains or powercon for the intelligent lights

[@petermichaelgreen]

Afaict in the UK (where Clive lives) traditional stage lights are usually either on 16A IEC60309s (what you see in this picture) or 15A BS546s. The BS546 is more compact but it's more expensive and not waterproof They don't like to use BS1263s because they don't want fuses blowing in inaccessible locations.

[@Cheordig]

You could make rocket stoves or other portable wood burners from the old ones.

[@atbglenn]

The electric bill must be enormous running all those cans. Where I live on Long Island, I'm paying 23 cents a kilowatt hour. The second highest in the USA

[@garywheeler7039]

Took me a long time to figure out these are lights, lol. Parcans, lol. Thought they were droid shaped power supplies or amplifiers or something carried by military band musicians in the field. Or a futuristic bagpipe lol.

[@lohphat]

I think I found out where to get new headlamps for my 1968 VW transporter!

[@ducttaperulestheworl]

Those bad par cans doesn't look as beaten up as from my company though. I'm surprised par cans are still in use. We shifted to profile and fresnel only while ditching all the par cans everywhere around our store

[@aserta]

I had a few of these lighting my back yard, had em super cheap from a guy who was selling shop. Unfortunately, lightning struck because for whatever reason the lightning ground didn't attract it and these (well one, but it friend both, same pole) did.

[@radry100]

Are they so cheap or why haven't they been replaced by leds yet?

[@bobu32]

They are cheap. LED also comes with some downsides. Not a good investment yet.

[@NeneExists]

I talked about this a little in another comment thread. It comes down to time, money, and complexity.

[@KnightsWithoutATable]

LED fixtures and lamps are actually cheaper to manufacture than incandescent, but the companies making them are paying off the investment in factories and trying to maintain the same revenue levels as the old tech by over pricing them. They will come down some, but it will take time.

[@douro20]

There's also the problem with light spread; the optical characteristics are completely different. This is why you don't see the huge exodus away from linear/helical fluorescent, HID and halogen lighting in the film industry.

[@marvincarvin1846]

Thanks. I learned something.

[@EdsPlasticCars]

More lampy videos!

[@cyberhornthedragon]

the fluted one looks a lot like the old headlight my 79 toyota truck has lol