| Manufacturer: | Realite |
| Model: | MR11 Dichroic 20W 10 Degree Red/Yellow/Green/Blue |
| Application: | Speciality, Accent Lighting |
| Wattage: | 20W |
| Diameter (max): | 35mm |
| Length: | 40mm |
| Tube Length: | N/A |
| Bulb/Tube material: | Inner: Quartz. Outer: Glass - Dichroic cold light reflective coating on rear, and coloured dichroic coating on front |
| Colour Temperature: | Unknown |
| Peak output wavelength: | N/A - Broadband Emission |
| Total light output: | Unknown |
| Rated lifetime: | 2000 Hours |
| Cap: | GU4 |
| Operating voltage: | 12V AC or DC |
| Operating current: | 1.7A |
| Warmup/restrike time: | N/A |
| Cost (original): | £1.99 (Q2 2005 from Maplin Electronics) |
| Place of manufacture: | Unknown |
| Date of manufacture: | Q1 2005 |
These things have started popping up everywhere lately. I first encountered them in the cafe/lounge area in the Student Union of The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, and was instantly captivated...and I wanted to go and start pulling the lamps out of the ceiling to get a better look. Walked in, they looked purple - all of them...but were all casting a vivid coloured spot on the floor beneath them...in blue, yellow, red, pink and green...Three years on, I finally spotted some in Maplin.
It's a very normal low wattage low voltage dichroic MR11 halogen lamp from a technical standpoint. What makes it somewhat special however, is the coloured filter applied to the lens. I've seen several cheap knock-offs of this type of lamp, which just use a coloured lacquer on the lens. It works, but tends to flake off and fade. This however seems to have a proper dichroic coating. You can tell that because the actual colour of the filter appears to change depending on the angle you look at it from. Reflections too seem to have a very distinct yellow colour to them. It is really very, very pretty to look at...hence that this lamp has been sitting on my desk for the last day and a half.
Realite MR11 Dichroic 20W 10 Degree Coloured Lamp - General overview of blue lamp
Realite MR11 Dichroic 20W 10 Degree Coloured Lamp - Lineup of all four colours of this lamp stocked by Maplin
Realite MR11 Dichroic 20W 10 Degree Coloured Lamp - Showing rear of reflector and lamp cap
Realite MR11 Dichroic 20W 10 Degree Coloured Lamp - Showing the highly reflective and colour changing properties of the dichroic filters
Realite MR11 Dichroic 20W 10 Degree Coloured Lamp - Lamp packaging
Realite MR11 Dichroic 20W 10 Degree Coloured Lamp - Detail of lamp reflector
Realite MR11 Dichroic 20W 10 Degree Coloured Lamp - Overview of all reflectors - note the complimentary colour of the reflections cast in front of the lamps from the overhead light
Realite MR11 Dichroic 20W 10 Degree Coloured Lamp - Showing size of lamp
This lamp added to the virtual display shelf on 15th June 2005.
This page last updated:
18th June 2023: Made changes to page formatting to improve readability on mobile devices, and some background code changes to improve search engine behaviour.
