I’d love more info on the power control circuitry for this hack, and to know how the ballasts were integrated (or removed/replace with something better).

The only thing I got out of the second video was ‘very bright’

I think my german suffices.

I’m curious how they overcame issue of start-up delay on those type of tubes. Do they have to be warmed up first before they work reliably or is that a ballast issue? (which I assume they have built custom electronic ballasts)

I’m a huge fan of bright lights.. I’ve been doing high wattage LED projects that you can call “art” – I think the art part of this is how intensely bright it is and the control they have over those fluorescent (dimming a fluorescent can be very difficult using triacs)

If you ever build a project involving high brightness, you’ll come to love it. It’s exhilarating.

PS. I built an RGB array of 8 3W RGB LED’s, and I made three of them for parties. Not one friend thought it wasn’t the most awesome thing they saw anyone build, and all of them said “its too bright, but so awesome!”

Finaly, now I can build my giant calculator!

@David Murray I wanna know that too, this is similar to a project I had thought of, but I never quite figured out how to avoid the start-up flickering, and how to get the dimming to work.

@Orv : servers have a real use… this thing has no usage, and it doesn’t even look nice.

182 x 32 = 5824 watts with ballast
182 x 35 = 6370 watts

Where does the 10,000 watts come from?

@loans:

I translated it if you’re interested:

So i just want to announce todays success.
As you can see its very bright in here.
And that’s because all 128 tubes …
[From the off: 182]
… all 182 tubes are working and obey our commands
… and can be switched on and off.
Everything ist still pretty makeshift here at the “Paloma5″ office,
but the day after tomorrow we’re off to the “Club Transmediale”,
where they [the tubes] will be placed in a more adequate setting.
We will make some more videos there.

10KW (and more) lights are used fairly regularly on film shoots. That’s 10KW for a single light. They’re usually HMI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrargyrum_medium-arc_iodide_lamp but you can get incandescent ones.

I like the idea, but all I got from the video was that the person operating the video camera was a dud.

@Rachel

Seriously. It looked like there were atomic bombs detonating every 3 seconds.

I’m guessing you have to see it in person to really appreciate it. I don’t think a crappy camera and youtube is going to be quite the same.

@ajoakim: Do your numbers represent operating power consumption, or peak power? Peak power, particularly when you turn the tubes on, could easily burn 10kW.

10 000 Watts! Those tubes won’t live long.
Also i don’t like stuff/art that uses too much energy or resources. It is a reflection or an expression of the artists, but still; i’m not putting up a gigawatt tesla tower because i like lightning. Some things should remain the artist’s dream.

That has to be the stupidest idea ever. fluorescent lights are not meant to be turned on and off that often. It will kill them very fast. Ever notice that fluorescent lights in bathrooms die faster, then say in your living room…even though they are not on as long as the ones in the living room. It is because they are not meant to be turned off and on often. I hope they recycle them correctly..lots of mercury in those things.

oh also

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:16segment_animated.gif

listed on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen-segment_display

it can display thai numerals and persian letters as well

Check this piece from UVA instead, way cooler:
http://www.uva.co.uk/archives/88

I’m going to go ahead and say Daft Punk beat these guys to their own idea…four years ago. google daft punk coachella.

http://www.IAMDISPLAY.com

is the final outcome of the project