How to save 11,644.07 on a designer lighting fixture!

Step 16 Comments

The original light uses cloth wire which I was able to find in white, then dyed red. I was unsure about using the wire so used the Ikea lights instead.
I would love to hear from anyone that has ideas on how to make this design more eco-friendly. While these bulbs are only 60W each I think it can be made better. Smaller bulbs take away from the size and design. I was thinking of running small led lights inside the bulb once the element burns out...some how.
Retail cost: $11,700, Instructable cost: $55.93
Hope you enjoyed my first Instructable!

Comments

[hogthrob]

http://www.thelightbulbshop.co.uk/Shop/B22BayonetCap/Product/30945/MLEDBulb/MASTERLEDBulb.aspx these phillips bulbs are the most similar off the shelf bulbs I could find they are 6-7 W each Part of the aesthetic of the original is the big clear glass bulbs and the elements inside which you dont get with led or cfl bulbs however, I thought the detail on the cup around the bulb made up a little in aesthetic . They are smaller then the original bulbs but then you can have 10 bulbs for the same power consideration of 1 incandescent bulb. and they are dim-able down to 10% or about 35 lumens.

[EdurusFas]

edwinston14,

I'm not sure if this would work - or if it would be green - but here is an idea.  As already mentioned - a dimmer switch -- then maybe see if the same type of LED bulbs used for car's headlights could be modded to fit into the fixtures?  I don't know the specs for those type lights - but if I'm not mistaken, the highest voltage for the bulbs would be approx 12 volts.

Good Luck!

P.s.  Very clever saving a LOT of money on the fixture.  Kudos to you! :)

[lasersage]

if you had an even number of bulbs you could put pairs in series.
Wiring all 7 in parallel gives each bulb the full voltage, but if each pair was in series you'd have half the voltage.
It'd be like permanently dimming it by half (assuming lux falls off with voltage uniformly).
It'd probably make the filaments last forever and you'd still get to use those cool giant bulbs but at only half the wattage.
If that's still too bright and power thirsty you could always put three in series but that might be getting too dim.
Just an idea, speak to your electrician if you're uncertain.

[pirateaboard]

If you want to make it eco-friendly I'd recommend using LEDs.  I attached a picture of a few light bulbs that I installed LEDs inside of.  I broke the back off of the bulb and put a warm white 1/2W 10mm LED inside of each.  If it was used for lighting a room (as opposed to accent lighting) then I'd go for a 1W LED and build a larger bundle.

[ttrruu]

I love this lamp! I've also seen the original in mags and was wondering how to put it together at a reasonable (do-able?) price. I'm thankful for all the artistic talent that there is out there, and I want to support them, but I've limited means for the time being.

I noticed you mentioned you wanted to use red cloth wire. I live in Europe where we have 'Habitat' stores which sell it (http://www.habitat.net/pws/landing.html) so for those of you in one of the lucky countries you could always try there.

Again, congrats on the great solution!

[chacks73]

with some more work and time you could make it a little bit more eco-friendly, and with a bolder design I prefer to propose rather copying an existing design, you could use instead of the 7 60W bulbs (420 w) smaller bulbs (20w) and increase their number to 14 or 16 (280 w), with this you will get a nice light without getting your eyes burned ..ja!! and a bolder design you could also use transparent wire to keep the "modern " look

[anvil_man]

NICE real nice, I saw a light like this in a museum cafe in NewYork city a few years back and thought about making one.. those looked like they had about 15 plus bulbs but smaller... RE: the cap, Yes put a rubber grommet in that hole

[CarolineL]

The light looks great - I think the red wiring really makes it special. My only worry is the hole in the metal that all the cables go through. I have previously damaged wires sending them through 'raw' metal holes - it's easy to slice through the insulation. Have you thought of adding a thin rubber grommet/O-ring for them to pass through? It shouldn't show up

[flobster]

Looks good.
They are starting to produce better looking CFLs, an example could be http://tinyurl.com/c8zqtr still not the same as an incandescent, but could make an interesting lamp as well.

[qwertyboy]

what you could do is used burned out light bulbs closer to the middle, and have some 'real' ones on the outside. that way it's not quite as bright and doesn't use as much power.

[YAMAHAMMER]

I THINK ITS WONDERFUL!

[hasbeany]

I think I read that a dimmer switch doesn't reduce the amount of electricity used, so whether it's dim or bright it will still consume a lot of watts.

[wperry1]

A dimmer reduces the amount of current going through the bulb in one of 2 ways a variable resistor or, as in most modern dimmers, by electronically switching the power on and off very rapidly. In either case you reduce power consumption, more so with the modern dimmers.

[cymbalzzz]

Wow! I love it! Thank you very much for taking the time to share it with us.

[jermore]

unlike the rest of these negative nancy's...i think it looks awesome @exouy...how about you save all of the time/energy wasted criticizing and work a little harder on being a little more "green" with yourself

[beepea]

Agreed.

[beepea]

I think it looks great! Awesome talking piece over dinner :) Also, kudos for the solar panels (and boo to all the rubbish comments you've received..) Beepea

[martyvonx]

Just run it at a low level on a dimmer, that solves the power-consumption problem. 420 watts of light would be insane anyway.

[piaferre]

I wanted to make exactly the same chandelier for my accessories shop. I love it! Apart from the amount of energy and all, have you taken into account the temperature? I finally hanged every bulb separately since I was afraid they would explode because of the heat each bulb emitted. Was I mistaken? Congrats on the great Instructable, I will make one for my home someday!

[fercone]

I am with edwinston14, chill out. I like the lamp and I think that for a "chandelier" style fixture is not bad at all when it comes to energy. If it can be made greener all the better. I think that instead of using the "adult ring" I would would prefer a tighter set up, where wires are much closer together resulting in a more "bubble-like" bulb arrangement. If I come up with a stylish way to do it I'll let you know.

[acmuis]

Well, I'd say your doing great conserving by building it yourself. Imagine all the pollution generated to manufacture the other one, let alone all the energy expended to earn the $11,000. For a light!!!???

[exouy]

Is nice, but have you realized how many electricity it uses? Thats a lot of Watts. Please be green, care about the planet, blah blah etc. Again, it looks great but prefer using more eco friendly bulbs like LEDs or the common eco ones. sorry for my English

[edwinston14]

See comments below and try to be more positive. Thanks

[srhadaham]

green is a color green (grn) Pronunciation Key n. The hue of that portion of the visible spectrum lying between yellow and blue, evoked in the human observer by radiant energy with wavelengths of approximately 490 to 570 nanometers; any of a group of colors that may vary in lightness and saturation and whose hue is that of the emerald or somewhat less yellow than that of growing grass; one of the additive or light primaries; one of the psychological primary hues. Something green in color. greens Green growth or foliage, especially: The branches and leaves of plants used for decoration. Leafy plants or plant parts eaten as vegetables. A grassy area located usually at the center of a city or town and set aside for common use; a common. Sports A putting green. A grassy lawn or plot, especially: A grassy area located usually at the center of a city or town and set aside for common use; a common. Sports A putting green.

[Iamtwinks]

...intelligent and earth friendly! GREEN!

[srhadaham]

Green is a color and that's all their is to it

[qwertyboy]

i agree

[Iamtwinks]

Agree with who...me or the fella who thinks THERE is spelled THEIR?

[jongscx]

I agree... how many watts are those bulbs? I did a quick search, and the clear ones that came up are 60W and 100W... O_O
For 7 bulbs, does that mean that your fixture uses around 560-600W of power?

I has 2 concerns here:
1) Is your house wiring beefy enough to handle that? (600W/120V = 5 Amps... I guess that's fine)
2)With that much light concentrated in such a small space (over your dinner table) could you get sunburn/retinal damage just from being in the area?

Also, I'm interested in how you connected everything up in the ceiling. Everything's in parallel, right? Just spliced together in the attic...

[Linksep]

Here's how to scale back your electrical use: Use the 25W bulbs that the $12k lamp says it uses...

25W G40 Bulbs25W G40 Bulbs

[edwinston14]

This is for you and exouy. Did you bother reading my post? If so you would see that I was asking for suggestions on how to scale down the elec use. You would have also seen that I did talk with my electrician that rewired our whole home with new everything including a new box and breakers. Had you been nice and asked I would have told you we also installed two solar panels in our home. I have plenty of suntan lotion and my wife doesn't burn being Asian and African American. I commend your concerns on the environment but before you get on your soap box you might want to do some research or you just sound like one of those nuts that give the green movement a bad name.

[pnogal32]

I'm just wondering how much it cost you to re-wire your home. I'm almost at the stage of calling my electrician, but, considering the fact that the room I'm planning on putting this fixture in is a bedroom, I'm just wondering how much having my room rewired would generally run me. Awesome instructable!!

[edwinston14]

That's a hard one pnogal32. We had a friend do the wiring and it cost us 2k for the whole house. Is get at least six bids, if they're far apart on coat, get another six. Goodluck.

[jongscx]

Roughly I've gotten quotes of $50 per "drop" which is an outlet or a light switch.

[jongscx]

Sorry for the negative-sounding comment, I assure you that was not my intent. I did in fact read your comment. As you had "consulted your electrician friend and left out the details" I was wondering if you would be willing to elaborate. I've done some electrical work myself, and was wondering if two DIYers would come to the same solution to the issue. As for the sunburn comment, it was a (apparently sad) attempt at humor. Again, pardon the misunderstanding. I would actually commend your approach of green-ness in the way that you created it instead of going the commercial route. My concerns were more on safety rather than ecological responsibility, so pls don't lump me in with Exouy... As for suggestions, I don't really know. They make G40 CFL bulbs... but they're kinda ugly and don't come in clear. I would stick with incandesents, but perhaps try to find similar-shaped globe bulbs in 15-20W. You'll get a nice soft glow from each bulb, but because they are uncovered and there are several, it will be a fair bit of light in total Another option may be to have the dimmer option or have half on a separate switch so you can turn some off and some on.

[apider36439]

The electronic dimmer mentioned above should address all the green issues. Also I think the large clear bulbs make the fixture. If you are concerened about the light output, they make a large globe lamp for vanity's in lower wattages, but why would you want too? on the occasion when you a lot of lite you have it, just turn up the dimmer.