Entertainment lighting professionals are from Mars and architectural lighting professionals are from…well, at times it seems they’re from a different galaxy altogether. If you’ve ever tried to navigate the maze of manufacturers’ reps, distributors and suppliers trying to get specifications, samples or information about architectural lighting products, then you can appreciate the relatively small network of entertainment lighting pros, most of whom you probably know on a first-name basis.
There’s something to be said for an “architainment” lighting luminaire when it comes to familiarity and accessibility — namely, that it seems that the manufacturers are more responsive, and access to information is much easier. When lighting designer Howard Brandston wanted to temporarily light the exterior tower of the Triskel Arts Centre tower in Cork, Ireland, his choices were to research the existing options available to him through conventional architectural exterior lighting manufacturers or ask someone to adapt an existing fixture for his purposes. He approached Wybron about using their BP-2 Beam Projector, and the Outdoor BP-2 was born.
The Gear
The BP-2 is a long-throw wash fixture with a narrow 10 degree field angle. There’s nothing fancy about it — it’s simply a brute force fixture designed to squeeze as much light as possible from its source. The outdoor version is weather resistant with an IP rating of 65, and it is available with an 800-watt tungsten source or a 150-watt CDM lamp.
The box-like chassis is fabricated with powder-coated bent aluminum and stainless steel fasteners. The lamp is easily accessible through a hinged cover with two latches. The cover is sealed with weather striping and the power and data cables are permanently attached with weatherized strain relief connectors. On the CDM version, a rectangular power supply with a large heat sink is fixed to the yoke.
The optics consist of a spun aluminum elliptical reflector, the lamp and a set of concentric rings to collimate the beam and prevent halation. The exit glass is tempered and appears to have no antireflective coating.
What the BP-2 does have is punch, and lots of it. Using a Minolta T-10 Illumination meter, I measured 8000 lux (743 footcandles) with a throw of 19 feet. At that throw distance, the diameter of the field was about five feet. With that luminous flux, you can light a 13.5-foot wide object to 100 footcandles with a 52-foot throw. That’s a lot of light.
The Verdict
The fixture is intended for outdoor use, as indicated by its high ingress protection rating. But the powder-coated aluminum is certainly not intended for corrosive atmospheres like salty ocean spray. There is also no facility for dimming the CDM version of the fixture, and there is no color-changing capability. But if you want intense light and a long throw, this is the fixture for you.
It won’t win any design awards for its appearance — it’s basically a 12-inch cube with a yoke — and you won’t spend much time scratching your head reading the user manual. It’s basic but very effective. The 19-pound fixture (with the CDM power supply) uses a single channel for control — on/off for the CDM version and dimming for the tungsten version.
Wybron is known primarily for its color scrollers and, more recently, for its Nexera dichroic color-changing fixtures, but recent changes in management seem to indicate that the company is willing to expand its product offerings. The Outdoor BP-2 Beam Projector is a great fixture for outdoor applications requiring a long throw and plenty of illumination. If this is any indication, then perhaps the new Wybron is on the verge of many good things to come.
