Clamp Lights (Clamp Lamps?) In Australia? (Will these be OK?)

[gibbo]

A few different names for them, Brooder Lamps, Clamp Lamps, Clamp Lights, Scoop Lights. Whatever you want to call them, I've been trying to locate some Clamp Lights in Australia but so far have not had much luck.

There has to be Aussies out there that buy these lights! What I wanna know is where from?!

For clarification of what I'm after:

Ebay didn't produce much and some google searching found some from a pet store. I found:

A cover:

http://www.mypetwarehouse.com.au/ZOO-MED-CLAMP-LAMP-COVER-8-1-2"-LFC12-p-17123

And the Actual light:

http://www.pet-shop.net.au/buy/zmdimcllmp10/Dlx_Dimmable_Clamp_Lamp_(Blk)_10"

Not sure why the only place that sells them is are pet stores, but I was hoping that these would do the trick, as long as the inside of the reflector is Silver.

It's nice that they're dimmable too, I'll be using with Halogen bulbs and CFL bulbs equivalent up 240watts, which is the strongest I have found so far but if I find stronger I will use stronger too!

EDIT:
Those dimmable clamp lamps link to an American site, damn, back to square one!

 

[PaulGriffith]

You can dim most halogen bulbs, but you can't dim CFL. There are a few special "dimable" cfl bulbs but they're really just turning off in stages.

No hardware stores carry them, hmm?

 

[gibbo]

You can dim most halogen bulbs, but you can't dim CFL. There are a few special "dimable" cfl bulbs but they're really just turning off in stages.

No hardware stores carry them, hmm?

Thanks Paul!

Ah yeah, I did see some of the CFL lights have dimmable on the boxes today, I just remembered when you mentioned it.

I checked Bunnings, which is basically our answer to Home Depot only much more expensive (as is everything in Australia), with no luck. I don't see any other hardwares stores around since Bunnings popped up, which is a shame.

 

[Gonzo_Entertainment]

Man, maybe I should get into the seedy underworld of international clamp light smuggling.

 

[dlevanchuk]

If u want to, I can buy them and ship it to ya. We ve got them at Walmart, 5 miles away from my house lol

 

[gibbo]

Man, maybe I should get into the seedy underworld of international clamp light smuggling.

That's not something to be taken lightly, Gonzo.

If u want to, I can buy them and ship it to ya. We ve got them at Walmart, 5 miles away from my house lol

Thanks for the offer, I might have to get them sent to Aus if I can't find them here.

But they wouldn't work here would they? None of the lights I see online state what voltage they can support.

 

[dlevanchuk]

Oh damn, you're right.. forgot about that plug issue :-S

Im sure the voltage doesn't matter, as long as you plug in the correct light bulb. But an actual plug might not fit in Aus' sockets (zing!)..... for some reason this sounded really perverted lol

 

[gibbo]

Oh damn, you're right.. forgot about that plug issue :-S

Im sure the voltage doesn't matter, as long as you plug in the correct light bulb. But an actual plug might not fit in Aus' sockets (zing!).....

What do you mean by correct bulb?

The plug is fine, I can get those little adapters for a couple of bucks each:

I'm just concerned about voltage, I know some appliances have a range that covers Aus 230v as well, I have a BD player from the US that covers the whole range, I'm just not sure about little lights like these.

for some reason this sounded really perverted lol

*insert intelligent light related pun here*

 

[TheArtist]

Looking for those in France too. That's yet another story...

 

[jax_rox]

I'm personally trying to find china balls in Australia.. It's pretty damn difficult.. I'm thinking of buying some while I'm in LA, but I'm not even sure if they make hanging lamp cords for them for Australian sockets..

 

[gibbo]

I'm personally trying to find china balls in Australia.. It's pretty damn difficult.. I'm thinking of buying some while I'm in LA, but I'm not even sure if they make hanging lamp cords for them for Australian sockets..

I saw some in Bunnings on Thursday, have you looked there?

 

[josh-ozirigpro]

We really don't have a lot available here.
The closest I can get my hands on are the giant studio lights, lol.

Bunnings are horrible ($16 for a 3W LED light?!) so your best bet is some place like IKEA; they have a pretty big range there.

I also remember seeing some China lights there as well, so time to gear up, grab a map and pencil and head on over?

 

[jax_rox]

Yeah, might have to check out Ikea when I get back. It's so much cheaper here in LA though!
If it turns out that the voltage works out fine plugging bulbs into Aus outlets with an adapter, then that would work, but if not then I might be stuck having to check out Ikea.

Also, which Bunnings did you see them at? I've never seen that at my local ones.

 

[josh-ozirigpro]

If it's made in China (and it will be), then 99% of the time it will accept global voltage (110-240v)
I'm not sure if the packaging in the USA is as informative as ours here in Oz, but you should be able to find it on the outside near the barcode.

 

[darty]

hey jax

most of the independent light shops sell the china lanterns in various sizes
beacon lighting is where i get mine.

i made up my own frames so i can hang them in any position.
i would post some pics but not sure how....dammit jim i am a gaffer
not an IT tech.

gibbo, you should be ok with US light fittings but you would need a 240v globe
and it would be wise to check that they are ceramic sockets to
handle the extra heat.

cheers

 

[gibbo]

Yeah, might have to check out Ikea when I get back. It's so much cheaper here in LA though!
If it turns out that the voltage works out fine plugging bulbs into Aus outlets with an adapter, then that would work, but if not then I might be stuck having to check out Ikea.

If the voltage is ~240v, get it!

From memory Ikea had a few... I'll have to go back though.

Also, which Bunnings did you see them at? I've never seen that at my local ones.

Cannon Hill in Brisbane, It's a pretty large store so maybe that's why they had more. I was talking to the guys in the lighting department about Clamp Lights and they said to check out the Special orders desk as they can order stuff in that they don't normally stock as long as the supplies have them. I asked the gil at the counter and she said she needs a part number to search on as they don't have photos. She gave me the list of the Australian suppliers they use for lights and told me to contact them for part numbers:

Nelson - which I assume is this mob: http://www.nelsonlamps.com.au/
Brillant - http://www.brilliantlighting.com.au/
Arlec - http://www.arlec.com.au/
HPM - http://www.hpm.com.au/

I'll update when I get a change to call and ask.

They did have those cheap Halogen work lights though, which will probably be what I'll end up getting if I can't get the clamp lights, problem with gelling/diffusing because of heat?

http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_150w-arlec-portable-work-light-halogen_4981.aspx
http://www.bunnings.com.au/products...?filter=categoryname--Free+Standing+Worklight

If it's made in China (and it will be), then 99% of the time it will accept global voltage (110-240v)
I'm not sure if the packaging in the USA is as informative as ours here in Oz, but you should be able to find it on the outside near the barcode.

Good point actually. I'll definitely look into it on Monday.

hey jax

most of the independent light shops sell the china lanterns in various sizes
beacon lighting is where i get mine.

i made up my own frames so i can hang them in any position.
i would post some pics but not sure how....dammit jim i am a gaffer
not an IT tech.

Pics always welcome!

I normally use tinypic.com to upload the photos and post the link, or if they are already hosted/uploaded somewhere (photobucket, flcker etc) you can imbed to the forums:

[ img ] www.linktopictureher.com/pic.jpg [ /img ] (Remove the spaces)

gibbo, you should be ok with US light fittings but you would need a 240v globe
and it would be wise to check that they are ceramic sockets to
handle the extra heat.

cheers

Thanks for the input, Darty!

Are 240v globes hard to come by in Aus?

Ceramic it is! I plan to use CFL bulbs mainly, but I image the halogen bulbs would get hot quick!

 

[darty]

240 volt is the aussie standard for power and all domestic globes available would meet this standard
only the wattage will vary.
divide the wattage by the voltage to give you the amps per light.
eg 2000 watt blondie divided by 240volts equals 8.3.amp draw

you should be ok re heat if you are using cfl lamps but if you use incandescents above 100watt
you could melt the plastic fittings

cheers

 

[jax_rox]

I have a couple of similar worklights that I bought at Bunnings quite a few years ago now, and I jerry-rigged them into a frame that resembles more of an open-face light. They're tiltable, and have frames for gels and barn doors. They work really well, especially in conjunction with the par cans I have. They work well on low-budget music videos where the band would rather spend all their money on shooting on a Scarlet than on any lights, for example..

They're 500w which is hotter than the 150w you're looking at, and they do get super super hot. I imagine the 150 wouldn't get as hot.
Never had an issue with burning gels though.

I will do a little more research to see if the light sockets will be good in 240v outlets, and hopefully it will be fine, which is good news on all fronts - I'm not sure what the pricing's like back home, but china ball with light socket assembly here costs ~$5 for a 12" one.

 

[josh-ozirigpro]

How much are you looking to spend on your light kit, by the way?

You could quite comfortably pick up a 4-light + backdrop kit from ebay for about $300.
They're CFL, of course, but I can recommend a good one that a mate of mine picked up which had a 150w CFL per head.

2 umbrellas + 2 softboxes.

Put out a decent amount of light.

I don't recommend the $50 work lights from Bunnings simply on the heat they produce.
You will also want to replace the lamp (~$10 each) with a blue-tinted one to get rid of the bright yellow/orange tint it will give everything.

Yes, they are cheap as all heck, but unless you have a large space to shoot in, everyone in the room will quickly turn bright red, flowers will wilt and your camera will overheat, haha.

 

[gibbo]

240 volt is the aussie standard for power and all domestic globes available would meet this standard
only the wattage will vary.
divide the wattage by the voltage to give you the amps per light.
eg 2000 watt blondie divided by 240volts equals 8.3.amp draw

you should be ok re heat if you are using cfl lamps but if you use incandescents above 100watt
you could melt the plastic fittings

cheers

Oh yeah! Silly me! 240v... haha, thanks for that.

I have a couple of similar worklights that I bought at Bunnings quite a few years ago now, and I jerry-rigged them into a frame that resembles more of an open-face light. They're tiltable, and have frames for gels and barn doors. They work really well, especially in conjunction with the par cans I have. They work well on low-budget music videos where the band would rather spend all their money on shooting on a Scarlet than on any lights, for example..

They're 500w which is hotter than the 150w you're looking at, and they do get super super hot. I imagine the 150 wouldn't get as hot.
Never had an issue with burning gels though.

I will do a little more research to see if the light sockets will be good in 240v outlets, and hopefully it will be fine, which is good news on all fronts - I'm not sure what the pricing's like back home, but china ball with light socket assembly here costs ~$5 for a 12" one.

Yeah I'm not too keen on the Halogens, not a fan of the heat and the warm colour.

I would definitely bring some back if I was you, assuming they can run at 240v too, I think you'd be kicking yourself later on if you didn't!

How much are you looking to spend on your light kit, by the way?

You could quite comfortably pick up a 4-light + backdrop kit from ebay for about $300.
They're CFL, of course, but I can recommend a good one that a mate of mine picked up which had a 150w CFL per head.

2 umbrellas + 2 softboxes.

Put out a decent amount of light.

I'm not exactly sure on what I want just yet. I don't know anything about lighting and I was planning to get a few of those cheap clamp lights as my first lighting set until I know more then I will know what I need to get.

It would be great if you could recommend me that set, I'd love to take a look at it.

I don't recommend the $50 work lights from Bunnings simply on the heat they produce.
You will also want to replace the lamp (~$10 each) with a blue-tinted one to get rid of the bright yellow/orange tint it will give everything.

Yes, they are cheap as all heck, but unless you have a large space to shoot in, everyone in the room will quickly turn bright red, flowers will wilt and your camera will overheat, haha.

Good idea RE: replacing to blue tint bulb, I'll keep that in mind if I decide on halogen work lights (which is unlikey)