Situation:
- Currently House lights are controlled only by flipping a breaker at the panel on stage left.
- We control all other lights from an ETC Element using wireless DMX
- The Light Board is on a rolling cart that we unplug and put away after each use
- i would like to be able to control House Lights with the light board...
- ...But they also need to be able to be turned on and off without gettin gthe board out when the room is used for other things.
- Looking for ideas on what to ask for, spec out, and propose to solve this.
This link shows what the space is like. This is an old photo; we have added lights since. You can see the
breaker panel near the door
stage left
https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x52bb7c11040a575f:0xc2e7adf7837cc83a!2m5!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i100!3m1!7e115!4shttps://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=101325385286011248152&id=6164299445486443554&target=PHOTO!5sbackus community center google maps - Google Search&imagekey=!1e3!2s-hF1si29rEqc/VW0G2wqziTI/AAAAAAAAAl8/KxHLHBxlkTUVQrUrtkivXZQrSDxKsbErA&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBhv-p8MDMAhWFnYMKHUYpDIYQoioIczAK
Let me get the ball rolling.
You've told us all of your
house lighting presently comes down to "a
breaker" (one
breaker) in a nearby
breaker panel.
Is this one, single pole,
breaker?
Regardless of the number of poles, what is the
rating of this one
breaker?
At the economical, and repulsive, end of things, you could add a magnetic
contactor, electrician-speak for a large
relay, and control the
contactor from as many locations as you like but you'd still be snapping the houselights to full or off, no fading / dimming, no
house at half. Not terribly desirable.
Next up you could add a
dimmer, or dimmers.
Depending upon the
current consumed by your
house lights, possibly one high wattage
dimmer or several lower wattage units.
Would you be content with all
house lights on one
dimmer or would your space benefit from some sensible divisions? (lights over the
orchestra pit, over the bulk of the
main floor, over the first balcony, second balcony, etcetera) Are you happy with your
lobby lighting?
If/when you add a
dimmer, or dimmers, next you'd get down to control. This would include control from multiple locations. Would you want dimmable control from all locations or would some locations be satisfied with on/off functionality only? You may want a cleaners' location providing adequate illumination for cleaning but possibly not putting hours on decorative fixtures. Your fire marshall and local laws will likely want your
house lights activated by your fire alarm
system and someone will likely mandate a need for emergency, generator or battery, lighting.
This should get you started in your thinking. Once you get into having dimmers, tying in control from your LX board gets somewhat easier to achieve. Get your thoughts down on paper, then ask lots of questions before parting with money. Some gear choices work more compatibly than others.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.