Reviving historic lights
Singapore, 3rd September 2014
While the ballroom T&C is coming to a close and everything is falling into place, as it always does in the end, I can start moving my attention to other project issues. I have another 5 speaking commitments over the next few months (two this month!) so that needs some attention in terms of preparation, I have got my regular column for Lighting Today magazine to write as well as some project feature articles. Besides that some more fee proposals and some recently started projects that need some conceptual brain storming.
What stands out today is the search for the revitalisation of some historic lights that date probably back to the early part of last century, the early 1900’s. That sounds really old and if you see the picture that was dug out from the state library you can see it is really something unique, very crafty. I doubt that these can still be made today but we will at least try to restore them as best as possible and reinstate the original glass globe crafted in the shape of a flame. Our challenge will be to integrate the latest LED technology in an inconspicuous way leaving people to wonder how the light is created…
The project is in Perth and we have sourced some handy crafts people that still hand blow glass to these kind of shapes. We will visit them next week to research ways to integrate the light and also make a final choice on the type and intricacies of the glass. There are many ways to do that so we look forward to that interaction. For now I am first researching the lamp technology that can potentially be used in this very interesting application! It’s nice to work on something out of the ordinary!
Light watch 5-146: Pictures of some of the site lamps as well as some historic images from how it supposedly looked and how some look now
Part of the problem
Singapore, 2nd September 2014
Some projects have problems written all over them from start to finish and though we sort of know the projects are high profile and we are keen to participate because we know it is a good reference to have. We are a business and we do look at building a portfolio of projects that is respectable and admirable. The majority of our projects have good and respectful clients, may not all good paymasters but all within acceptable limits and certainly with enough satisfaction to work on. Let’s not forget we like what we do, it’s our passion so enjoying the day to day work is key for our motivation and longevity.
Sometimes however we get ourselves entangled in a web of problems which is mostly caused by large companies that delegate the day to day running to desk clerks with little or no real experience in professional project work. The result is a continuous frustration from both sides. Ours because we feel they scrutinise every nuts and bolts (because they don’t understand) and what the smallest of issues to be clarified (because they have report to their bosses and want to cover their backs). This results in endless communications and very time consuming work, often repetitive or abortive. Inability to make decisions (lack of understanding) or making late decisions (lack of experience) with no real authority is often the root cause of project chaos.
We had another such chaos on one of our Malaysian projects. The project management called for attendance in Kuala Lumpur for the opening of a tender and then requested the consultants to stay in attendance for 3 days to review the submissions, then prepare any questions to the tenderer and then interview the tenderers with the questions. Reason being used that the tender documents are confidential and company policy dictates they are not to be leaving the clients building…really? Anyhow the meetings were called last only a few days ago and after some negotiation and rescheduling we managed to get one of our team to go, scheduled departure early tomorrow morning, flight ticket issued. To our surprise (no not really…) they sent out a cancellation just now postponing the tender until further notice due to a discrepancy between the tender documentation and the clients brief.
As this is a combined tender that not only includes lighting but also building and landscaping works we have no idea really what that discrepancy might be because all our tender documents were already submitted long time ago without any comments…it’s just the sheer chaos and wasted time that is really driving us crazy. Working like this is utterly frustrating and “part of the problem”
Light watch 5-145: Some more from the ballroom after some colour testing and further programming today
Part of the solution
Singapore, 1st September 2014
I am getting a bit easier on myself and after a long day Friday could not muster the energy to write my blog, even more, during the weekend I had other things on my mind so I left it…writing a blog daily for the last 5 years is starting to take its “toll” and I am seriously thinking of either reducing it to a weekly affair or get guest writers to take over…I am thinking about it and if any of you out there have any suggestion please share with me.
So workwise this weekend and today was still in the sign of commissioning our hotel project here in Singapore; Stage 1 being the ballroom, the pre-function and the pavilion, a function venue. I already said a lot about the dimming issue so the end of that story is that we need to re-circuit and reconfigure the dimming design to make sure it is compatible with the load requirements. While nobody really wants to point fingers, the dimming specialist in my opinion was really caught out pants down. Anyhow we talked it through and really we all want to be part of the solution so we worked out how to best rectify the situation. While we wait for the additional active loads to be delivered to site someone had the bright idea to install incandescent lamps into the circuit (acting as a resistive load) as a temporary solution…one for prosperity! The total load of the lamps (hidden in the ceWhiling) is higher then the load of the whole chandelier, but what the heck, it is a temporary solution as the show must go on.
Today we started with the testing and programming of our scene setting, but half way through we were sent home as the hotel had hired a camera crew for a promotional photoshoot, so back tomorrow. We have not yet tested all the show colours and some of the scenes have yet to be adjusted from our original dimming schedules. As you all know there is a difference between measured output and perceived output so we are now adjusting the dimming settings from measured to what we would really like to see…
Light watch 5-144: Here are the first pictures see the changes from last Friday and this morning!
1-Ball room Friday
2- Ball room this morning
3- Pre-function Friday
4- Pre-function this morning
5- The legendary dimmer with the incandescent bulbs in the ceiling! One for the memory books!
6- Some preliminary shots during the scene setting
The handshake project
Singapore, 28th August 2014
We get new projects in many different ways. Most of our projects come through referrals, which we find really beneficial as we are obviously recommended by others to potential clients looking for a professional lighting designer. The referral generally means that some ground work was already done by the person referring us by highly recommending our services through previous experiences. Those who refer us to potential clients are either existing clients, project consultants that we have worked for as well as friendly suppliers and manufacturers that have successfully cooperated with us on projects. The last group is a bit sensitive as the recommendation implies they are doing us a favour, which generally means they want some favours in return…
A growing part of our new projects come from people finding us through the internet, Facebook, our website or the “yellow pages”. We also found that being out there in the public realm, through magazine articles, seminars and other lighting related events. This blog and my recently published book has also helped establish ourselves as a reputable firm. Occasionally we get a direct project through the “boss to boss” contact, where I meet with the CEO of a company we have dealt with before and we shake hands there and then on a project that he wants me to do. That happened yesterday. I call these the handshake projects. We discuss and agree on the scope and fees on the spot and seal that with a handshake. Fee proposals are sent later as a formality for confirmation. Handshake projects are generally good as they intimate a high level of trust and respect supported by the highest authority in the client company. Of course you need to deliver then but with the trust and respect integrated in such project, the motivation to give it your best is sky high. After yesterday’s handshake, my kick of meeting is tomorrow! How good is that!
Light watch 5-143: Getting projects like that is as fast a s flipping a light switch…Here is a different look at switches
Is the dimmer specialist always right?
Singapore, 27th August 2014
I keep on talking about this issue as it has really dominated this week’s proceedings. Inevitably it came to a head collision today during the site meeting as the cat came out of the bag. Only a few days from handover and the dimming system is not performing as it should because of many issues, predominantly the fact that the dimming system does not have enough capacity. There are some other (minor issues typical to E27 LED lamps) but the circuit overload is the main thing. Basically and simply said the system design is insufficient to handle the quantity of lamps.
The meeting today was to put everything on the table and while the intent was not really to blame but find solutions, it was inevitable that some people wanted to cover their buts by washing their hands of the issue…it was n’t them. To me with all the facts known now it is clear and simple. It was known to all parties which lamp was being used and the quantities that need to be controlled. The actual circuit design and dimming equipment specification was derived from our control schedules and lighting layout plans that show the groupings. The dimming specialist is the one who had all the knowledge and expertise to address this and advise the team about the requirements. However somehow they have been sleeping or lulled into a false belief that they could sort it out because at no time did anyone from their company flag the issue that they had insufficient capacity.
The reality is that they probably realised when it was too late and all equipment already installed and when the dimming problems started and tried every trick from the book to blame it on others. The problem for us is that the dimming technology for LED is very complex and you need some sort of degree to really comprehend everything so we heavily rely on their expertise to lead and direct us. Because they talk the jargon we are led to believe they know everything and they are right , so when they start to blame the lamp for all the problems everyone believes them, as happened today. And while their certainly may be better lamps on the market the truth is that the dimming system should be designed to suit the lamp and putting the blame on the lamp is an unprofessional way to solve a problem.
Light watch 5-142: Some more…
Perceived versus measured light
Singapore, 26th August 2014
One of the great misunderstandings when it comes to appreciating dimming and the dimmed lighting effect is that there is a difference between the visible appreciation of light and the actual measured output. Heaps of studies have actually been carried out over the years to research how people appreciate the dimmed lighting levels of lighting in comparison to what is actually measured with a meter at the dimming equipment. In the latest IES Handbook there is even a section dedicated to this and giving approximate values for these differences. It says that a perceived dimmed lighting level of 50% of the full light output equates to a measured 32% output from the dimming system. Likewise if the perceived lighting level is about 10% of the original level this equates to about 2% of the measured output. These are quite significant differences.
It also explains the constant discussions (and arguments) on site in regards to what we see and what is actually being achieved. Time and again we ask the programmer for 50% dimming level for instance and while the programmer thinks in measured levels, we as lighting designers obviously think in visible/ perceived lighting levels. The same is found back in our dimming control schedules. When we list 50% as desired lighting level, we mean 50% visibly perceived lighting levels, but end up on site with perhaps 70 or 80% in perceived levels (being 50% of measured output levels). So in the end we always end up tweaking and reprogramming as it is tough to really nail it down as a theoretical or numerical listing. As I have stated so often we do not design for lux or any other type of meters, we design for people and hence we need to design and program the lights as we perceive it, not as we measure it. The “eyes” have it 🙂
Light watch 5-141: Lighting is always mysterious if it is invisible; if we don’t know really where it comes from…I love that
Leading or trailing?
Singapore, 25th August 2014
And it keeps going on…It seems the so called dimming specialists don’t really know what to do either! I have been studying the LED dimming technology a bit the last few days as I have come under the distinct feeling the some of the dimming manufacturers (at least their field representatives we rely on for feedback, advise and support) do not really all know what they are doing. I even wonder if they really understand the issues at hand? I am still puzzled and confused and no-one has really been able to properly clarify what’s really going on. I have had several follow up emails and discussions today and if anything I feel even more confused and in need of understanding myself exactly what it is that we need to look out for as one thing is for sure the advise (or lack of it) that I have been receiving so far from the “specialists” has left us with an installation totally unsuitable to dim the E27 LED lamps in our chandeliers.
By now it is universally clear that dimming LED is totally different from dimming incandescent lamps, that we all agree. From what I understand the LED’s have a varying power factor performance and do not draw similar input currents, so they are not a really reliable reference for the demands they put on the dimmer, it varies per type of LED source! Over the last couple of days I found out that the system circuitry design is not suitable for LED as we have too many lamps on one circuit (you would think that is elementary, don’t you?) and the rush in current spikes reach well over the system capacity. That is why dimming recommendations generally apply the 10% rule because of the inconsistent and unpredictable current spikes that occur, again you would think that is elementary design knowledge, right? Not so here as it now appears.
Then this LED E27 technology needs to be dimmed with either trailing or leading edge, where it has appeared that trailing edge works better with LED rather then leading edge that we have which is generally used for conventional technology. Again basic knowledge one would think. That’s why over the last few days I have become really disappointed with the dimming specialists we had been working which, it looks like they are not leading but trailing behind!
Light watch 5-140: Dimming is crucial to create the proper mood…here some “moody” restaurants googled from the internet.
The LED dimming saga
Singapore, 22nd August 2014
The saga related to LED dimming problems keeps on going. I think that by now we can safely say that E27/ E14 based LED lamps cannot be dimmed by commercial dimming systems. At least not properly to low dimming levels required for social environments. Further to spending time on site earlier this week, I spent another couple of hours to understand and clarify the actual situation as I should say that we did our due diligence but as it turns out we have been dealing with in my opinion incompetent and possibly inexperienced dimming “specialists” who should have flagged the potential issues miles away.
With the continuing problems with the dimming and fingers pointing to us as having specified the lamps I started my own investigation to understand what is going on. First of all I sent around an email to the team asking them to stop referring to this as a lamp issue as there is technically nothing wrong with the lamp. Similarly there is nothing technically wrong with the dimming system! The issue here is the compatibility between the lamp and the dimming system and whether the dimming system is properly attuned to dim LED lamps. One of the key things we learned today is that as a rough rule of thumb the inductive current of the lamp circuit for LED’s should not be more than 10% of the dimming system load. In our case the dimming system has a 10 Amp rating which means that the circuit rating should be maximum 1 Amp. With the lamp wattage known that tells you how many lamps you can drive/dim per circuit. The dimmer was originally spec’d at 20Amps but some wise heads decided to reduce it to 10 Amps to save costs. Did someone flag the issue of quantities? Did someone flag that there were too many lamps on one circuit …No! No-one did.
You can argue that we should have kept an eye on this but as far as I am concerned that’s why we talk to experts in dimming. We have dealt with this many times, explain how and what needs to be dimmed together, what the type and loading schedules are per circuit, etc. The dimming expert then works out what system, how many modules, what capacity, etc., as this varies per brand and type. No one from the dimming company ever flagged a problem, even not when we were all happily testing and scratching our head why we were having these problems.
After todays round of research I found that the module types specified are not specifically suitable for LED (WHAT??), that the dimming design and model specification show it is not suitable for dimming the quantities and loads that is required (REALLY??). In my opinion a red face embarrassment for the dimming company… Have a great weekend
Light watch 5-139: I took some illustrations from a fairly recent LED’s magazine article and a section of comparison tables from the actual dimmer manufacturer that show that they are fully aware.
The change of China
Hong Kong, 21st August 2014
As I am still in Chinese territory I may as well continue on how I perceive life in Asia and in China particularly. As followers from my blog will now I am regularly in China/ Hong Kong (a bit less then I used to be, but that is just because I am taking it a bit easier and have a team on the ground in Shanghai), so I am experiencing the changes that are taking place in China comparing to what it used to be in the so called “early days”. I am talking about the way of doing business specifically. Most of you may be aware that the Chinese government is clamping down on corruption, or so they want people to believe. The truth is that old habits die hard and while it certainly happens less in the open, the Chinese are finding other ways around it.
Potential clients still need to be feted and the bigger the business often the bigger the “expectations”. Wining and dining, karaoke’s, girls, trips, gifts have and are still part of life in corporate business. Crackdowns however are focussed on the obvious and in-the-eye sort of activities, specifically when it comes to government officials. No longer can you invite them for dinner and drinks in restaurants or public places, now it all goes private and underground…but it still happens. Girls and gifts also do still happen but similarly not so much in the open anymore. While the new generation may frown on these practices it is the old generation who still keep these “traditions” (can we call it that?) alive.
In a recent discussion in regards to new business opportunities with an old hand in doing business in China, I was confronted with it again. You need to “invest” to get new business he was saying. While I was trying to tell him that we do business the straight forward way, he kept on hammering that I would need to make some financial provisions to lure the potential new clients our way. Not wanting to upset him I told him to first produce some serious contacts, before starting to rant about money even before we have moved into any action! In that respect I guess China will never change… 🙂
Light watch 5-138: Today everything is possible in China, never mind the quality…as long as it is LED
The rise of China
Guangzhou, 20th August 2014
I am in Guangzhou today to personally meet a potential lighting and dimming manufacturer that we plan to use in one of our China projects. I had an initial meeting with them about a month ago but decided that it was important to meet them on their home turf (their own offices and factories) to better assess the potential of this company. They are actually 2 companies working closely together, one the light fitting manufacturer the other the (lighting) control specialist. We had our principal meeting in the offices and showroom of the control systems company, allowing us first hand at plug and play to assess their capabilities.
China is undoubtedly a country on the rise when it comes to providing quality solutions for lighting. More and more companies are popping up eager to shed the image of shoddy “Chinese copy” work with high quality and innovative solutions. And what is more in most cases at extremely competitive prices. The key issue here is of course to compare apples with apples when it comes to assessing product quality and performance, but that is where more and more companies (with or without government grants and subsidies, that part is not clear) are popping up providing real quality solutions. I was today duly impressed with what I saw and even though I know that presenting demonstrations under factory conditions does not necessarily mean it will hold its ground in real life site situations, their relatively short but fast growing reference list of projects is certainly a testimony. I am approaching these project references for feedback and comments but it certainly looks like these companies are giving the established big boys a run for their money!
Both the light fitting and the lighting control systems manufacturer demonstrated a few important things to me. First, their awareness of fundamental quality criteria, they know what they talk about and their products are testimony of quality workmanship. I have been in many (Chinese) factories and offices over the years so I know one when I see one! Second, the quality and expert knowledge of their staff; you know when you talk with people who know their stuff or not. Last but not least the quality, neatness and organisation of their factory and office facilities, which is generally a reflection of the end product they produce. In this case it was certainly impressive leaving me with good hopes of having found some exciting new kids on the block. Next step is the set-up of a mock up on site to confirm its all for real!
Light watch 5-137: A little peek inside the control system company today
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