Thread: Black light challange

Here I go again with questions to do with my Ohio State Park haunted triail.By the way it is called the "Trail of Lost Souls". I would like to add some black lighting to some of my displays. I have no access to electricity.I'm not sure if there are battery poerated lights out there. and if so how they work and where to find them,or if there are other choices. I have thought of LEDs, but not sure how they would work. Sure could use some serious help. My trail is two weeks before Halloween, so i'm down to crunch time!!!Thanks, Rick

I know you can buy battery powered 19 inch (might be 24 inch) fluorescent lights. So you should be able to replace the white fluorescent bulb with a black one. Also Walmart and K mart carries small battery powered fluorescent black lights (during Halloween). But they probably wont put out much light.

Your best bet would be to use a small generator. Check pawn shops and see if you can find a deal. Over the course of 2 weeks, you'll spend a LOT of money on batteries.

If the generator is to expensive, try using a power inverter. You should be able to run a lot of Black lights on a 300 watt inverter (about 30 bucks at Big Lots) and a car battery. You would need to recharge the battery each night. Or if you find the 12vdc battery powered fluorescent black lights. You could run them from a car battery.

Or you can get a power supply that plug into AC and charges up the batteries inside. You can then run AC off the power supply. Some people uses these for their PC. If the electric goes out (storm) the power supply kicks on and powers their PC. I just saw one a the thrift store, the other day. The man in front of me picked it up before I could get to it......5 bucks. I don't have any ideal what a new one would cost.

The generator Idea is good. but the Idea for the power supply for the computer is bad which is referred to as a UPS they only last for 20 minutes usually I also know that there are black light LEDS but not sure how much ligt they let off.

Just my 2 cents

This is what I would use instead of battery powered black lights

http://www.homier.com/detail.asp?Ses...cat=&sku=04769

This might be alot of work to be used over 2 weeks but for my holloween display I use emergancy lighting. Most of these are rated for anywhere from 2-6 hours and come in all forms from flourencent to spot/flood. draw back is that they would have to be taken down and plugged in evey night for charging.

What about out door solar lights?
I've seen blue ones that give off an eerie light and they are rechargable.

That power inverter looks like u could hook it up to your car. There´s your generator. Plus, cars run alot more quiet than a generator. You could convert a diesel car to biodiesel and run it all night and spend pennies for the fuel..muhaha!!

Any concerns or problems with using blacklight spotlights, tubes or other fixtures outside? Are they OK if they get rained on? I'm thinking of splurging on a professional blacklight, either Chauvet Shadow 125 watt or Elation 100 watt Wash Light. Any thoughts? Thanks for the advice!

What kind of "area" are you needing to cover with blacklight?

As in:
Will a scare-actor that's moving around need to have a constant source of blacklight on them?

or

Are you just looking at illuminating a couple of stationary props (very little area of movement...if any)



I am a fan of yard-lighting power supplies and LED's...they're meant for outdoor use, you can run that power cord for hundreds of feet if you need to, and you can literally hook dozens and dozens of LED's into even the smallest power supply - HUNDREDS into a somewhat larger supply.

and LED's can run off of a battery, if you need (up in a tree or way off the power line)



If you only need "spot" blacklight illumination, the LED's may be the way to go (they DO need to be within a couple of feet of the prop to give decent illumination)...

but if you need "area" blacklight, then you'll want the tubes/whatever...



...and that's just a suggestion from this side of the pumpkin patch...

Just remember electric & water don't usually mix.
Not only for the sake of the fixture but, also at the electrical connection. Try to give your lights some kind of coverage protection from the weather. Where the fixture end meets the electrical cord, would cover it with electrial tape, wrap a piece of plactic or duct tape a plastic bag around the connection to keep dry.