2 pin stagepin connector?

Dustincoc

Active Member
I came across a 2 pin stagepin connector, no ground, in the parts bin. It's not just missing a pin, there is no hole for a 3rd pin. It also has spaces in the back for two wires to come out on either side instead of one cable. Any idea what it is? I'm guessing it would be used for a practical. It is missing its cover and was well wrapped in electrical tape for its last use. I took off the tape and there are no markings on it.
 
I came across a 2 pin stagepin connector, no ground, in the parts bin. It's not just missing a pin, there is no hole for a 3rd pin. It also has spaces in the back for two wires to come out on either side instead of one cable. Any idea what it is? I'm guessing it would be used for a practical. It is missing its cover and was well wrapped in electrical tape for its last use. I took off the tape and there are no markings on it.

An old stage pin connector.

Just like old appliances/home outlets don't have grounds, old stage lighting equipment didn't have grounds either.


--Sean
 
Ground? Who needs a ground? Why have to worry about whether the holes line up due to that off-center pin? When I think of all the time wasted trying to plug something in upside down...:rolleyes:

Dustincoc, Sean is correct. What you have is OLD, from pre-circa 1970. Either throw it away, or add it to your personal collection of antiquities. Do not use it, even for practicals, as they should have a polarized plug. The two channels in the back were meant for asbestos covered wires coming from the fixture.

Or, you could send it to me for the museum, and I'll put it along with my Harj-Lock and fiber connector. And hopefully soon to have a real Stage Plug. Yes, I'll post pictures.
 
The two holes in the back were for asbestos cable. Back in the day stage lights had 2-3 asbestos leads coming from the back instead of one fiberglass sleeve.
 
The plug was probably made from some strange composite material too, right?

As for grounds, pointless. Your fixture is already grounded through the pipe clamp to the grid.

(just kidding guys)
 
I knew it wasn't all that safe so I quickly grabbed it and will "dispose" of it. It is made of some strange material. Some of our R40 strip lights have asbestos wiring but they still are in sleeves once they leave to unit(at least some of them).
 
It is made of some strange material. .

probably a Phenol based material such as Bak-o-Lite. Kind of a common material back in the day. Not very impact resistant but a lot of stuff was made out of it in the 50's - later 60's.
 
I found something in our theatre that I never knew existed. We unearthed a Kleigl Animation Wheel. It is a gigantic piece of metal with it's cloud disk still inside. I never knew they made stuff like that. I showed it to the Chair and he remembered using it once when he was a student there :cool::cool:

Also we did unearth some old instruments but I'm not sure what they are yet, haven't had the time to inspect them. You just never know what you can find when you have to clear everything out for a new system install.
 
...Also we did unearth some old instruments but I'm not sure what they are yet, haven't had the time to inspect them...
Pictures. We love pictures!
 
You just never know what you can find when you have to clear everything out for a new system install.

Fun stuff! There's a packrat in every theatre organization, and thank goodness for that. I fear for what the non-packrats have thrown away over the years...
 
I'm sure there is still some usage to 2 pin connectors. Wiring an electric chair for example ;)

Yea, 2 to 3 pin adapters. Kind of reminds me of the Edison ones they had for houses with two prong plugs. Other than my own house, which is now all 3 blade, I never saw one get used correctly in my whole life!
 
I'd say the connector still has a use. Most practicals that I've seen/created don't have a ground so it's just hot and neutral. This makes it a fine candidate for use with this 2 pin connector. just keep polarity in mind if it's being used with a twofer or any other situation where you could have multiple units on one dimmer.

Well....

I don't know what difference it makes whether you're using a twofer or not, the electricity doesn't change.

If it's powering a practical (or a cue light), technically the polarity does matter. The contact at the bottom of a socket should be the hot, and the threads/side of the the lamp base should be the neutral.

--Sean
 
Well....
I don't know what difference it makes whether you're using a twofer or not, the electricity doesn't change.
If it's powering a practical (or a cue light), technically the polarity does matter. The contact at the bottom of a socket should be the hot, and the threads/side of the the lamp base should be the neutral.
--Sean

3 weeks ago I would have agreed with you, but after two different battles with practicals with multiple runs of zip line going into one dimmer I found that sometimes it does. To give some details we had 3 runs of zip going into one dimmer two lit right up the other one was at something like 50%. Flipped the connector and all three light up (Only thing that makes sense to me is that there was power to the neutral line making the V drop over the line less that 120 VAC). Other one was with two channel rope light, we did a lot to make that work but in the end found out that the common neutral was connected to hot and that was our problem.

In both instances if the runs had been on alone on the dimmer they would have worked fine, but since they were connected to other runs that were connected in the opposite manor they didn't play nice.

As far as being compliant with NEC Sec. 200.11. Well I have my own feelings on the matter, but we encourage safety here so I'll just say good point.
 

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