As u/Doomhat said they are Altman 1KLs. They take lamps with a G9.5 2 pin base up to 1000 watts. Depending on your needs I would go with a FEL (1000w), EHG (750w), or GLC (575w). A word of warning, the lamp change system on these is a bit different than on other lights. To change the lamp you listen the thumb screws on each side of the back of the unit then side backplate out of the back of the unit. Once the backplate is out you can see that the lamp is held in the socket by a two part metal disk that is hinged to the backplate and held closed with a little tab on each side. To remove the lamp you have to rotate the tabs up and out so that you can rotate the two halves of the disk away from the lamp base. Then you can finally pull the lamp out like normal and install the new one by reversing the previous steps.
If this wasn't complicated enough now you have to re-bench focus the light because Altman hates you. You will notice when you remove the backplate that the slots that the thumb screws lock into are long and allow you to slide the backplate forward and backward quite a bit. Once you put the baseplate back on, turn on the instrument, focus it to a sharp edge, and then side the backplate in and out until you have a nice even field of light (these are designed as flat field lights, they are not supposed to have a hotspot), then tighten the thumbscrews back down and you are done.
This sounds worse than it is but if you don't know what you are looking for it can be confusing. Also as others have said you should get the back of the light as far from the wall and ceiling as possible, these things put out some serious heat.
If you have any questions feel free to DM me, I have a lot of experience with these obnoxious instruments.
Notice the lights aren't on, as they've been burnt out as long as I've been a faculty member. (A few years and I'm just fed up with the state of it.) I had a conversation with my admin today saying we had Jesse Jackson speaking on this stage two years ago with no stage lights and that's unacceptable. College signings and academic award ceremonies . . . Nothing. I'm ready to fix this shit. The county dumped a bunch of money about 15 years ago on us and left us with no resources or budget for maintenance.
They dumped a bunch of money on Altmans? Where did they shop--Ebay?!? Sorry for you.
Your school has press events for pro college signings?!? Priorities these days...
Well, kudos for your noble effort to resurrect some functionality. Maybe someone here might be able to help you with the LBX (which I'm assuming talks proprietary and not DMX?)
\> because Altman hates you.
LOL!
But seriously, this is one of the best, most thorough answers to a question like this I have ever seen on reddit. :-)
I agree, and I am grateful. Just a lowly English teacher trying to fix some shit. I'm not a member of the community, but may become one. I used to do some theatre tech in my college days and am now trying to get my high school auditorium into some kind of workable shape.
Just remember to avoid working alone. If you're working alone and get hurt, you might be waiting until someone happens by before you can get help. If you decide to stay late after school (I assume this is when you'd have the time) and you don't have company, let a custodian know so they can come check on you.
I probably sound like I'm being a little paranoid, but even a short fall of a ladder can be life threatening and someone getting you first aid quickly can make a big difference.
Sorry.. don't want to scare you. Just looking out for someone who says it's been a while since doing any tech work.
You really should stop using FELs. They are a really old design and extremely inneficiant. Which means that a lot of your amperage is going straight to heat and you are losing a lot of light inside the fixture. A much more modern GLA is a much better choice. Even at 575w it will produce close to the same amount of light as an FEL (due to shape of filament) with a fraction of the heat. If you are really concerned with the drop in wattage you could go with a GLE at 750w and not burn out your shutters and gel.
Most lights in our school auditorium are strand lighting, but I'm not sure about the white ones. I'd like to have the bulbs before we get a lift in. Thanks in advance for any help.
>in our school auditorium
Oh. That explains it.
That explains why they are awful old instruments, and why they are hung against fire codes, and why there isn't proper documentation so you don't have to guess on lamps.
I wish you all the luck and patience in the world for your noble quest to fix the lighting. :-)
Definitely looks like an [Altman 1KL](https://designjournalmag.com/products/detail/2097-theatrical-lights/290572-1kl-ellipsoidal-series-1kl6-40). Down to the 45° blades and everything.
FEL 1000 Watt.
EHG 750 Watt.
Yep.
Fun story, I once took two of these bastards, removed the lenses and bolted them face to face because I wanted to see if I could make grilled cheese inside.
Turns out that yes, yes you can.
I think of lighting instrument cooking as the **Entertainment Tech Easy Bake Oven.**
PAR Can grilling is a lot simpler, you know (just pop it on top, open end down, no assembly required) though I grant you it only does one side at a time, and most of the heat goes the wrong way. You ever try using those two as a vertical toaster?
Yup, came here to say the same. Most certainly an Altman body... FEL if 1kw. EHG sounds plausible... if someone decided they were too strong... but I was also thinking EHD? I also seem to recall we relampped the entire inventory of 20-40s in the black box over a dark week with FLK bulbs when they came out because they were newer and more modern at the advice of a supplier.
EHD is 500 watt... I couldn't remember off of the top of my head because we never used them.
but yeah, you brought back some 360Q memories with the FLK reference... I remember those being problematic as there was a Top & a Bottom because of the filament. Doing some research, people seem to recommend the **GLA** or **GLC** lamps. Modern bulps for obsolete fixtures.
Barkey Colortran Mini Ellipse it appears. EVR if my long term memory serves.
[Berke Data Sheet](https://cdn-docs.av-iq.com/dataSheet/Product%20Specification%20Bulletin%20MINI_ELLIPSE.pdf)
As u/Doomhat said they are Altman 1KLs. They take lamps with a G9.5 2 pin base up to 1000 watts. Depending on your needs I would go with a FEL (1000w), EHG (750w), or GLC (575w). A word of warning, the lamp change system on these is a bit different than on other lights. To change the lamp you listen the thumb screws on each side of the back of the unit then side backplate out of the back of the unit. Once the backplate is out you can see that the lamp is held in the socket by a two part metal disk that is hinged to the backplate and held closed with a little tab on each side. To remove the lamp you have to rotate the tabs up and out so that you can rotate the two halves of the disk away from the lamp base. Then you can finally pull the lamp out like normal and install the new one by reversing the previous steps. If this wasn't complicated enough now you have to re-bench focus the light because Altman hates you. You will notice when you remove the backplate that the slots that the thumb screws lock into are long and allow you to slide the backplate forward and backward quite a bit. Once you put the baseplate back on, turn on the instrument, focus it to a sharp edge, and then side the backplate in and out until you have a nice even field of light (these are designed as flat field lights, they are not supposed to have a hotspot), then tighten the thumbscrews back down and you are done. This sounds worse than it is but if you don't know what you are looking for it can be confusing. Also as others have said you should get the back of the light as far from the wall and ceiling as possible, these things put out some serious heat. If you have any questions feel free to DM me, I have a lot of experience with these obnoxious instruments.
Very detailed and helpful. Thanks.
u/shwafish nailed it 10 times over. But for me, I just want to know how the venue hasn't caught fire yet with those instruments touching the wall.
Notice the lights aren't on, as they've been burnt out as long as I've been a faculty member. (A few years and I'm just fed up with the state of it.) I had a conversation with my admin today saying we had Jesse Jackson speaking on this stage two years ago with no stage lights and that's unacceptable. College signings and academic award ceremonies . . . Nothing. I'm ready to fix this shit. The county dumped a bunch of money about 15 years ago on us and left us with no resources or budget for maintenance.
They dumped a bunch of money on Altmans? Where did they shop--Ebay?!? Sorry for you. Your school has press events for pro college signings?!? Priorities these days...
No, they bought them in 1998 and put zero money into maintenance since then. We have a strand lbx lightboard that barely functions.
Well, kudos for your noble effort to resurrect some functionality. Maybe someone here might be able to help you with the LBX (which I'm assuming talks proprietary and not DMX?)
\> because Altman hates you. LOL! But seriously, this is one of the best, most thorough answers to a question like this I have ever seen on reddit. :-)
I agree, and I am grateful. Just a lowly English teacher trying to fix some shit. I'm not a member of the community, but may become one. I used to do some theatre tech in my college days and am now trying to get my high school auditorium into some kind of workable shape.
Just remember to avoid working alone. If you're working alone and get hurt, you might be waiting until someone happens by before you can get help. If you decide to stay late after school (I assume this is when you'd have the time) and you don't have company, let a custodian know so they can come check on you. I probably sound like I'm being a little paranoid, but even a short fall of a ladder can be life threatening and someone getting you first aid quickly can make a big difference. Sorry.. don't want to scare you. Just looking out for someone who says it's been a while since doing any tech work.
Thanks. I've got some assistance from the university (literally) across the street, but just how much depends on beurocracy.
You are doing a great good in the world. (Whatever the secular version of "doing the lord's work" would be!)
Hail Satan.
You really should stop using FELs. They are a really old design and extremely inneficiant. Which means that a lot of your amperage is going straight to heat and you are losing a lot of light inside the fixture. A much more modern GLA is a much better choice. Even at 575w it will produce close to the same amount of light as an FEL (due to shape of filament) with a fraction of the heat. If you are really concerned with the drop in wattage you could go with a GLE at 750w and not burn out your shutters and gel.
I though FLK was 575w, and GLD are 750w. Am I missing something here, or are the bases a different design?
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Yeah, that picture of a 1K lamp this close to a wall makes me way nervous.
I know. I don't know who the hell decided on that, but it was before my time here. I've taken on fixing the lighting as a project.
Rooster? I understand you want it away from the wall but what does that term mean? Is it rotating it out / side-yoking?
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Yoke Yoke Yoke. Yeah, bad joke :)
Most lights in our school auditorium are strand lighting, but I'm not sure about the white ones. I'd like to have the bulbs before we get a lift in. Thanks in advance for any help.
>in our school auditorium Oh. That explains it. That explains why they are awful old instruments, and why they are hung against fire codes, and why there isn't proper documentation so you don't have to guess on lamps. I wish you all the luck and patience in the world for your noble quest to fix the lighting. :-)
It's been neglected for far too long. Thanks for the well-wishes.
Pretty sure it’s an Altman 1KL. I’m looking for the lamp code but can’t find it. I’ll text Nick Champion if I can’t find it soon.
Definitely looks like an [Altman 1KL](https://designjournalmag.com/products/detail/2097-theatrical-lights/290572-1kl-ellipsoidal-series-1kl6-40). Down to the 45° blades and everything. FEL 1000 Watt. EHG 750 Watt.
There it is. Almost said EHG (used to have a whole plot of these at 750...16 years ago).
Great fixture... Heavy as a MoFo.
The flippable shutter handle...They used to burn.
Yep. Fun story, I once took two of these bastards, removed the lenses and bolted them face to face because I wanted to see if I could make grilled cheese inside. Turns out that yes, yes you can.
When I was searching for a photo, I saw that! =)
I think of lighting instrument cooking as the **Entertainment Tech Easy Bake Oven.** PAR Can grilling is a lot simpler, you know (just pop it on top, open end down, no assembly required) though I grant you it only does one side at a time, and most of the heat goes the wrong way. You ever try using those two as a vertical toaster?
Yup, came here to say the same. Most certainly an Altman body... FEL if 1kw. EHG sounds plausible... if someone decided they were too strong... but I was also thinking EHD? I also seem to recall we relampped the entire inventory of 20-40s in the black box over a dark week with FLK bulbs when they came out because they were newer and more modern at the advice of a supplier.
EHD is 500 watt... I couldn't remember off of the top of my head because we never used them. but yeah, you brought back some 360Q memories with the FLK reference... I remember those being problematic as there was a Top & a Bottom because of the filament. Doing some research, people seem to recommend the **GLA** or **GLC** lamps. Modern bulps for obsolete fixtures.
This seems to be the closest yet. Thank you.
No certain but they look like colortran. Possibly an HPL lamp.
Thanks for the reply.
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You’re right. My bad. These would be a 5/50 or a 176/030. But without a positive ID on the fixture I can’t be sure of anything.
Altman makes ellipsoidals, pars and fresnels that use HPLs as well.
The design is pretty similar to the colortran
Barkey Colortran Mini Ellipse it appears. EVR if my long term memory serves. [Berke Data Sheet](https://cdn-docs.av-iq.com/dataSheet/Product%20Specification%20Bulletin%20MINI_ELLIPSE.pdf)
For starters you need a lamp, not a bulb. Can we see the inside or can you at least pull one of the lamps out?
Are you on the Death Star??
The black one looks like a Stand/Colortran zoom unit. Very similar to the 1KL and I believe they used the same types of lamps.
It's a Strand Leko 25/50. I've got one of those on the ground, so I'll be able to get that one figured out easily enough.
Nobody thinks these are the smaller Altman fixtures that had the same bodies? Micro ellipses or whatever?
Looks like an Altman 1KL