Illumination

Round 2, and I finally had an opportunity to fire up the generator and put some real load on it.  No where near its capacity mind, but at least enough that it wasn’t running light.  Or perhaps it was, seeing as the load bank I was using consisted of 1500W of lights. 😉

Perhaps I should explain….. as mentioned in the earlier article, a petrol powered generator doesn’t like running with no load for long periods of time.  It is like leaving a car idling.  They are designed to be used, and can carbon up if left too long without being made to work.  So although you could use the generator to power small devices, you need to match the generator to the load, and vice versa.

If the load is too large for the generator, it is just going to trip out.  If the generator is too large for the load, it will not be happy if it has to sustain it for long periods.  At least you can always increase the load by plugging in extra items, such as lights.

The generator did precisely what I was expecting of it – sat there running , and very little noticeable difference despite me switching load on and off.  Other than the obvious, in that you can hear the generator running, and that you can set it up wherever you want, far from the madding crowd, you wouldn’t know any difference between using this generator and plugging the items directly into a wall GPO. I am looking forward to the opportunity to put it to real use running a couple of large machines….once they are uncovered.

So onto the lights themselves.  This was the first chance I had to fire up the ‘new’ fresnels. 3 x 500W, which will produce a really good light for future videos.  (The shed itself will be illuminated by around 15 x double fluorescent fittings).

I haven’t taken a photo of the actual lights, but they are a smaller version of this:

The name of the light comes from the lens at the front.  It is a form of lens, and if used in reverse can focus light to a single point.  Roughly speaking.

When used the other way around, when light is at the focus point of the lens, it produces (parallel) direct light on the subject, allowing the light to be thrown at a greater distance.  (Which is how a fresnel lens is used in a lighthouse, and it was for lighthouses that the frensel lens was originally invented).  However, what a fresnel light is used for in theatre settings, is to produce a diffused beam and the lamp is moved away from the focal point to achieve that.

Starting to get a few things together that will really give Stu’s Shed V3.0 a real shot in the arm.  15A power from the outset with the generator until such time as more permanent power can be installed.  Lighting, both for the shed as a whole and for the next generation of videos.  The GoPro to add an extra dimension to those videos.  And some historical items (the pulleys and belts) to add some extra character.