help with replacing smartfade controller for basic system

S

saxman

Member
hi - looking for some direction here if possible - am not a lighting techie - our church hall has an older basic stage lighting system consisting of 8 spots in front of the stage and a bunch of par 30's on stage controlled by two etc smartpacks (controlled by dmx-512a ?)and a smartfade console (smartpacks/smartfade/ spots about ten years old-par 30's way older ) maybe about 20 channels total.

The smartfade console was stolen along with other items (guy tried to steal the smartpacks as well but got a good shock and blown breakers) We got the smart packs working again (went into test mode and lights work) but looking for options to get the lights operable. We have a very limited budget and quite frankly the stage gets used very infrequently so even simple on/off would suffice until we look at changes down the road if any (ie LED etc)

Is there a way to use the smartpack individual toggles without using a dmx controller for now? What other options would be possible? am trying to find a used smartfade but not much luck. thanks in advance.
 
Plenty of used Smartfades on eBay. You could also look for a used Lightronics TL4016; 32 channels with 16 scenes. Make sure it has the DMX out.

eBay Smartfades.png
 
Besides the Lightronics mentioned by microstar, some of the smaller Leprecon consoles might be satisfactory, such as the LP-624 or LP-1524. These are pretty basic, particularly the 6xx series, but for basic needs serve well and are, to my understanding, pretty much bulletproof. In some cases DMX512 output might be an option, so check for that. Used ones are available quite inexpensively.
 
I second the lightronics consoles they are as bullet proof as you can get. Steel case so you open it up and bolt it down to stop a reoccurring theft. The only downside is the fader knobs are plastic. We have them in our shop for rentals cause they can get thrown around pretty good.

Also to answer your question about just flipping on your dimmers it’s not good to flip the breakers on and off, it works but eventually they will wear and one day they just won’t stay flipped.

If you do plan to upgrade for the future this console won’t do much unless you sacrifice some individuality of fixtures.
 
there is a lightronics tl-1608 hardly used for sale in town - guessing an old basic model but appears to have both protocols..if I limit the channels to 16 would this work with the smartpacks and if so - how to connect to both smartpacks? (sorry the thief grabbed any cables handy) each smartpack has a dmx in xlr type connector and a dmx thru on the front - would they daisy chain
 
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In terms of hooking up whatever light controller to the dimmers via DMX512, you'd have a DMX cable from the controller to one smartpack, and then from there to the second, and then put a terminator on the other DMX port on the last dimmer. The dimmers would then be configured as needed to have DMX addresses corresponding to ones that the controller is controlling; for a fair few of the simpler, more inexpensive controllers, those would be DMX channels 1 through however many channels they have (i.e. the controller has no softpatch capabilities). Note that the dimmers can be set to have each individual dimmer channel arbitrarily assigned to any particular DMX channel on the dimmer packs, including having more than one controlled by the same DMX channel.

Yes, the TL-1608 could have been used to control the dimmers...of course constrained by its channel count limits.
 
LesWilson said:
Leprecon is another inexpensive straight forward to program console you might find on the cheap.
Click to expand...
The Leprecon 4 & 6 dimmer packs, and their small / consoles, are built extremely well. aren't the cheapest when new, and have great factory support. They're built to survive the rigors of being rented to weekend bar bands and high schools and still be working when they're returned.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
I would advise taking a look around at the small console market. There are a ton of new tech consoles out there that are perfect for your application that have a combination of "Basic fader boards" and "software integration". It sounds to me that you will need a lighting update sometime in the near future, instead of going with a more basic board you can get a smarter console that will carry over to your next install. That way you wont need to budget for a new console as well. Trust me, running LED's on a smart fade or a leprecon board is not fun, ive done it. lol. My 10cents, look at the Altman Geneis console, its super intuitive for non lighting people but also has an easy and powerful effects engine for more sophisticated effects.

I would just hate to see you spend money for an old basic fader board when in another 1-2 years you switch out to an all LED system and have to replace the console again.
 
saxman said:
thx everyone for your suggestions - agree that led lightsetup is not too far away to plan for...that said, i met with an old colleague that now runs a very successful event production company...he donated an older leprecon 624 to the cause and the lights are now operable yay!
Click to expand...


Hopefully you take/took him out for a pint.
 
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