I am new to this forum and new to lighting in general, but I have done some research to try and educate myself before asking questions. I have been the sound guy at our church for quite some time, and have the fortunate opportunity to look at ways to improve the lighting in our sanctuary.
The sanctuary is currently lit by 21 2'x4' non-dimmable florescent troffers. The age of the
current troffers and ballasts have
led to constant problems with lights flickering and not working. The ceiling is 18' tall, so changing bulbs and ballasts by ladder is a pain; hence the desire to
switch to
LED lights of some sort. I recommended that we investigate using 0-10v dimmable
LED panels to improve ambiance during
holiday programs and such. Dimming to 0% is not necessary. If we can get something to dim to 10-20% without issues it would be acceptable.
I wanted to provide the ability to control the lights with a
DMX theatrical controller to future proof the
system if we ever decide to upgrade our
stage lighting or add some color washing, but maintain a simple entry station control for everyday use. I have received a proposal from a rep at Full
Compass (I have not received much when going directly to
ETC) which included the use of an
ETC Foundry Mini Panel and a
Doug Fleenor Design wall station. This seems like a good proposal for our budget (~$1,000 for the controller) and needs, but I wanted to get some
feedback since there was very little information on the Foundry
system other than
ETC's website.
I also noticed their Echo
system. It wasn't immediately
clear to me the benefits, if any, of this
system over the proposed Foundry and DFD combination. Has anyone had any experience with either of these control systems for the application I am describing? I have seen other posts where people have wanted to do something similar with control, but referring to
LED panels was not apart of any of those discussions.