I love free stuff!

[Les]

This just goes to show that when you're into lighting, let everyone know about it!

I got a call yesterday from a guy that heard through a friend of mine that I was into stage lighting. He works for a tradeshow display company and said that they had a roadcase full of lighting instruments that they were going to throw away. He told the warehouse guys to keep it because he knew someone (me) who might be interested.

Anyway, it isn't much, but here's what I got for free:

4 Fairly new Altman 65Q fresnels with (strangely) incandescent lamps.

4 ADJ Opti-Pars. Too bad they weren't the real deal ETC's but they were free and I might look into upgrading the whip and strain relief to match other theatrical lights. The yoke bolts are also undersized and I might tap in some bigger ones.

2 ETA 2400w 4 channel dimmer packs with power cords but can be hardwired. 600w per channel. (Question, they have a 1 amp breaker that says "Low Voltage Protection". What is this for?)

1 ETA 4ch. foot switch chaser/controller (no plans on using this).

8 gel frames

Assorted clamps. Some Altman clamps, some Mega-Clamps.

1 Really nice custom roadcase on wheels.

This was from GTE and they left it years ago and had no interest in acquiring it back. I told him to contact me if anything else turns up. He said it's likely since they're cleaning out the warehouse. YAY!

[mrb]

Nice!! The 1a breaker that says low voltage is to protect the control circuitry. Usually this is fused inside, for whatever reason they used a breaker on these.

[Les]

Thanks for the clarification! I was excited to see that at least it was a 2400w pack and not an 1800 one and was hoping that 1a breaker wasn't for the whole thing.

I wonder how reliable these would be if I was running 575w x 4 continuously (hardwired of course). They are model MD460DMX-24 by ETA if anyone is curious.

[derekleffew]

If this is the ETA from Twinsburg, Ohio, they used to make reliable, affordable equipment. Perhaps too affordable or un-profitable, as they got out of theatre lighting and now only make power-conditioning devices. Current "About Us" website.

[Les]

That's the one. I figured they had gone completely out of business but it's good to know they still exist to some extent. My packs have 5-pin DMX which is good - makes them appear more professional and less DJish. A few of the edison plugs are chipped under the ground slot, perhaps from yanking a cord rather than pulling by the plug. I'll have a look inside and see if I need to buy special outlets. They look like standard black 15A to me though.

EDIT: upon closer inspection (through the vents) it looks like the receptacles are jumpered and the wires are soldered like most other small dimmer packs. Something I don't really want to mess with. It's probably not a very big deal and I'll most likely just use the plug that is not chipped since I'll be running fixtures that will pretty much max out each channel. The good news is that I plugged them in and ran the pack through it's onboard test sequence and every channel seems to work fine, at FL at least. *End Edit*

Funny you mentioned ETA was doing other things. I knew they had their hands in more than just lighting when reading the certification label on the side of the unit: ETA systems division of National Biological Corp. Twinsburg, Ohio 44087.

[Pie4Weebl]

hope for your sake is it DMX and not AMX....

then again free gear is free gear, hopefully you can put it to good use!

[Les]

They are indeed DMX. They also support some other protocol, I'll check on what that is. They have both 3 and 5 pin in/out ports.

[Sony]

They are both DMX most likely. DMX can come in 3 and 5 pin varieties. The 3 pin type is usually found on cheaper DJ equipment because it is technically not up to the true DMX standard but 3 pin XLR connectors are cheaper and more common.

[doctrjohn]

Originally Posted by Les

They are indeed DMX. They also support some other protocol, I'll check on what that is. They have both 3 and 5 pin in/out ports.

I would guess that the three pin connectors are probably Microplex.

Best,
John

[Les]

It looks like the other protocol is Ultraplex. Possibly an ETA proprietary language?