Theater Lighting Systems


Sky-Skan's planetarium cove lighting systems expand cove lighting beyond basic ambient lighting to a special effect in its own right. Our systems utilize standard red, green and blue bulb configurations to maintain seamless, colorful lighting around the dome springline.

Combining the unique controlling power of Sky-Skan's TARRAGON controllers and specially designed control modules, virtually any lighting sequences or color combination can be programmed through SPICE Automation. This includes, but is not limited to, variable speed chase sequences, marquee flashing and precision colored light wash placement on the dome's horizon for a variety of effects including sunrise and sunset, pure blue daytime skies and evening horizon glow.

Choose from our three styles of cove lighting systems to fulfill your theater's needs.


LED Cove Lighting

Sky-Skan's LED cove lighting system is available in quadrant control and one-foot control resolution options.

Alternating red, green and blue LEDs in convenient 12-inch units maintain colorful, saturated, seamless lighting around the dome springline. This system provides even, colorful washes and smooth fades due to its 16-bit architecture, with more than 16.7 million colors and 65,000 fade steps.

Each 12-inch module houses 45 LEDs (15 each of red, green and blue), offer extremely low operating temperatures and boasts 100,000 hours of lamp life.

Incandescent Cove Lighting

Alternating red, green and blue incandescent bulbs provide your theater with a warm, seamless, ambient lighting around the dome springline. bulbs are set on 3" centers in 48-inch light bars around the cove shelf area.

Halogen Cove Lighting

For those wanting the an alternative to both incandescent bulbs and LED lighting, Sky-Skan also offers halogen cove lighting systems. The advantages of halogen bulbs compared to standard incandescent bulbs include those listed to the right:

  
  1. Lamp life. Halogen lamps last an average 2,500 hours vs. incandescent lamps that lasts an average of 750-1500 hours. In addition, due to the "halogen cycle", the burning of the filament and returning of the tungsten particles to filament for "recycling" makes the halogen lamp maintain brightness longer than incandescent lamps.
  2. Color. Halogen colors look more vibrant and natural than colors produced by incandescent lamps. Halogen lamps have a CRI (Color Rendering Index) of nearly 100, almost equal to natural sunlight. In addition, the glass is painted all the way down to the base on the inside, so the color can't be scratched off.
  3. Brightness. Halogen gas burns brighter because the halogen gas allows the bulb to operate at higher temperatures.
  4. Energy savings. Halogen lamps have a higher lumens:watt ratio than incandescent lamps, which equals energy savings.

     
Just a few examples of the over 16 million color combinations possible with Sky-Skan's LED cove lighting systems

Comparison of Incandescent & LED Cove Lighting
 
LED
Incandescent
Halogen
Power draw per foot *
6 W
140 W
140 W
5 year bulb replacement costs **
$0.00
$8,736.00
$6,970.00
Lamp life (hours)
100,000
1,500
2,500
Uniform color across bulb manufacturing runs
Yes
No
Yes
Masking required
No
Yes
No
Required space (W x H)
3" x 3"
6" x 8"
6" x 8"
Distance from springline
3"
18"
18"
* Assuming four 35 W incandescent or halogen bulbs and one 12-inch LED module
** Figures based on 40-foot dome, 20 hours of use per week, replacement costs of $5 per painted incandescent or $6.65 per painted halogen bulb