Tying in sunlight
 

Well I got all my solar panels and inverter installed.

Then I intentionally ran the batteries way down to start my first test of
the system

The panels did a good job of recharging and last night I plugged my OTT
lites into the inverter and tied for a while.

Now I know how silly I'm being, I'm even shaking my hear at myself, but I
found it really cool to be tying not only in light near the color temp of
sunlight but with energy provided by the sun. I got so excited I drug my
bride out to the trailer and explained the system to her ending, "So you
see, I'm really tying with sunlight as my light source ... how cool is that
?! "

Tying in sunlight
 

Larry L wrote:
Well I got all my solar panels and inverter installed.

Then I intentionally ran the batteries way down to start my first test of
the system

The panels did a good job of recharging and last night I plugged my OTT
lites into the inverter and tied for a while.

Now I know how silly I'm being, I'm even shaking my hear at myself, but I
found it really cool to be tying not only in light near the color temp of
sunlight but with energy provided by the sun. I got so excited I drug my
bride out to the trailer and explained the system to her ending, "So you
see, I'm really tying with sunlight as my light source ... how cool is that
?! "

That's not silly at all and it *is* cool.

You mentioned an Ott light and I just got a light the other day
that I think is better.

https://www.solux.net/cgi-bin/tlisto...ml?id=HwQQ4MGW

A little pricey but the desk version fits over the vice quite nicely,
has a good solid base and a clamp for traveling. I like it.

There's a lot more info at the Solux web site:

http://www.soluxtli.com/

If you ever need to replace your Ott, you might consider Solux.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Tying in sunlight
 

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote

If you ever need to replace your Ott, you might consider Solux.



I've seen the Solux specs before and agree they look better than OTT

Tying in sunlight
 

daytripper wrote in
:

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:01:54 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:


"Ken Fortenberry" wrote

If you ever need to replace your Ott, you might consider Solux.



I've seen the Solux specs before and agree they look better than OTT

OTT, unfortunately, has a terrible reputation for reliability that
I've just never been able to get beyond, no matter how good the light
it produces and how much I want one.

Perhaps the Solux will prove to be a more robust design...

/daytripper (Time will tell, and fwiw I'll be watching)

I haven't heard any Ott complaints, and certainly never experienced any.

--
Scott
Reverse name to reply

Tying in sunlight
 

On Mar 28, 5:20 pm, daytripper wrote:
On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:01:54 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:



"Ken Fortenberry" wrote

If you ever need to replace your Ott, you might consider Solux.

I've seen the Solux specs before and agree they look better than OTT

OTT, unfortunately, has a terrible reputation for reliability that I've just
never been able to get beyond, no matter how good the light it produces and
how much I want one.

Perhaps the Solux will prove to be a more robust design...

/daytripper (Time will tell, and fwiw I'll be watching)

OTT is a bitch to talk to as well. Mine went south about 2 months
after I had it and 2 days after I lost the reciet for buying the
SOB. The people on there phone line didn't give a rats ass. Snotty,
ill mannered bunch. they told me if I sent it back with $ 15 they
would look at it and see what it would cost to fix it. I wouln'd t
buy another on of their lamps for a fifth of the price.

Tying in sunlight
 

wrote in news:qn2m03dnfnia46927lkscmahoc1n87fm4g@
4ax.com:

sseidman wrote
I haven't heard any Ott complaints, and certainly never experienced
any.

If I may, what makes these bulbs any "better" than any other such
K-range bulbs? IOW, why are these "better" than another 5500K (or
xxxxK, apples to apples) bulb?

TC,
R



I don't know about better or worse, but there are differences: the ott
is flourescent, and the solux is an incandescent bulb, or at least looks
like one, so is likely easier to package in a variety of assorted ways.
Solux claims, and I believe (http://www.solux.net/Ott_lite.htm), that it
has a spectrum closer to daylight than Ott-light. Whether this makes a
difference to fly tiers, I don't know.

A big plus for Solux, though, is that they are a local Rochester company,
and the head guy is working on a project with some of our undergrads.
Seems to be a nice guy, a hard worker, and generous with his time for the
undergrads. I'd probably buy a Solux today if I needed another lamp, and
go out of my way to do it if I needed to, but not because I have a real
problem with Ott reliability.

A big plus for the Ott, by the way, is that Joanne's Fabrics sells them,
thus if you join the Joanne club, and wait till you get the coupon book
mailed to you, as they will periodically do, you can get an Ott lite at
40% or 50% off!


--
Scott
Reverse name to reply

Tying in sunlight
 

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:01:54 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:


"Ken Fortenberry" wrote

If you ever need to replace your Ott, you might consider Solux.



I've seen the Solux specs before and agree they look better than OTT

OTT, unfortunately, has a terrible reputation for reliability that I've just
never been able to get beyond, no matter how good the light it produces and
how much I want one.

Perhaps the Solux will prove to be a more robust design...

/daytripper (Time will tell, and fwiw I'll be watching)

Tying in sunlight
 

daytripper wrote in
:

Well good luck to you. I did significant research on the Ott light.
Hundreds if not thousands of complaints are just a Google away, and
they draw a distinct pattern. There's no way I'd buy one...

/daytripper


I use the light at http://www.questoutdoors.net/gear/tested/ottlite/, for
the same purpose, even with the same vise. I don't particularly care for
the flex-arm with the magnifier that seems to be marketed for fly tying--
it just doesn't look real robust. The package that I have looks like it
would stop a bullet, though. I've tied just about every fly I've tied in
three or four years under it, which granted, isn't as many as I would have
liked to tie, but I find I really prefer to have it instead of not having
it. Given a choice of an Ott light, or nothing, and the $40 or so I paid
for three or four years of use, I can say I've gotten my money's worth.
There are probably some who haven't.

I'd love it if you can point me in the right direction for google, though.
I tried "ott light", "Ott lite review", "ott lite complaint", "ott lite
customer service", and the like, and really haven't hit anything
substantial.

--
Scott
Reverse name to reply

Tying in sunlight
 

wrote

I looked at the websites, and I can't see what makes these "special"
(other than the price, although the Solux bulbs aren't so bad). The OTT
compact fluorescents seem about 4-5-6 times the price of standard "full
spectrum" bulbs, and I couldn't find anything on color temp, etc. About
all I could find was "buy this because we say so..."



I've come to believe you are right about OTT largely hype, "cause we say so"
.... although I own three ... one a special fly tying model that is actually
very poorly designed for that, one my wife uses ( and loves ) for
scrapbooking, and one my kid has as a desk lamp ( when my wife got hers it
was a two fer one deal and thus, the kid got one )

I actually tie with the one OTT and two 27 watt fluorescent fixtures sold as
Sunwhite or some such and claiming a color temp near daylight .... I got
them for far less than OTTs and honestly can't remember where ... some
webstore My old eyes seem to gather light poorly and I need a lot of
light to enjoy tying ... the OTT-like 'daylight' color temp bulbs seem to
strain my eyes less and THAT is my main reason for having them, although I
"think" I "see color" more like a trout under them too G

Tying in sunlight
 

wrote in news:834m035ca8khg0dcvaickl9p0vq9lepeqs@
4ax.com:

And I'm still interested in opinions as to why OTT or Solux are "better"
- they may be, but I can't find anything that would convince me they are
- it all seems to be salespitch.


Are you wondering about "better than a standard task light", "better than a
standard CFL", or such? Try http://www.solux.net/comparison.htm, and they
have a pretty good comparison. The standard solux uses is basically a
spectral comparison to daylight, and they claim they're better than the
products they compare too, which seem pretty representative.

So far as "is it better to use a light source that's close to daylight?"
who really knows? They try to address some of this stuff in the solux faq,
http://www.solux.net/faq.htm, but its still somewhat subjective.

I find my ott to be pretty convenient and portable, and I got it at a
reasonable price. I most definitely prefer to tie with it instead of with
ambient light, or even with "standard" flourescent task lights like the one
in my circular magnifier.


--
Scott
Reverse name to reply

Tying in sunlight
 

On 28 Mar 2007 23:26:01 GMT, Scott Seidman
wrote:

daytripper wrote in
:

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:01:54 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:


"Ken Fortenberry" wrote

If you ever need to replace your Ott, you might consider Solux.



I've seen the Solux specs before and agree they look better than OTT

OTT, unfortunately, has a terrible reputation for reliability that
I've just never been able to get beyond, no matter how good the light
it produces and how much I want one.

Perhaps the Solux will prove to be a more robust design...

/daytripper (Time will tell, and fwiw I'll be watching)

I haven't heard any Ott complaints, and certainly never experienced any.

If I may, what makes these bulbs any "better" than any other such
K-range bulbs? IOW, why are these "better" than another 5500K (or
xxxxK, apples to apples) bulb?

TC,
R

Tying in sunlight
 

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:20:55 -0500, daytripper
wrote:

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:01:54 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:


"Ken Fortenberry" wrote

If you ever need to replace your Ott, you might consider Solux.



I've seen the Solux specs before and agree they look better than OTT

OTT, unfortunately, has a terrible reputation for reliability that I've just
never been able to get beyond, no matter how good the light it produces and
how much I want one.

Perhaps the Solux will prove to be a more robust design...

/daytripper (Time will tell, and fwiw I'll be watching)

I looked at the websites, and I can't see what makes these "special"
(other than the price, although the Solux bulbs aren't so bad). The OTT
compact fluorescents seem about 4-5-6 times the price of standard "full
spectrum" bulbs, and I couldn't find anything on color temp, etc. About
all I could find was "buy this because we say so..."

TC,
R

Tying in sunlight
 

"Scott Seidman" wrote



reasonable price. I most definitely prefer to tie with it instead of with
ambient light, or even with "standard" flourescent task lights like the
one
in my circular magnifier.




Absolutely ... I have a couple "free to good home" circular magnifiers
around here someplace, I never use em ..want em?


oh, and MY "better" was simply that the Solux seemed closer to natural light
.... ( that is the ads make it seem thus ... but then I really want one of
those "self casting submarine parts" fly rods too ... me be a sucker )


but, NOTE: I'm trying to find a WHITE aquarium net ( BRF used to sell em,
but not last year ) although I have a perfectly good GREEN one .... why?
because I find bugs caught in the green net take on it's color in my view of
them ... i.e. the net's color makes color evaluation difficult

There, I'm out of the closet ... I'm a color guy, ..... pathetic, I know,
but true And damnit, I simply don't care if Mr Trout sees color the same
as me, it's part of what I want "to say" when I "sculpt" a bug impression
G


Did van Gogh or Claude Monet care if you see color the same as them? I bet
not G

Tying in sunlight
 

wrote


If I may suggest: get one of the fixtures I mentioned, such as the ones
from Home Depot/Lowe's. The ones I have as chart/galley/etc. (at around
15.00USD) would be particularly suited, IMO. They are the flex-shaft,
"bullethead" types that can be used as a table lamp or a mounted
fixture. They take standard MR-16 bulbs and so, you can use a Solux
for, IIRC, about 10.00USD. Heck, keep the bulb that comes with it for
general lighting around the camper. Lose the transformer on the
fixture, and you'll not even need to go through the inverter (hey,
you'll even gain a little efficiency). I've been happy with the
fixtures in a marine setting, so unless you're slamming it around, it
oughta do ya. Heck, any light that'll take a MR-16 will take the Solux,
so there are LOTS of choices out there.



I have a Home Depot/Lowe's honey-do trip soon ... I'll look .

Tying in sunlight
 

On 28 Mar 2007 23:26:01 GMT, Scott Seidman
wrote:

daytripper wrote in
:

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:01:54 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:


"Ken Fortenberry" wrote

If you ever need to replace your Ott, you might consider Solux.



I've seen the Solux specs before and agree they look better than OTT

OTT, unfortunately, has a terrible reputation for reliability that
I've just never been able to get beyond, no matter how good the light
it produces and how much I want one.

Perhaps the Solux will prove to be a more robust design...

/daytripper (Time will tell, and fwiw I'll be watching)

I haven't heard any Ott complaints, and certainly never experienced any.

Well good luck to you. I did significant research on the Ott light. Hundreds
if not thousands of complaints are just a Google away, and they draw a
distinct pattern. There's no way I'd buy one...

/daytripper

Tying in sunlight
 

On 28 Mar 2007 23:58:11 GMT, Scott Seidman
wrote:

wrote in news:qn2m03dnfnia46927lkscmahoc1n87fm4g@
4ax.com:

sseidman wrote
I haven't heard any Ott complaints, and certainly never experienced
any.

If I may, what makes these bulbs any "better" than any other such
K-range bulbs? IOW, why are these "better" than another 5500K (or
xxxxK, apples to apples) bulb?

TC,
R



I don't know about better or worse, but there are differences: the ott
is flourescent, and the solux is an incandescent bulb, or at least looks
like one, so is likely easier to package in a variety of assorted ways.
Solux claims, and I believe (http://www.solux.net/Ott_lite.htm), that it
has a spectrum closer to daylight than Ott-light. Whether this makes a
difference to fly tiers, I don't know.

A big plus for Solux, though, is that they are a local Rochester company,
and the head guy is working on a project with some of our undergrads.
Seems to be a nice guy, a hard worker, and generous with his time for the
undergrads. I'd probably buy a Solux today if I needed another lamp, and
go out of my way to do it if I needed to, but not because I have a real
problem with Ott reliability.

A big plus for the Ott, by the way, is that Joanne's Fabrics sells them,
thus if you join the Joanne club, and wait till you get the coupon book
mailed to you, as they will periodically do, you can get an Ott lite at
40% or 50% off!

Oops...I don't mean the _fixture_, I mean the lamp/bulb. I understand
one is CFL and one is halogen, but Solux seems to tell you what the bulb
actually is, whereas OTT doesn't. Solux gives color temp, etc., OTT
didn't seem to.

The Solux lamp/bulb will fit into a standard old Home Depot/Lowes "low
voltage"/MR-16 fixure (about 15.00 USD or so). I have them on boats (if
you saw the thread with Larry, myself, etc. on solar systems, I talked
about them) as aux lighting, galley lighting, chart lighting, etc. If
you want to use them with 120vac, keep the transformer attached, if
12vdc, wire without the transformer.

IAC, Google "5100K compact fluorescent" and you oughta find plenty CFLs,
and Google "full spectrum MR-16" and you'll get lots of halogens.

And I'm still interested in opinions as to why OTT or Solux are "better"
- they may be, but I can't find anything that would convince me they are
- it all seems to be salespitch.

TC,
R

Tying in sunlight
 

On Thu, 29 Mar 2007 00:28:00 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:


wrote

I looked at the websites, and I can't see what makes these "special"
(other than the price, although the Solux bulbs aren't so bad). The OTT
compact fluorescents seem about 4-5-6 times the price of standard "full
spectrum" bulbs, and I couldn't find anything on color temp, etc. About
all I could find was "buy this because we say so..."



I've come to believe you are right about OTT largely hype, "cause we say so"
... although I own three ... one a special fly tying model that is actually
very poorly designed for that, one my wife uses ( and loves ) for
scrapbooking, and one my kid has as a desk lamp ( when my wife got hers it
was a two fer one deal and thus, the kid got one )

I actually tie with the one OTT and two 27 watt fluorescent fixtures sold as
Sunwhite or some such and claiming a color temp near daylight .... I got
them for far less than OTTs and honestly can't remember where ... some
webstore My old eyes seem to gather light poorly and I need a lot of
light to enjoy tying ... the OTT-like 'daylight' color temp bulbs seem to
strain my eyes less and THAT is my main reason for having them, although I
"think" I "see color" more like a trout under them too G

The Solux looks reasonable to me, the OTT just seems (wa-a-a-y)
over-priced at the prices on the website....YMMV.

If I may suggest: get one of the fixtures I mentioned, such as the ones
from Home Depot/Lowe's. The ones I have as chart/galley/etc. (at around
15.00USD) would be particularly suited, IMO. They are the flex-shaft,
"bullethead" types that can be used as a table lamp or a mounted
fixture. They take standard MR-16 bulbs and so, you can use a Solux
for, IIRC, about 10.00USD. Heck, keep the bulb that comes with it for
general lighting around the camper. Lose the transformer on the
fixture, and you'll not even need to go through the inverter (hey,
you'll even gain a little efficiency). I've been happy with the
fixtures in a marine setting, so unless you're slamming it around, it
oughta do ya. Heck, any light that'll take a MR-16 will take the Solux,
so there are LOTS of choices out there.

TC,
R

Tying in sunlight
 

On 29 Mar 2007 00:23:42 GMT, Scott Seidman
wrote:

daytripper wrote in
:

Well good luck to you. I did significant research on the Ott light.
Hundreds if not thousands of complaints are just a Google away, and
they draw a distinct pattern. There's no way I'd buy one...

/daytripper


I use the light at http://www.questoutdoors.net/gear/tested/ottlite/, for
the same purpose, even with the same vise. I don't particularly care for
the flex-arm with the magnifier that seems to be marketed for fly tying--
it just doesn't look real robust. The package that I have looks like it
would stop a bullet, though. I've tied just about every fly I've tied in
three or four years under it, which granted, isn't as many as I would have
liked to tie, but I find I really prefer to have it instead of not having
it. Given a choice of an Ott light, or nothing, and the $40 or so I paid
for three or four years of use, I can say I've gotten my money's worth.
There are probably some who haven't.

I'd love it if you can point me in the right direction for google, though.
I tried "ott light", "Ott lite review", "ott lite complaint", "ott lite
customer service", and the like, and really haven't hit anything
substantial.

I just started with "Ott-Lite review" and went from there. Mostly I ended up
reading owner reviews posted at the sites below, when I was thinking about
getting a desk Ott-Lite for myself, and a floor lamp for my wife, and just
kept drilling down through Google. I kept seeing the same problems appearing
with repeated early bulb failures, breaking plastic parts and a disinterested
customer service department, and took a pass.

amazon.com - most leads started here
joanne.com
complaints.com
epinions.com

/daytripper

Tying in sunlight
 

On 29 Mar 2007 00:33:33 GMT, Scott Seidman
wrote:

wrote in news:834m035ca8khg0dcvaickl9p0vq9lepeqs@
4ax.com:

And I'm still interested in opinions as to why OTT or Solux are "better"
- they may be, but I can't find anything that would convince me they are
- it all seems to be salespitch.

First, I'm not talking about "lamps" in the sense of the fixture, the
thing that you put the "bulb" into, I'm talking about the "lamp" in the
sense of the "bulb" itself.

Are you wondering about "better than a standard task light", "better than a
standard CFL", or such? Try http://www.solux.net/comparison.htm, and they
have a pretty good comparison. The standard solux uses is basically a
spectral comparison to daylight, and they claim they're better than the
products they compare too, which seem pretty representative.

Thanks for that, but what I'm wondering is what, if anything, makes an
OTT "bulb" better than any other CFL with what would seem to be the same
specs (I say "seem" because I didn't see any real specs on the OTT
"bulb"). Look at the comparison of the Solux to the Osram and the OTT -
the Osram and the OTT seem pretty close. If that's the case, then the
OTT isn't any "better" than a 10-12.00USD CFL. As to the Solux, it
appears it is a pretty good "bulb" at a more-or-less reasonable price,
pretty much in line with other such lamps, er, "bulbs."

So far as "is it better to use a light source that's close to daylight?"
who really knows?

And it would depend on what you wish to light, and how.

TC,
R

Tying in sunlight
 

On Thu, 29 Mar 2007 00:59:50 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:


"Scott Seidman" wrote



reasonable price. I most definitely prefer to tie with it instead of with
ambient light, or even with "standard" flourescent task lights like the
one
in my circular magnifier.




Absolutely ... I have a couple "free to good home" circular magnifiers
around here someplace, I never use em ..want em?

Before you trash 'em, you might wish to check and see if tubes (bulbs)
more to your liking are available. I checked a couple of our CFLs, and
found what I expected - they aren't OTT, which I knew, but they are
5500K, etc., etc., and were about 5-6USD each.


oh, and MY "better" was simply that the Solux seemed closer to natural light
... ( that is the ads make it seem thus ... but then I really want one of
those "self casting submarine parts" fly rods too ... me be a sucker )

"Natural light," as a term used by itself, is somewhat hard to pin down
as such - are we talking dawn in Mexico City, noon on the Gulf of
Mexico, or midnight on the floor of a rain forest? Google up color
temperature of "daylight" and I think you'll find some info. If you
mean, generally, pretty close to daylight/sunlight, look for something
"full spectrum." But also keep the "brightness" in mind. I don't think
you'd be too comfortable tying under an arc light or a big ol' PAR64 can
with a 1000 watter in it (picture a stage light).

Something else, what about the "color" (blue, green, etc.) - I don't
find it easier, but some swear by those colored "gel" sheets for reading
because, IIRC, of the change in contrast from black type on white paper.
Supposedly (and I say "supposedly" because I don't know much about it,
not because I doubt its veracity) some folks are really helped by
differing colors of light, so either a true lamp gel or a colored lamp
might help, but ???

TC,
R

Tying in sunlight
 

On Thu, 29 Mar 2007 01:02:17 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:


wrote


If I may suggest: get one of the fixtures I mentioned, such as the ones
from Home Depot/Lowe's. The ones I have as chart/galley/etc. (at around
15.00USD) would be particularly suited, IMO. They are the flex-shaft,
"bullethead" types that can be used as a table lamp or a mounted
fixture. They take standard MR-16 bulbs and so, you can use a Solux
for, IIRC, about 10.00USD. Heck, keep the bulb that comes with it for
general lighting around the camper. Lose the transformer on the
fixture, and you'll not even need to go through the inverter (hey,
you'll even gain a little efficiency). I've been happy with the
fixtures in a marine setting, so unless you're slamming it around, it
oughta do ya. Heck, any light that'll take a MR-16 will take the Solux,
so there are LOTS of choices out there.



I have a Home Depot/Lowe's honey-do trip soon ... I'll look .

I checked and the specific ones I've mentioned that I have came from
Lowe's.

TC,
R

To take advantage of natural light, turning off lights in the room during the day means. The more light, get inside, you will use less electricity. This helps protect our natural resources.

A big additional for Solux, though, is that they are a bounded Rochester company, and the arch guy is alive on a activity with some of our undergrads. Seems to be a nice guy, a harder worker, and acceptable with his time for the undergrads.