Halogen light indoors

[Hullguyuk]

I am an amateur photographer who is looking to build a "home studio" on a budget as the pro kits are silly money

It was suggested that a good way to start would be to get two 500W Halogen units (the £10 Argos ones) that are normally designed for security with a PIR sensor

Anyway, off I went and bought a couple thinking I would be able to just bring them back & plug 'em in (naive I know)

So my question to yee good folk is - are these okay to use indoors and how would I go about wiring them up so I can just plug them into a normal socket?

Many thanks

 

[pbar]

You can buy stands for those, I've seen people working in the dark using them, mechanics, builders and the like. It's simple enough to just wire a flex and plug to them. But those things get very hot, I don't know how safe they'd be indoors.

 

[TicklyT]

Just to ruin your day......
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/14558...-240V?cm_re=SEARCHPROMO-_-WORK LIGHT-_-14558#

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/11281...;jsessionid=NGHFBNF5JZ2JICSTHZPCFFQ?ts=40230#

Your lights should be OK, but they will get hot, so you won't want to leave them switched on and unattended.

Strain relief where the flex enters the lamps may be an issue if athey are not fitted with a clamp or cable gland.

Each lamp will draw over 2 Amps when running, and more than that on start-up. That's something to bear in mind when selecting the flex and appropriate fuses.

 

[breezer]

sorry to rain on your parade, but the lights are of little use to you, save your money.

Being halogen they are the wrong colour temp, yes you can buy filter gels to change the colour temp, but being halogen they get hot, very hot, and indoors they will soon make a small room very hot indeed, which is why photographers dont use them

why not buy your self a decent flash unit and a repeater (do they still make them?)