Tag: Wireless LED Spot Light

LDI 2012 - The world debut of the Angle Light

We just returned from LDI 2012 in Vegas where we debuted our new "Angle Light Wireless Highlight System" to the world. For those of you that have never heard of LDI... LDI is the world's largest event lighting/technology trade show. Hundreds of companies that specialize in the lighting, sound, projection and support segments of the entertainment industry choose to debut their newest products and innovations there. Thousands of professionals visit from all over the world to get a first-hand look at the newest technologies and meet the people responsible for developing cutting edge new capabilities.

We are proud to say the show was a huge success for us. Not only did we get a chance to meet some truly talented people, but the over-the-top positive feedback we received about the quality, function, design and creative thinking behind the Angle Light was beyond anything we could have imagined. To see so many faces light up when we went through the features and concept of the Angle Light was just amazing. Watching a whole new wave of inspiration come over people as they realized the full potential of a totally wireless highlight system was a surreal experience.

After all of the great feedback the weekend was not over yet. We still had the industry awards to attend in hopes that we would/could be recognized as one of this years most innovative lighting products.  Now, to try and explain the gravity of the moment here is how it all happens... You have to inform the LDI judging panel of a new lighting product that is debuting at LDI for the first time. Once the show begins, the panel of judges individually visit your booth without telling you who they are and look at the product you have developed. From all the products that are new they collectively vote on this years most innovative product.

So how did we do?... Well, something happened that is unheard of. The lighting category is HUGE. It's like the Emmy's when they announce the top award at the end of the night. To even be considered one of the top is extremely difficult to achieve. So when they went to announce the winner, they as a panel of judges decided to do something they never do... have more than one winner, and mention more than one company. They said it was simply too difficult to pick one top product because each were so influential and unique. So they decided each company and product had to be mentioned separately. 

So they continued to say... "First... we would like to recognize FUEL Lighting Systems for developing the "Angle Light Wireless Highlight System"... It is truly an elegant, beautifully designed, well thought-out and innovative light system". "Congratulations on such an achievement". 

Ok.... what did I just hear? I just about fell on the floor! This is our first year at LDI, and our first product we have developed and launched, so it is difficult to imagine what i just heard! Everything after that was a blur... can't remember a thing for at least a minute.

From there they announced the two top winners... Clay Paky for their industry changing "Sharpy" moving light fixture, and ETC... for updating their Source Four spot light to include an LED version. Both of these companies are at the leading edge of innovation affecting the entire globe in respect to new lighting technologies and capabilities.

We are humbled and honored to be selected as one of the top three companies in 2012 to develop a new lighting innovation that is changing the landscape of the event world. It was a dream of mine that someday I would be able to contribute to the innovative thinking of the event lighting industry and it is amazing we were able to stand out above so many truly great new products. Being in the top three, we were standing along side two of the world leaders in the industry and that by itself is an honor to say the least.

A special thanks to the LDI judging panel for recognizing and believing in our new vision for the lighting industry. It is only the beginning of a new wave of innovations that will create unique lighting possibilities and exciting new designs that will continue to transform the look and feel of many amazing events for years to come.

Check back soon for exciting additions to our portfolio such as the upcoming "Penda-Light" System... The industries first wireless pendent light.

Paul Therrien (Systems Developer)

Defining the Angle Light Beam

It is incredibly difficult to describe a beam of light, especially if we are talking about color temperature, throw distance and intensity. But if we had to start by describing the look and feel of the Angle Light itself we would describe it as a Designers LED Spot Light. Small and well built, beautiful by design, pleasing warm-white light beam, with many ways to configure them for each venue and event. Not simply a pin-spot replacement, but a new type of LED highlight instrument.

As for the quality of light, and the way it projects light, here are some images we captured, along with some comments of interest that may help give you a better understanding of what the Angle Light does best.

 

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For this first image we generated some haze in the air so you could see the structure of the beam. If there were any visual issues such as glare or uncontrolled light spill, haze would certainly expose these types of potential problems since you can see the beam passing through the air.  Looking at this image, notice we were able to achieve something very special with the Angle Light... a narrow beam of light that has a beautiful soft edge without the typical flare/glare you would normally see from a soft edge fixture. 

 

 

 

For this image a single Angle Light was mounted at a 40deg position above the table. The goal was to show the shape of the beam once it hits an object, but also the way in which it has a precisely tuned soft edge that comes to a visual end. This is very different than a beam that is simply diffused which would cause some light to spill 180deg wasting power and causing unwanted glare.

 

 

 

 Now for a brighter more contrasty version of the above image...

 

 

 

 Depending on what you intend to light, a narrow controlled beam is a good starting point. We can always spread the beam with our beam shaping diffusers, it was much more complex to make this type of exacting beam.

 

 

 

 Amazing lighting designs are about balance. This image below demonstrates how the background color helps make the centerpiece visually pop, two opposite elements working together to create one scene. But one other aspect of this image to consider is the effect of uplighting on a space that does not include highlighting, and how the lack of highlighting effects how we see these important elements.

Uplighting alone can cause unintended light balance problems. The problem lies in the fact that you are lighting the edge of the room bright, while simaltaniously leaving the centerpiece, food stations, cards tables and even the dance floor without any light, making these areas appear, in comparison to the walls and ceiling, to be even darker to the eye than it normally would. Essentially, with uplighting alone you are creating silhouette's of all these great elements. With the Angle Light there is finally a wireless solution that can illuminate all these areas with warm beautiful light.

 

Imagine if the centerpiece was as dark as the chairs?

 

 

This image below demonstrates a few interesting things to check out. First, the glow on the drape is due to reflection of light off the table which is something to keep in mind when lighting events. If you are lighting 20-40 tables and your goal is to create a very dimly lit space then reflection of light off surfaces such as this can become an issue... that is why we made sure you could remotely dim each light.

A note about beam color....I have to admit it is impossible to show the color of light accurately in an image. Between the camera capturing it one way and the LCD monitor showing it another way... it is just plain impossible. So what you want to look at are the surrounding light sources such as the candles, lamps etc to get a feel for the true color of the beam. Since you are familiar with candle light or what a regular light bulb looks like you can judge other colors better. We would describe the Angle light beam as a warm-tone similar to a incandecent bulb dimmed to 50%,  leaning ever so slightly toward the pink side of the spectrum. On my monitor this image below makes the beam look slightly more yellow than it really is.  It is more of a pinkish warm-tone which was chosen due to its ability to look warm and pleasing, but still show colors such as the different hues you may see in a floral arrangement with depth and accuracy.

 

 

 

With the introduction of the wireless Angle Light System, it will finally allow many more events to incorporate highlighting as part of the design. It will not only be possible to add pin-spotting in spaces that normally would not be able to accommodate it, but you will find many new opportunities to offer proper highlighting on many other aspects of the event.

With this new innovation, you will soon realize that uplighting is a "wanted" element, but "highlighting" is both wanted and needed. Simply put... The Angle Light System is about to change everything... what we call a global shift of capability.

Angle Light Now Available!

After months of waiting for the final revision to be ready, we are now shipping our new Angle Light fixtures. As in many manufacturing cases with a new product, it is ramping up slowly but we are moving along great.

We are so excited to finally begin shipping units to companies across the country. There are so many development stages that will happen over the coming months. The Angle Light System is just that... a new "system" and way of doing something. It is more than a light, it is a completely new way to highlight events with new capabilities never before seen. and as with anything new, to make the most of it's capabilities requires us to create supporting "tools" to help integrate the system into your world, and for you to take a new look at each space you work in to see how you can best utilize it in unique ways.  

The ability to connect, adapt and integrate the Angle Light System into different venues and settings will be inspiring. All at once this new system eliminates physical, mental and creative roadblocks in terms of transporting, set-up, controlling, focusing, and even the aesthetic look of the lights themselves. You will soon realize a new ability to create complex lighting designs that are affordable to clients (or simply more profitable) due to the transportation, labor, etc being so completely different than a traditional pin-spot system would need. In essence, everything is about to change... everything!

Version one of the Angle Light is just the beginning. This is not a one shot concept. This is the start point of a new series of lights that will change the direction of what is expected and requested from clients, planners and even the venue itself. We already have in development supporting light fixtures that will be perfect extensions of the Angle Light, as well as a larger version of the Angle Light that will have other purposes. The great thing is they will all match.... all use the same remote system, charging system etc. 

Thank you for being so patient while we were fine-tuning the design of the system. We are so happy to say you now have access to this new technology and fully expect that some of you will build an entire lighting design business around these new capabilities.  At the very least, you are about to demonstrate something in your market that has never been seen before, and that alone will spark a whole new wave of excitement in the event world. 

Thanks again everyone, I hope you enjoy owning the Angle Light System as much as we enjoyed developing it!

Paul Therrien (Systems Developer)

FUEL Lighting Systems

Welcome to FUEL Lighting Systems

Today is an extremely exciting day for us here at FUEL Lighting Systems.

Today is the day we introduce to the world a new way of thinking. Not only are we launching our newly developed "Angle Light" Wireless Highlight System, we are asking you to open your minds to an entirely different way of approaching each venue/event you light. 

As you begin to read about the FUEL Lighting philosophy and why we developed the Angle Light System, you will begin to understand how this new lighting concept is about to alter the way events are envisioned, designed and experienced.

On the surface, the "Angle Light System" is presented as the world's first wireless highlight system. At the very least, from a lighting standpoint it takes the place of the standard "Pin-Spot" lighting that has been used for many years to project at mirror balls and light table centerpieces.This alone would be enough to get excited about. If you have ever seen the process of pin-spotting many tables with lights mounted to the ceiling of venues, connected together with thousands of feet of power and control cable, you understand how amazing it is to realize all that cable clutter and set-up time is no longer needed.

Looking past the ability of the Angle Light to replace the traditional pin-spot in regards to lighting, what makes the concept of this new system so special? Why are we asking you to open your minds to a new way of thinking? To understand the full concept and value of the System you have to look at the background of what we are changing and what opportunities we can "create" with this new innovation.

Let's compare... With a traditional Pin-Spot System, lighting 40 centerpieces with 2 lights per table, you will need a small team of techs that will start fairly early in the day to insure they are in place well before the rest of the vendors have arrived, such as the florists etc. With traditional lights you will be transporting hundreds, sometimes thousands of pounds of lights, road cases, power cable, heavy duty air-wall track clamps, dimming systems, control boards, tape to secure wire down, and don't forget the rental of the lifts to raise people and lights to the venue ceiling. And by the way, you need a fairly large truck to get all this gear to the venue, so add this in the mix of huge expenses.

In contrast... To achieve the same result with the Angle Light System, you will need to transport 4 cases of 20 lights, each weighing about 30 pounds, and one ladder will do since the fixtures are so light weight. No lift needed! One box of "snap" clips for the air-wall track, or if possible, attach direct magnetically to the ceiling with the light itself. And that's it, go park your car so you can start setting up! (no need for a truck since the cases are so light and small). One or two techs will be fine, and no need to show up 10 hours early since it will only take you about and hour to get the lights in place and just a few minutes to focus when the centerpieces are placed.

This true-to-life scenario is just scraping the surface of what we are trying to explain as a "new way of thinking". Imagine for a second how this will change the way many of you structure your staffing, transportation needs, interactions with the venue and other vendors, competitive price points you can offer etc. Imagine how you can adapt this lighting concept and capability to many different venues and then watch the market around you expand 50 fold as you find endless ways in-which you can adapt the "Angle Light" into each new space. For some of you, it will allow new companies to form launching your career in a totally new direction. In short, everything... is about to change!

We will keep you up to date as we develop and launch new adapters and tools to help you integrate the Angle Light System into more venues and events. It will be an exciting ride that we are proud to be part of. We look forward to getting to know many great event professionals that will invest in this new capability and grow with us. You can look forward to many great additions to our family of light systems, we have some amazing concepts that will follow the Angle Light we are sure you will be equally excited about.

Thank you for taking the time to read our first post and getting to know us a little bit. Check back often for more updates, images and info regarding our newest lighting innovations.

Sincerely,


Paul Therrien ( Lighting Designer / Principal Light Developer )