Good lighting is a main ingredient of a successful trade-show booth. Just the right lighting system may help an artisan construct the atmosphere of a fine-craft gallery. This will lure gallery owners off the isles and into your booth – the firstborn step toward making a sale.

Lighting is a comparatively highpriced investment. So how does the budget-conscious artisan find the right solution?

When it comes to choosing a lighting system, artists new to the trade show circuit often become overwhelmed. Prices vary wildly, and each convention center may have it is own lighting rules. Lighting engineering is altering rapidly, making the selections harder still.

This article details what I learned while tackling the challenge of lighting my 10’X10’ booth at the American Craft Retailers Expo (ACRE), a huge wholesale show for American and Canadian craft artists. As I am new to trade shows, this info is meant only as a pointer for artists in the procedure of choosing lighting, and perhaps also for more seasoned artists looking to update their systems.

In examining numerous dissimilar lighting options, my goal to be attained was to illumine my glass jewelry beautifully but inexpensively. I wanted the lights to be lightweight and modular, to fit in boxes for shipping to the show. I was looking for contemporary styling, in silver or black. And I wanted to have at least one special lighting effect – not too flashy – to give my booth a distinctive element.

In his CD on booth design, art business consultant Bruce Baker proposes 1,000 watts will light up a 10’X10’ booth very effectively. I decisive to stay at or beneath 500 watts, however, because the ACRE show includes 500 watts with the booth price, and the halogen lighting I at last decisive upon illuminates my displays very well. Since I purchased the lights at a “big-box” store with websites in nearly each city in the U.S., I may add more lights once I’m at the trade show if necessary.

The Battle of the Bulb

Contractors Choice Lighting (www.ccl-light.com) says a light fixture is merely a “bulb holder.” The bulb, therefore, will have to drive one’s choice of a fixture. This is more or less true for trade-show lighting, though the fixtures may dictate the types of bulbs, depending on the selections available at the store where one shops for the lights. The CCL website offers a “Bulb Photometrics” page ([http://ccl-light.com/photometrics.html]), whose graphical representation is a freshening departure from the complex descriptions of lighting choices that have proliferated on the web.

Halogen is the bulb of choice for some trade show exhibitors. It offers a crisp, white light. Although persons ordinarily refer to halogen as non-incandescent, it is in fact a kind of incandescent lamp. It generates light by using a thin filament wire made of tungsten, heated to white by passing an electric current through it. According to General Electric, the primary halogen lamp was invented in 1959 – not too long ago for galore of us!

Halogen bulbs differ significantly from the traditionalisti type of incandescents we grew up with. The halogen bulb’s filament is surrounded by halogen gases (iodine or bromine, specifically). These gases let the filaments operate at higher temperatures. The end result is a higher light output per watt.

The gases also do something rather miraculous: Tungsten have a tendancy to evaporate off the filament over time, and the gases actually support re-deposit the tungsten onto the filament. This extends the bulb’s life way beyond that of the traditionalisti incandescent bulb, whose evaporated tungsten clings to the walls of the bulb like a smoky apparition and at long last the uncoated filament snaps. Who hasn’t rattled a burnt-out light bulb and enjoyed the jazzy cymbal sound of the broken filament inside?

In addition to giving off more light than conventional incandescent bulbs, halogen bulbs emit a whiter light that provides better color rendition. “For highlighting and bringing out true colors, use halogen lamps,” proposes USA Light and Electric’s website (www.usalight.com). “Nothing looks better than the drama brought in with halogen lamps.”

Baker also proposes halogen lights – floodlights in peculiar – for a contemporary look, peculiarly for jewelry and glass. It’s essential to consider that other fine craft materials such as ceramics and wood might be better heightened with halogen spotlights, or even with a good deal of of the more conventional incandescent lights that emit a warmer color.

Having decisive upon halogen lighting, my next task would be to choose bulbs. The ACRE show takes place at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which has instituted a rigorous halogen lighting policy. Each light cannot exceed 75 watts, and all halogen bulbs must be factory sealed in glass (not in a removable lens or linear shape).

Thankfully, there is a great deal of factory-sealed halogen lighting, in the form of PAR halogen bulbs. PAR is an acronym for “parabolic aluminized reflector.” PAR bulbs have a built-in reflecting surface made of pressed glass. The glass provides both an internal reflector and prisms in the lens for control of the light beam.

PAR bulbs are numbered, as in PAR 16, PAR 20, PAR 56. The PAR number refers to the bulb shape. Bulbs.com has a halogen division of the internetsite where you may speedily compare the respective PAR bulbs visually. Within a given category of PAR bulbs there are respective wattages, wide and narrow spotlights and floodlights, dissimilar base sizes, and even dissimilar colors.

Fortunately I was competent to skip the procedure of resolving on a PAR bulb by settling basi where to shop for my lights (more on that below).

Power Issues

When you go to shop for track lights, you’ll observe there’s a choice amongst 12-volt and 120-volt fixtures. 120 is the standard voltage that comes directly into most homes and offices – and convention centers.

For a lamp using 120 volts, no further and added elements are necessary beyond a regular socket. 120-volt fixtures in general are lighter than 12-volt fixtures because they don’t need a transformer. They also cost less and may use halogen or regular incandescent bulbs.

I stopped short of investigating 12-volt fixtures, except to find out that they step down the amount of energy being used to a lower voltage, and thence are more energy efficient. They require a transformer to convert the 120-volt household current to 12 volts, and they may require hardwiring (although one artisan I know found a 12-volt fixture with a built-in transformer which she was competent to plug into a 120-volt outlet. A 12-volt fixture accommodates very effective bulbs that offer a assortment of wattages and beam spreads, including the 50-watt MR-16, which is frequent in galleries.

I decisive on 120-volt lighting for the trade show, because I wouldn’t have to worry in regards to transformers and could just plug it in.

Choosing a Store and Track Lighting

I read the ACRE online forum for clues regarding where to buy lighting. What one artisan said struck me as eminently sensible: He buys all his lighting at Home Depot, because if anything goes defective at the show, he may find a store nearby for alternate parts.

This was something to consider: Tempting as the beauteous designs might be, special-order lighting of any kind introduces the danger of having a malfunctioning light for the duration of a show.

Another artisan on the ACRE online forum said he buys his lights from Lowes. It in all likelihood doesn’t matter which big-box store one chooses, as long as there’s one in each city.

Since I was new to trade shows and this was to be my original lighting kit, I resisted choosing from the some good suppliers on the web. I settled on the fixed but beautiful selection at Lowes. A side gain of this was that my selections were comfortably narrowed.

Within the category of halogen lighting, you may get either track lights or stem-mounted lights (with arms extending outward). I went with track lights. This was partly because the stem lights I found on the web were comparatively pricey and Lowe’s didn’t offer them, and partly because with track lights I could have one cord rather of various hanging down.

The Lowes lighting salesperson was helpful in putting together a full package from the track lighting on display and in stock. I decisive on four, two-foot tracks to keep the size of my shipping boxes down. Here’s a rundown of what I bought:

· 4 two-foot track sections, Portfolio brand, black finish, Item #225678. Each division holds 2 lights, for a total of 8. Total: $23.12

· 8 Flared Gimbal Track Lights, Portfolio brand, Item #120673, with a satin chrome finish for a contemporary look. They are easy to attach to the track by following the directions. Total: $80.76

· 8 halogen bulbs, Par 20, 50-watt, for bright, crisp light. I purchased assorted floodlights and a couple of spotlights. The bulbs are very packable, at a little over 3” long and 2.5” in diameter. Total: $60.00

· 2 Miniature Straight Connectors by Portfolio, Item #120716, for joining two of the track subdivisions end to end. The idea is to have only one cord to plug in from a row of four lights. Total: $5.92.

· 2 Cord and Plug Sets, Portfolio brand, Item #120827, to power track from a frequent AC wall outlet. I connected these to the end of the two of the track sections by unscrewing the covering on one side of the track. Total: $17.06

· Various Multi-Purpose Ties (cable ties), by Catamount, for attaching tracks to booth pipes. Total: $5.00

· 2 heavy-duty extension cord/power strips – 14-gauge, 15-feet, with three outlets each, Woods brand, from Lowe’s, Item #170224, model 82965. Total: $22.00

Grand total: $213.86

The Gimbal lights I chose only receive a 50-watt, PAR 20 bulb, which made it easy to pick out the bulbs. So in this case, the fixture drove the choice of bulb, not the other way around.

According to the Bulb Photometrics page at Contractors Choice Lighting, a PAR 20, 50-watt halogen flood bulb will emit a beam of light with a 5’4” diameter when it reaches 10 feet away. It offers with regards to 12 foot-candles worth of light at 10 feet away from the bulb (a foot-candle is the level of illumination on a surface one foot away from a usual candle.)

For the sake of comparison, a PAR 30 beam offers a diameter of more than 8’ at 10 feet away, and you still get with regards to 14 foot-candles at that distance. What happens if you notch it up to a 75-watt bulb? You get a lot more foot-candles (38) at 10 feet away. This proposes that more prominent trade-show booths might want to take vantage of higher PAR and higher watt bulbs.

All together, the track lighting scheme I chose uses 400 watts of electricity. This left me another 100 watts to add special line of work or accent lighting to my booth, while still remaining at the 500-watt limit.

Cords, Plugs and Hanging Lights

The Las Vegas Convention Center has very rigorous rules for cords, plugs, and hanging lights.

The two-pronged, 18-gauge cords that the manufacturer has attached to your lights are satisfactory (leave the UL tags and labels intact). These lighting cords cannot be plugged into the convention center outlet, however. Instead, you will have to plug them into a three-pronged, heavy duty, 14-gauge extension cord – or a breaker strip with a 14-gauge cord. You may then plug that 14-gauge extension cord into the convention center outlet.

A 14-gauge extension cord is competent of handling 1,825 watts. It’s helpful to read the brief extension-cord sizing and safety selective information on the web pages of the Underwriters Laboratories (www.ul.com/consumers/cords.html) and the University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service ([http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FY800]) before purchasing a cord.

Bruce Baker proposes the cord be 20 feet with six outlets, and that it include a cord reel. I couldn’t find this type of cord at Lowe’s, so I decisive on two 15-foot, heavy-duty, 14-gauge extension cord/power strips, each providing three outlets. If you have a more prominent booth, you may find a 25-foot cord with three outlets at Lowe’s.

There are so a heap of dissimilar approaches to hanging lights, and so a great deal of variables to consider, that it could be a topic for another article. In general, you may hang or clip lights onto a cross bar or onto the “hard walls” of your display if you have them. Depending on the rules of a queer trade show and the size your lighting system, you may be permitted to attach the lights to the booth’s existent pipe and drape.

Since my booth design does not include my own walls, my lights will attach either to the existent pipe or to a cross bar. Cable ties (commonly called “zip ties”) appear to be tool of choice for attaching tracks to the pipes or bars, and even for attaching further and added cross bars to existent pipe and drape. One artisan I recognise uses Velcro strips, followed by cable ties to secure the attachments. There are a few entire web sites for cable ties. One of them is http://www.cabletiesplus.com .

I purchased Multi-Purpose Ties from Home Depot. They may bundle 4 inches in diameter, withstand temperatures up to 185 degrees Fahrenheit, and hold up to 50 lbs.

Accent Lighting: LEDs

There are numerous ideas for accent lighting – though a reasonable treatment of the topic is beyond the scope of this article. Light-emitting diode (LED) lighting is one engineering science that is experiencing breakthroughs and growing fast. It takes a good deal of LEDs to equivalent the light output of a 50-watt bulb, and LEDs are reasonably expensive, so LEDs aren’t ready for prime time when it comes to lighting a whole booth.

There are various close-up apps for LEDs, however, that are worth looking into now. An example is the in-counter light bar sold by MK Digital Direct at http://www.mkdigitaldirect.com (at a whopping $175 per foot). The more lowpriced MK Sparkle Light Pocket ($30) is a portable device that has extra long-life of over 100,000 continuous hours and promises to give jewelry “maximum sparkle and scintillation.”

The Nexus mini LED light system (www.ccl-light.com), meanwhile, offers a lot of illumination for it is size – a puck shape not much more spectacular than a quarter. The company says it is for direct display lighting of crystal and glass, and it may even be submerged in water. The light is attached to a 12’ cable that ends in a plug, and has “mode switch” with seven dissimilar color choices. Unfortunately, white is not one of the color choices, and at $25 it’s a bit expensive. Still, a few of these lights combined with room lighting could draw viewers into your booth and toward your most dramatic displays.

LEDS also include tube lights, flexible lights, linear lights, and bulbs. Superbright LEDs (www.superbrightleds.com/edison.html ) has a collection of 120-volt screw-in LED bulbs for accent and other low-lighting applications, as well as a host of other arousing and attention holding merchandise such as “plant up-light fixtures.”

At this writing, the search was still on for accent lighting to give my booth an extra particular glow. Stay tuned for a future article on the results.

Online Resources

The following list is not an endorsement, but rather a starting point for exploration on lighting systems, cable ties, and accent lighting.

http://www.ccl-light.com – inexpensive and a good deal of choices, has “Bulb Photometrics” page to support determine how much light and what kind you want from a bulb

http://www.direct-lighting.com – stem-mounted and track lights

http://www.usalight.com – big selection of lighting and bulbs

http://www.bulbs.com – quick visual comparison of PAR bulbs (in halogen section)

http://www.cabletiesplus.com – Cable (zip) ties for securing track lights to pipe

http://www.mkdigitaldirect.com – LED lights for jewelry cases

http://www.american-image.com/products/lights/lights.html – a nice selection and visual layout of stem-mounted and other lighting (but not cheap)

http://www.brightmandesign.com/products/wash-super.html – good technical selective information and images of lights set-ups for trade shows; various stem-mounted clip-on designs

http://www.superbrightleds.com – LED accent lighting, including screw-in bulbs and light bars

8 Outlet Digital Power Strip Timer

The Apollo 14 – 8 outlet power strip with timer is a great solution for running multiple fans, pumps, etc. in your garden on a pre-set schedule, as well as having ceaseless available power for whatsoever need may arise. With 15 Amps of capacity, you’ll have loads of power to run your equipment. The ETL listing provides the security and shelter that gardeners are looking for! Titan Controls brings you productions developed by the industry, for the industry.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24556 in Home Improvement
• Brand: Titan
• Model: 734150

• 8 Outlets-4 Timed and 4 Constant
• 24 Hour programmable timer with 15 minute intervals
• Heavy obligation construction
• All outlets surge protected up to 1000 joules
• 15 Amps/120 Volts/60 Hz

8 Outlet Digital Power Strip Timer Picture

8 Outlet Digital Power Strip Timer Picture

8 Outlet Digital Power Strip Timer Pic

8 Outlet Digital Power Strip Timer Image

8 Outlet Digital Power Strip Timer Photo

8 Outlet Digital Power Strip Timer Pic

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Titan’s the best
By Carol
This power strip is the best that I have used. The diversity of usage, the number of plug-ins as well as the length of cord and the light indicators make this a product unexcelled.

See all 1 customer reviews…