Art Gallery Lighting - Track System HS
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Showing all 7 results
Track Lighting System HS
High quality lighting is a must for achieving accurate colour rendering and therefore a true representation of your art. To achieve this in a dynamic fashion, complimenting our picture hanging systems, we have put together ‘The Track Lighting System HS’ – a single circuit track lighting system for your art gallery.
Track and Accessories
The track and accessories are based on standard ‘H’ track, matching many existing track lighting systems in use. This means that our lighting heads can often be used with existing track and other lighting heads can be used with our track. In short, you are not locked in to a propriety system!
The track can be fixed directly to the ceiling or suspended using the suspension kits available separately; consisting of stainless steel braided wires. The track must be installed by a licensed electrician.
Light Heads
Using the appropriate lighting head is a must for achieving the best results. Whilst light temperature, beam angles and lumens can make a difference the most important characteristic for displaying artwork is colour render index (CRI).
CRI is a measure between 1 and 100 reflecting how close the light is to that provided by the sun. Naturally, our eyes have developed to see colours most accurately under this light; 100 on this scale is sunlight. However, this is not the entire story as globes which are verified to provide the same CRI can achieve this in different in different ways. If we break colour down to RBG (red, blue, green), it can be said that some light sources provide better light frequencies for blue at the expense of red and thus our goal in the gallery space is to achieve a ‘balanced’ high CRI to ensure that the image is portrayed as the artist intended.
Further to this, it is important to recognise that some lighting head brands perform very differently to the information stated. Whether this is dishonest or simply an unknown change in manufacturing one should be wary of LED lights promising high CRI at very low prices; often if it seems to good to be true, it is. We found the solid brands that invest in product development tended to have the best products.
After much testing, we recommend the BrightGreen T900 LED track light. The light satisfies our technical criteria, in particular providing a conservative 90+ CRI figure (and likely 95+). It is also the most attractive track light we have seen; clean lines and a simple, uncluttered method of connecting to the track; in short it perfectly complements any gallery space. Being LED, it uses very little power (about 16.5w) and is expected to last 70,000 hours.
Planning
Planning your lighting system need not be a daunting task. It is best to simply start with a plan of your gallery space and an idea of the ceiling height. As a general rule we recommend having the track no higher than 2.75m from the floor. If your ceilings are higher, a suspension kit will be required (able to drop the track up to 3m, fully adjustable). At about this height the track would best be positioned between 1.3 and 1.5 metres from the wall. Naturally, this is not a hard and fast rule and some flexibility exists.
With this information known, it is simply a case of calculating where the track will be positioned and therefore the lengths required. The track can be cut and joined as appropriate. Different joiners are available allowing you to follow the gallery space as required.
Each continuous circuit will require 1 powered end to supply the track with power and a dead end where it finishes. As the track is carrying mains power, there is no hard limit on the number of lights which can be powered.
Simply then consider the light requirement and calculate number of lights.
If you would prefer, please send us a sketch of your gallery space with dimensions and we would be delighted to create a lighting plan for you. Send to: plans@shakespearesolutions.com.au.