Snooker table lights?

[Dknox1]

Can someone please help me, how high should snooker table lights be hung above the playing surface of a 12ft Table? Thanks

[throtts]

Strip lights are flexible and can go anything from around 50 inch above to being mounted straight on to a standard height ceiling..

Coffin shades are lower, around 40 inch,,, I think...

[philip in china]

There is already a thread on this somewhere. It includes advice direct from Geoff Large who is our tables guru. The best is 2 double 5' fluorescent units above the table more or less meeting over the blue spot. A standard height ceiling will take those fine. The exact distance isn't critical. If you are in a very high ceilinged room just bolt the two to an improvised bracket and suspend the whole thing from some chain. Make sure you get daylight tubes not the much harsher lights. That will give you much better light than a coffin shade. I binned my coffin shade on Geoff's advice.

[bricktip]

I think i put mine up about 1.2m. It might have been 1.4m, i don't remember. But, i did raise them up first to make sure the light was getting to the extremes of the table. If you go too high, the light could be blinding if you're sat in your chair while the other player is at the table.

[Dknox1]

Ok thanks i have 6 lights with shades but i doesn't seem to matter how precisely the lights are positioned.

[salty]

For the type of shade you have depends on what bulbs you are using because some give out pools of light which are no good for playing, as long as you have no shadows off the baulk and spot end cushions you have the correct height for your shade

[Geoff Large]

with coffin shades or those brass 6 or 8 round china hat shades , I always say high enough so that you do not bang youre head on , low enough to light the table .

on a serious note though , those shades you have with 6 lights , you will get spot strenth circles of light and plenty of side shadow around the balls , they look good but are not good to play under , you are prob in the same boat as other snooker table owners the wife like's em ?

The best lighting is the office type high frequency lighting , two 5 foots end to end twin tubed with white daylight or soft white light tubes in them , as others have said look for the other thread on lighting or search for ( Dextra ) in the search box which is top right of this thread on the green header . play under these and you will never go back to a coffin or those brass fancy lights again , it is also better for us Billiard fitters to see what we are doing .

Geoff

[philip in china]

Geoff, what are your thoughts on spotlights? Are they OK for TV but impractical for domestic use?

[Geoff Large]

If there is enough high powered one's yes they are ok , but only a few and they will show intense light in a ring on the table and shadows in the corners and sides .
There is a club I go to that has put LED in the coffin shades , the result is good but I know it cost a lot more than the Dextra type units and you still have to have the coffin shade hung low , Thurston units are good and are also resonably priced on ebay to say they are also branded thurston with large green letters on them .

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thurston-P...item19d4489c85

[Dknox1]

Hey guys there are 6 shades and currently there are 60 watt spotlights but they don't look powerful enough, should I be buying a certain Type? Thanks