I had been working with a school as a self-taught volunteer technical director. I have since moved away but I’m trying to help them with the following project. The school has been contacted by a benefactor to provide a substantial donation (50-100K) for upgrading the lighting system in the performing arts space.
Under consideration are the following: 1- Installation of a motorized batten system. 2- Installation of network DMX for running LED lighting fixtures. 3- increase of the lighting inventory.
Can anyone give me a ballpark idea of what it might cost to install a motorized batten. They have no fly or wing space in the facility.
Secondly, what would be the preferred DMX solution? Run straight DMX with splitters to each batten, or using a true network with Cat5-Cat6 and switches.
Following is a brief history and immediate needs of the space.
Brief History of the evolution of our gymatorium done in 2008.
Lack of safe access to lighting grid behind the theater proscenium.
Lack of lighting capability of the auditorium.
Depending on the upgrades and cost they would be looking to increase the inventory of the lighting fixtures, assuming there might be some $ available at the end.
Sorry for the long post, I can provide some photos if needed.
Thanks
Under consideration are the following: 1- Installation of a motorized batten system. 2- Installation of network DMX for running LED lighting fixtures. 3- increase of the lighting inventory.
Can anyone give me a ballpark idea of what it might cost to install a motorized batten. They have no fly or wing space in the facility.
Secondly, what would be the preferred DMX solution? Run straight DMX with splitters to each batten, or using a true network with Cat5-Cat6 and switches.
Following is a brief history and immediate needs of the space.
Brief History of the evolution of our gymatorium done in 2008.
- The original plans called for a new field house for athletic activity and dedicated auditorium space constructed in the old gymatorium space.
- During the building process of the field house and auditorium, it was determined that they did not want to give up the entire auditorium space to the theater and included removable Wenger staging, retractable basketball backboards and retractable seating.
- The backboards and removeable staging compromised the ability to utilize the lighting grid space above the stage.
- A new lighting system was installed which included a new ETC Element lighting console, 96 unit ETC lighting dimmer rack and wiring from the dimmer rack to the lighting grid.
- 32 lighting fixtures in the inventory were discarded because of asbestos wiring. They were replaced with 10 new lighting fixtures to add to the 7 they could keep. Inventory now is 18 Source Four 750W, 4 ETC Parnel 750W, 4 Parcan 1000W and 3 old Fresnel 500W, all incandescent.
Lack of safe access to lighting grid behind the theater proscenium.
There are 3 dead hung lighting battens behind the theater proscenium, downstage right and left and upstage center. There are only 2 ways to access the grid and only 1 safely. A Genie man lift or a portable scaffold. A ladder is not usable because the lighting battens are hung on chains, so there is no solid structure to lean against. They used to have a scaffold, but it was discarded during the auditorium construction.
Because of the distance from the stage height to the Lighting Grid, standard scaffold is either too short or too tall for good access to the lighting fixtures. The scaffolding outrigger footprint is also difficult to use on our stage configuration because they are always on the front side of the fixture not behind it.
The Genie man lift can only be used when the stage is removed because the stage is not the right height to transition to, nor designed to support the weight of the lift and operator. Proper focusing light fixtures can only be done when the stage is in place.
Lack of lighting capability of the auditorium.
They cannot rent or purchase LED light fixtures because that requires DMX plus power run to each light fixture. They only have power from the dimmer rack to each fixture. They could still purchase incandescent fixtures, but I don’t know if that’s a smart choice if the move in the industry is going to be LED. The lighting inventory is barely capable of lighting the space and little or no extra for special or good zone lighting. They need to increase the lighting inventory.
Depending on the upgrades and cost they would be looking to increase the inventory of the lighting fixtures, assuming there might be some $ available at the end.
Sorry for the long post, I can provide some photos if needed.
Thanks