I would really hate to spend money on 8-10 48" 40w black lights for our school event (30x40ft. space) only to have a lame black light effect. Could someone with BL experience let me know if this is sufficient/too few/too many? TY
Original Post
Not sure what you are actually trying to achieve for you school event but will try and give you some advice. I asssuem your hall is around 10 meters by 13 meters so its not a particularly big space.
Assuming you want it to provide some kind of ambient back lighting then this could work but its worth remembering that the illumination will only come from things that react with the light. If you are putting up decorations or similar check these do or don't glow in advance as in my experience some things work really well and some don't. The same can be said for peoples cloths and can make white underwear show through top cloths - this can look cool but may also make the person wearing it feel uncomfortable - it may also not be appropriate at school - depends on age etc.
As for the number of lights needed will depend again on the effect required. If you want to light the whole of your space then 8 would be more than enough spread around, if you want to light just your dance floor then just a couple will do. If its for an effect during a fashion show or similar then you will only need a couple around the walk way or stage. Its also worth remembering that too much and/or long duration can give some people a kind of eye strain and feel quite tired etc. I used to go to a club that had them all over the place and it used to become tiring on the eyes if they were on all night.
I use just one on a bar over the dj console for a mobile rig - it covers a good 5-10 meters out in the crowd as an effect, but I turn it off for different effects sometimes.
If you are looking to use it as a background light you may be better off (and cheeper) with one of the LED water effects, the good old 70's style mirror balls or the new LED ball effects.
Hope this helps.
Assuming you want it to provide some kind of ambient back lighting then this could work but its worth remembering that the illumination will only come from things that react with the light. If you are putting up decorations or similar check these do or don't glow in advance as in my experience some things work really well and some don't. The same can be said for peoples cloths and can make white underwear show through top cloths - this can look cool but may also make the person wearing it feel uncomfortable - it may also not be appropriate at school - depends on age etc.
As for the number of lights needed will depend again on the effect required. If you want to light the whole of your space then 8 would be more than enough spread around, if you want to light just your dance floor then just a couple will do. If its for an effect during a fashion show or similar then you will only need a couple around the walk way or stage. Its also worth remembering that too much and/or long duration can give some people a kind of eye strain and feel quite tired etc. I used to go to a club that had them all over the place and it used to become tiring on the eyes if they were on all night.
I use just one on a bar over the dj console for a mobile rig - it covers a good 5-10 meters out in the crowd as an effect, but I turn it off for different effects sometimes.
If you are looking to use it as a background light you may be better off (and cheeper) with one of the LED water effects, the good old 70's style mirror balls or the new LED ball effects.
Hope this helps.