Lighting

[voet]

I recently purchased a Content Pastorale D5800. It has four lights--two for the music desk and two for the pedal. The manual stipulates that the bulbs should be 12 volts 5 Watts tube type lamps. I have searched everywhere to find this size, but so far have not been able to find them. I have sent an email to Content in the Netherlands to see if they sell them, however, even if I can replace them, they will not be giving much light.

I wonder if I could change over to LED strip lighting. I found a source online that says they have LED strip lighting with an input voltage of 12 VDC and consumes 2.92 Watts per foot. I assume that if I used 20 inches it would consume 5 watts.

I know very little about such an endeavor, but I know that many readers of this forum have such expertise. Can any one (or more) of you please advise me if you think this is a possible fix. Also, who would I need to contact to perform the switch--an electrician or an electronic organ tech?

Any help will be appreciated.

[Leisesturm]

I recently purchased a Content Pastorale D5800. It has four lights--two for the music desk and two for the pedal. The manual stipulates that the bulbs should be 12 volts 5 Watts tube type lamps. I have searched everywhere to find this size, but so far have not been able to find them. I have sent an email to Content in the Netherlands to see if they sell them, however, even if I can replace them, they will not be giving much light.

I wonder if I could change over to LED strip lighting. I found a source online that says they have LED strip lighting with an input voltage of 12 VDC and consumes 2.92 Watts per foot. I assume that if I used 20 inches it would consume 5 watts.

I know very little about such an endeavor, but I know that many readers of this forum have such expertise. Can any one (or more) of you please advise me if you think this is a possible fix. Also, who would I need to contact to perform the switch--an electrician or an electronic organ tech?

Any help will be appreciated.

I also know little about the minutiae of strip lights but I do know about lighting legacy organ consoles. I googled your instrument. Is it the 'en fenetre' style console? The one that looks like a Baroque tracker organ console without the pipes? If yes strip lighting under the keydesk might be a possibility but I wonder how well it would work at the top of the case. I also wonder how well it will work to try and use the 12v power supplied by the organ. If you look at Home Depot or another Home Improvement website you can find strip lighting powered by 120v AC. Myself I bought a small self-stick 20 LED strip to serve as a temporary solution while I look into something more permanent. There are a number of clip on solutions for conventional music racks. If yours is the console I think it is you might be able to find LED equivalents for the incandescent bulbs. I doubt they will have compatible bulb bases. Two fixtures is IMO not ideal. Three would be better. If you can supply some pictures of your console or links to pictures that would be great. Close-ups of the bulbs and sockets even better.

[voet]

Here is a picture of the console:


You can see the lights reflecting on the music rack. There are two there and two for the pedal.

[jbird604]

I've installed this little LED unit as a pedal light on several consoles, both for customers and in my own home organ. It gives plenty of light, more than most original pedal lights. Installation is simple, it plugs into a switched AC source inside the organ. If you don't have regular AC plugs inside the console, you can parallel it with the main power transformer with a couple of wire nuts. Costs less than $10.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Utilitech-2...ght/1000086107

This unit may not be attractive enough to put up top to light your music desk, but places like Lowe's have lots of models of LED lights to choose from. These are made for mounting underneath the upper cabinets in a kitchen to light the countertop, but they work well for organ lighting too, if you can find a style that looks good enough for you.

[voet]

Once again the collective wisdom of the Organ Forum comes through. Thank you Liesesturm and John.

I contacted Content in the Netherlands and they will sell bulbs to me, but this will still be 5 Watt bulbs that provide minimal light. I think I would like to upgrade the lighting in the manner that you both suggest. If there is an internal plug (is this common?), I will try to use that. however when you say,

If you don't have regular AC plugs inside the console, you can parallel it with the main power transformer with a couple of wire nuts.

this is beyond my expertise. I would not want to short something out. I might be able to snake the cord to an outlet next to the organ.

I have to go to Lowes later anyway to return the bulbs they sold me that are the wrong size.

Thank you both for your help. I will let you know how this all turns out.

Bill

[voet]

An update on the lighting issue. Content did reply to my earlier email. The bulbs cost 2 Euros each, which is not too bad. However, the price to ship by DHL is 85 Euros, over $100 USD. Regular shipping is 15 Euros, so for 8 bulbs it would cost me 31 Euros. I decided that I do not want to go through this every time I need bulbs, so I went with John's recommendation and installed the LED puck lights. They provide more light than the 5 Watt bulbs and hopefully will not need to replaced anytime soon.

Bill

[Piperdane]

I did this for the pedal lighting at my former church. The old light was a fluorescent bulb and the starter quit.
Replaced it with a LED strip of 20 lamps and plugged it into an unused AC outlet.

Since I use an iPad Pro for 95% of my music, having a music desk lamp is not really needed.

[jbird604]

I love LED's and always try to get a customer to upgrade to them if their old pedal lamp goes bad. Even if the old incandescent lamp just burns out it's sometimes more economical to install a new LED puck light, and it will last forever. The LED units also generate very little heat and use very little electricity.