Funky Chase lights help needed!

[btfilms]

Hey Everyone!
Well my school is doing Dreamgirls as their production and the director wants like these funky globe bulb lights lining the stage. We don't have enough dimmers to put them on and i was just going to wire every 3rd bulb together and connect it to the dimmers and then right a chase sequence but since all out dimmers are taken we have to do it another way. someone suggested to me to use a chase box like the ones DJs use. Will that work. if so how do i hook them up. can those boxes take alot of power. i think i have about 20 on each circuit. Wat does everyone think about this

[soundman]

well how many watts is each light bulb? I used some 34 watt type A lamps for a production and put 36 lamps on a dimmer but could have gotten closer to 50. Once you find out the wattage of the lamps and the wattage of the chase pack some basic math will tell you how many you can put in a cirucit.

[Jezza]

Generally, its been my experience that those packs are max 600w per dimmer and each pack has 4 dimmers meaning that the whole pack will consume one 20A circuit.

In that same vein, that means 6 100w bulbs per dimmer, or 12 50w bulbs, or 24 25w bulbs, etc. Just do your math. But in simple, yes, one of those DJ dimmer packs or multiples of those will do the trick. If you need to use two or more packs because you want to use a higher wattage bulb, it might be simpler to address the packs all to the same DMX address so you have less control channels for the chase.....and only use 3 of the 4 dimmers per pack to create the "every 3rd" effect.

(So, if you have about 20 bulbs per ciruit, you'll want 3 packs, all addressed to the same DMX address but with all of the bulbs that you want to go on control channel 1 distributed evenly across dimmer 1 on all three packs, and so on--yess this option does mean running some more cable, but given your situation, is the safest and will give you the desired look.)

Are you planning to run these extra dimmers packs off your console or were you hoping to just turn on the dimmer packs and have the chase go? Both options are viable, however you will have the best control over the situation if you run DMX out to these packs. However, most of these packs are 3pin, not 5pin DMX, so remember to pick up a 3 to 5 converter if you will need one. Additionally, don't forget to terminate!

Also, budget dependant, you might want to look into renting a true theatrical dimmer pack for your production. You can get them nominally with as few dimmers as 6. These packs are typically rated for 20A per dimmer so you will be able to put all 20 of your bulbs on one dimmer (assuming your using 100w bulbs). Call your local rental house to see what kind of pricing they will give you on a pack, feeder, dmx, etc.

[Van]

Our recent production of "Assassins" had a similar problem. We ran out of dimmers and still had chase lights to wire all over the front of this set, that was supposed to look like a carnival. We did exactly what Jezza is talking about. Our ME wired up either 2 or 4 NSI packs addressed them all the same and spent a lot of time double checking his circuiting. I can't remember whether we used A15s or G16.5's but we used 15 watt lamps in standard "Sign mount" bases. Worked great the only thing you can't do with this type of setup is a running chase, meaning a chase of just three lights thats starts on the bottom and runs all the way to the top then starts over, as the packs were doubled in the middle of the run. Good luck

[gafftaper]

Remember you are looking for an effect. You aren't trying to light the stage with these chase lights right? So keep the wattage down and it will make your life much easier.

My local theater supply store rents a 4 X 800 theater dimmer pack for $60 a week.

[ship]

don't really need a dimmer pack for doing a chase effect.

Three circuit chases would be the norm though two or four could be also done.

None the less, in the above mentioned chase effect, I would rather know what specific product was under consideration first before limitating the effect. If it's possible to do say 25w/120v lamps, you now have say even on a 1.2Kw system 24 lamps per circuit on a dual circuit chase. On the other hand, if low voltage...

Of note, if you are not really planning to use this "effect" for more than one show, you might be wiser to rent it and get a better system. There is lots of low voltage and even line voltage pre-made systems out there on the market that would do what you want for the period of this show, and you only have to pay rental in getting what you want without having to buy stuff you don't need that won't work as well given limitations.

I know for instance for two of last year's tours, I made two sets of line voltage chase circuit bar based systems which were not cheap to do and now sit about the shop. Other shops potentially have similar things, this in addition to low voltage systems that do the same but in less power requirements. Think runway lighting for fashion shows... such lighting is often multi-circuit thus able to chase and very much in the inventory for lighting companies.

[btfilms]

Originally Posted by ship

I know for instance for two of last year's tours, I made two sets of line voltage chase circuit bar based systems which were not cheap to do and now sit about the shop. Other shops potentially have similar things, this in addition to low voltage systems that do the same but in less power requirements. Think runway lighting for fashion shows... such lighting is often multi-circuit thus able to chase and very much in the inventory for lighting companies.

Yes thats what the director wants is a "Runway" look to it. but not sure on how to achieve that look now. the set isn't completely built so we won't be working on this part till about a month or so but it is great to know what we plan on doing a head of time. i do plan on running this effect by a stage hand so i just need something very simple. like something that you just plug the 3 circuits in and then hit a button and it has a "chase" look to it. it would be nice to very the speed too. I do not have exact models that we want

Does any one know of a good model to use in this situation?

Thanks.
BT

[taylorjacobs]

might be and easy solution to your problem if they dont need to dim on and off, you can use christmas light controller that has a chase sequence and hook it up to that, it is a whole lot cheaper as long as they dont have to dim

[gafftaper]

There was a discussion a while back creating a flaming car track effect. One of the proposed solutions was a chasing rope light setup. This might be a possible solution. I believe BillESC sells the product and knows all about what you can do with it. Rope Light certainly would be an easy way thing to retro fit onto a complete set.

[Brilliant2007]

Another option... run the circuits you want to chase to some floor pockets or other easily accessible dimmers. Rather than have the deck electrician do the effect himself, just have him unplug instruments you aren’t using for the scene and plug in the cables from these lamps. This way you can use the console and the chase will be consistent. Just make sure you label your cable real well and that the tech can see the labeling in the dark. Maybe this won’t work for you, but just wanted to throw it out there.

Additionally, I would just rent an extra cheap dimmer pack, one you can power up from a couple of 20amp wall outlets, run some extra dmx to it and bingo! Like someone else said, this is for an effect, you don’t need to have 100w lamps, 25 to 50w will do the trick.

BRANDON