how to set up intels

moojoe

Active Member
i feel rather silly asking this question, but ive never worked with any type of intel before so i dont know about them.

our theatre is thinking of buying some intels (two of them), and i was wondering how i would actually go about getting them to work. we have a Leprecon LP-1500 series control board and i looked though the manual and i dont see anything for intels. so is there a way to do it? or is there something small (and relatively cheap) which is stand-alone or integrated with the board to get them to work?
 
The biggest question I have is: which 1500 console?
Also, which intels?
 
i dont know if this will help or not cause i have an ETC express and 4 studio spots.

sooo...
you run DMX out of the board into a splitter.
(remember female gives power!)
then from the splitter you run that to the lights.
its really quite simple once you figure it out.
and you can daisy chain them together if neccesary.
then you plug them into a regular edison wall outlet to give them power.
and then all you need to do is address and home them and patch em into the board and your good.
it sounds like alot...but it really isnt!

thats what we did...but make sure you check out the manuals before you do it! :D
 
After checking out the 1500 specs, I doubt you'll want to work intels with it. I suggest upgrading to the X series.
 
Dont forget to check power requerements. most 250 watt lights will do ok on 110 but anything over 575 will need 220 or a special verson ie mac 500 is 575 and needs 220 but the mac 500 E is 575 and will run on 110.
 
Another moving light board I've heard of is the Zero 88 Frog line. They are very cheap, has anyone used one? Are they any good?
 
we rented one and were not too happy with it but in its defense we got it the last dress rehersal so we did not have time to ease into it. I can now recamend the LP-X 24/48 great board a little steep learning curve for more advanced things but support is A++
 
If upgrading to a desk which will run everything, and be dmx, is out of your budget there are several cheap dmx controllers which will work. Chauvet makes a DMX-50, Elation makes some, Martin makes a Freekie, American DJ has a couple, etc. All are under $500. Some are under $300.

Try http://www.pssl.com. But I recommend shopping further as their prices can be high.
 
wow, Len, thats perfect. thankyou very much.
 
You're welcome. Just remember, a moving light can use as little as 5 or 6, and as many as 36 channels and most of the controllers I mentioned only manage 192 +/- dmx channels, so you could theoretically run out quickly. Also, some have joysticks or other pointing devices, and some don't. So if movements, aiming, etc. are important, make sure it has a good device to do so.

Naturally, you'll have to run a dmx line to them, as well as power. If you've never worked with dmx before, it's important to use good quality dmx cable. Mic cable looks the same, but it has a different impedance (I think) and cheap cable can cause reflections which may cause the lights to whack out on occasion. Also, you'll want a terminator at the end of the data chain. Basically, it's a small plug that has a (resistor or capacitor or something, I always forget) wired across the pins to prevent data streaming back.

And finally, if the run is very long, a good splitter/amplifier will help boost the signal so it is going full strength down the chain.
 
ok, thanks. my only problem is that i need to use both my conventional board, and this new board if i were to get it. so how would I attach both to the racks?
 
moojoe said:
ok, thanks. my only problem is that i need to use both my conventional board, and this new board if i were to get it. so how would I attach both to the racks?

You have a couple options:

Use the second desk only for intels. IN which case no need to hook it to the racks if you're using wall power for the fixtures (I think I read this in the thread here somehwere, no?).

Purchase a DMX combiner. Some racks have multiple DMX inputs as well.

On a budget, I'd take option A. For flexibility, option B.
 
SuperCow said:
With moving lights running DMX, you're supposed to daisy chain them rather than run a cable to each light.

While you can, you certainly aren't "supposed" to. The idea of daisy chaining is to cut down on individual cable runs to each unit. It doesn't seem very logical to daisy chain to different locations esepecially if you have fixtures on electrics, catwalks, the stage, etc. You'd be running a very long trail of cable allover the place. Daisy chaining is only useful if you have muiltiple units in a single area, than means you'll only have to run a single DMX line and you'll just have to daisy chain and terminate the signal. With an opto-isolator (DMX Repeater), you can run lines in all different directions. Also if you are having inteferrance problems or say a fixture is malfunctioning and begins to terminate the DMX signal you still have everything up and running.
 
moojoe said:
ok, thanks. my only problem is that i need to use both my conventional board, and this new board if i were to get it. so how would I attach both to the racks?

Are you referring to powering a dmx fixture into a dimmer pack? If so, DON'T. If a dmx fixture is dimmable, it is done internally. DMX fixtures need full power 100% of the time. And just running them on a dimmer channel at 100% is a bad idea, because you never know when a mistake could happen. Even if the fixture isn't dimmable, it should have 100% power all the time.

If you mean attaching both controllers to a rack, I'm not sure what you mean by that.
 
Len, What if you have it plugged into a dimmer that is set to Non-Dim? I have heard different things about this. Some say it is bad, some say its ok.

I have them on a dimmer that is unpatched to any channel(so it cannot go on accidently) and then M2 Changes the profile on that dimmer to non-dim and M3 changes it back to regular dimmer(turning it off since it is unpatched and set to 0).
 

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