Double System

The Double System is a softlight source that can be plugged into a wall socket on location. With its narrow profile and size, the Double can approximate the quality of light from bounced sources without losing set space.

The first thing to note about the Double System is that it consists of four components: Double Fixture (fig. 1),
Mounting Plate (fig. 2), Ballast (fig. 3) and Extension Cable (fig. 4). It was designed in this manner to allow the greatest flexibility when working on film production where the gaffer and DP are constantly being challenged to light unique locations and problem solve at a moment's notice.

Great for key lighting and fill, the 4ft Double is one of the most versatile products in the Kino Flo product range and was one of the first products developed by Kino Flo more than 20 years ago.

The Double Fixture

The Double fixture houses the lamps and includes a removable Louver, Reflector, and Lamp Harness.
The Louver and Reflector are held in place with Velcro fasteners. There is a strain relief on the lamp harness
to ensure the connectors don’t pull off the lamps during operation. To get the harness away from the fixture,
turn the ¼ turn fastener and rotate counter clockwise to release.

Fixture can be used in several configurations:

1) Complete fixture with all components combined
2) "Harness Only" - The wiring harness is removed from the fixture so that user can build a softbox, hide behind     Plexiglass or rig into tight locations. The wiring harness uses Kino Flo designed lamp connectors
    that grab the lamp pins so lamps can be operated independently of the fixture.
3) "Harness + Reflector" - Same as above - but may want to use the reflector to give more punch and direction
    to the light.
4) Can use Louver to give direction to the light or remove louver to give broad coverage over an area - such as     lighting blue and green screens etc.

The fixtures can take a variety of lamps. They can be used as a daylight source by using Kino Flo KF55 lamps or a tungsten source using Kino Flo KF32 or KF29 lamps. A variety of visual effects for blue and green screen as well as designer colors are available.

Kino Flo lamps are color correct and safety-sleeved. The lamps are safety sleeved because they can operate inside the fixture or independently with only the wiring harness. Additionally, on a production set the lamps are changed out. Safety-sleeving offers protection during lamp changes for the user as well as the talent on the set.

Fixture Accessories

Besides the plastic louvers, other light control options include Double Flozier available in full or half f-stop and the new BatWing Louver. The Flozier attaches to the barndoors and can be adjusted to various configurations.
The BatWing Louver attaches directly to the lamps and gives direction to the light with minimal light loss.

Mounting

One of the design features that makes the fixture so popular is the twist-on removable Center Mount.
When it's on, the fixture mounts easily to a light stand; when it's off, the fixture is flat and can be hand-held, or hidden in a space too small to place a stand-mounting fixture. The grommet holes along the edge of the fixture are designed to allow the fixture to be screwed to a wall or ceiling. When the mounts are removed, the fixture has a flat surface so that it can be screwed to the wall through its eyelets.

The standard mount comes with a 3/8" lollipop that clamps into a grip head. The ball and socket mount allows
the fixture to be oriented in a broad range of angles. There is also a longer baby-stand mount, and two other
short versions (see below). The yellow wire loops are there to provide attachment points for a safety chain.

MTP-LT     
MTP-L       
MTP-LJ     
MTP-LB      

Baby Lollipop Straight w/ handle (16mm)
Lollipop 3/8" Pin (10mm)
Lollipop Japan Pin
Baby Lollipop w/ handle (16mm)

All the features of the Double fixture would be useless if Kino Flo had not developed its own ballasts that could
run the fixture heads remotely. Unlike conventional architectural ballasts that need to operate three feet to
six feet from the fixture head, Kino Flo ballasts can operate the fixture heads from up to 75 feet (3 x 25ft)
extension cables.
      
The Kino Flo Double Select ballast is a high output, high frequency electronic ballast that can operate two lamps
(4ft or 2ft) up to 75 feet between ballast and fixture. The Select ballast sends a high output current to the lamps to drive the light as brightly as possible. Its high frequency electronics prevent any type of flicker as well. A special heat-sink design and custom electronic engineering ensure stable operation without magnetic hum or cooling fans to interfere with the sound recording on set.

There is no delay when switching lamps: the ballast operates the lights on/off instantly. There is also a special
Select switch to raise or drop the wattage in the tubes for light output and color control. Keeping the ballast remote from the fixture and lamps makes the controls more accessible to lighting crews who might need to rig the fixtures into set designs or high up in a lighting grid, but switch them easily from a convenient location on the stage floor.

The Kino Flo Double Select ballast accomplishes all this and still out performs tungsten lighting instruments
10 to 1 when it comes to energy efficiency. In other words, the Select ballast uses 1/10th as much power to produce the same amount of soft light as incandescents. The Select ballast works reliably under most normal conditions, but it's also trustworthy in more harsh conditions, such as extreme cold: The Select ballast series is designed to operate at temperatures from 14F to 122F (-10C to +50C).

In extremely cold temperatures, the ballast may not strike the lamp(s) initially because the lamp may need to
warm up. Switch the ballast to Off, wait seven seconds and try again. If the ballast does not strike after two or
three attempts, turn off the ballast, check that the extension and harness connections are secure and
re-strike. Once operating for a few minutes, the lamps should re-strike instantly.

Up to 75 feet (3 x 25ft) of extension cable can be used between the fixture and the ballast. The 4Bank, Double & Single family are electrically compatible. A splitter can be used at the Ballast or on the end of an extension cable to split a Double ballast into two Single fixtures.

A Combiner can connect a number of smaller ballasts to a larger fixture. For example, two Double ballasts can be combined to a 4Bank extension or fixture. This allows for a lot of rigging flexibility.

So, if the Double Select ballast is the brains, then the lamps would have to be the beauty of the Double System.
The vaunted T-12 tube offers a large surface area of soft light. The wide design creates a nearly shadowless display that drops off evenly.

Smaller source fluorescents, such as the compact 55Watt lamps used in the Kino Flo Diva-Lites, can be brighter, but they are a bit hotter and create denser shadows as well. Kino Flo compensates for the lower light level associated with T-12 tubes by overdriving each one with the Select ballast as described above.

A discussion of the various lamps available for use in the Double System in the Lamp Section provides more
information on the types of lamps available from Kino Flo. It's important to know that the True Match daylight
and tungsten 4ft tubes and 2ft tubes common on sets around the world are unique to Kino Flo because they
display broad, even color correct light that cinematographers have come to depend on. These are the only
high color rendering fluorescent lamps made for the professional film and video production.

The Double System will operate any 4ft and 2ft T-12 tube but the color will not be true and the life span will be shorter. All True Match lamps used in the Double fixture are available in Safety-coated and Non-Safety coated versions. Safety coating protects the user from broken glass if the tube breaks. The lamps can operate independent of the fixture allowing them to be built into sets or custom soft boxes or hand held.