Looking for marquee lighting alternatives

A design feature we are trying to incorporate in a rear bar area is long strips of bulbs (6-8 ft) in a starburst pattern that would be on the bottom side of a semi-circular soffit over a counter and free standing bar in the rear of our entertainment room

Rows of regular old light bulb sockets and 25 watt clear appliance bulbs would look perfect BUT be just TOO hot for an interior application because this would require over 100 bulbs.

We've thought about rope lighting, I've thought about LED string lights

http://www.led.lightwavesconcept.com....php/cPath/213

ANY IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS or SOURCES come to mind??????

Thanks for the links.

I found these bulbs in LED.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/store...s/e27-w8-g.jpg

At $3.95 a bulb

Now I would need to figure our how to do a long set of sockets that would be simpler than mounting 100 porcelain sockets and wiring them all up.

Found this socket solution that comes in 10 or 40 ft lengths and can be cut to fit. Haven't got the price info yet.

http://www.displayit-info.com/christ.../lights/MQ.gif


I still would prefer a clear bulb though.

Thanks China

some more things to consider I see.

Anyone know the source of the lighting used in this poster box????

http://www.stargatecinema.com/NEW-Il...-pr-16321.html

After a lot of searches and some puchases of various cords and bulbs that didn't work out here is what I think I'm going to be using.

I needed 50-100 lights and if you do the math 100 times anything is a lot of wattage so my first attempt was Christmas lights and they looked just like that, and then tried some LED christmas lights. The problem with the LED was the light color, too cool for my taste looked light cheap neon.

They have some great full sized LED bulbs and theaters are switching over, but to get the right color was going to run $13 or so a bulb. https://store.lsgc.com/G11-GLOBE-BUL...BASE-P5C0.aspx Found them cheaper($4), but not in the warm white color, bought a couple to test and hated the color of the light
http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/e27-w8.htm

Then I looked into actual marquee sized lights that happen to be 11 watts. Then I figured that if I used those almost full sized bulbs I could probably get by with 50 on a dimmer so Then I looked at either mounting 50 ceramic bulb bases and wiring the sucker up. I thought about all that wire stripping and screwing and thought about an easier way. So I bought a 100ft 50 socket commercial grade light string. I've experimented with 1/2 inch MDF by drilling holes just larger than than the ouside of the socket. I think I can silicon glue the sockets in the holes and just push the wiring all over the place to take up the slack. but I'm not at that point quite yet. I'll be mounting the MDF panels to perimeter rails up in the rounded soffit I've created. Also thinking of what to cover the surface of the MDF with, Paint or smoke colored window film glued to the MDF.

Give me a week and I'll give you some feed back.

http://www.budgetlighting.com/store/...&ppinc=search2

http://www.budgetlighting.com/store/...&ppinc=search2

Here is another option I thought about. It was my second place idea.

http://www.partylights.com/products/strings/G40.html

Here is some more interesting reading on the subject of LED marquee lights.

http://www.ledtronics.com/product_ne...cle_073005.htm

From my research the bulbs are $10 each or more.

Here are the ones from the article:

http://www.ledtronics.com/ds/DEC-S14L/

a bargain at $30-50 each??? how about a power buy?

Google is man's best friend.

I just typed in 3 inch sign letters and this was in the first few hits:

http://www.woodlandmanufacturing.com...CRYLIC1-8.HTML

I've tried Christmas lights and fact I've now got an assortment that failed the audition process. They basically looked like christmas lights sticking through a board.

What I've ended up with is an 11 watt sign bulb in a medium socket (normal lightbulb socket) for my marquee.

http://www.budgetlighting.com/store/...&ppinc=search2

Here is one panel at the factory:


It's going up under here:

Thanks Heynow, I didn't have a collection of helmuts so I had to do something different. I admire your bar it's got a feeling like I could sit there all day.

Another thing I came up with for lighting the Marquee letters is a one of a kind. I started with a LED strip lighting system from IKEA:

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/store...umber=90098177

Then I took a piece of base molding cut out a reccess and glued the led's in the recess.



I actually put the molding up first in the shape of the Marquee then glued in a total of 8 ft of the white LED strips up.



That's how I ended up getting the Metallic letters to come alive.

Craig I actually tried that string and changed my mind. The sockets are tapered and it's the wrong direction. The part that you would want to shove in a hole first is the biggest.
That would make for a sloppy fit.

With the medium size sockets (see link) the sockets are straight and there is actually a lug just a little less that 1/2 inch from the lip so that when you press them into a hole in 1/2 MDF the front lip just comes just a little short of the surface (perfect)

http://www.budgetlighting.com/store/...gs-Medium-Base

I used a hole cutter in an electric drill, I did have to order online the right diameter because neither Lowes, HD or Sears stocked the one I needed. I cut 1/2 the depth from one side and then flipped the wood and cut the remainder of the hole to keep the edges from tearing out.

I used Loctite construction adhesive, glueing just a few at a time. You have to keep checking that they haven't come out of position because of the weight of the cords tugging.

I'll post some more pics.

Bud, The last time I was at IKEA they were $20 per set less for some reason. You also need to know that they don't dim (I tried), they aren't as bright as Halogen cabinet lights and the quality of light is a lot different (bluer).

I'm not taking it down to get a closer pic of the back but here is the business end. That's a 1 7/16 hole. It's actually about 1/64 to big but you gotta use what you gotta use.



I'm going to put another coat of paint on now to hide the marks from the construction process and to cover up a few of the sockets where some of the white glue is peeking through. When it dries I'll put in a few bulbs and take a pic.