Lantern Challenge

[icewolf08]

You know, when I was your age we didn't have no Fancy Shmancy wireless DMX controllers for our carry on props. We had real Oil lamps, and the actors had to light them with flints, and if they didn't get them lit in time for thier entrance then they were fired! Then they had to live on the streets and beg for money............ And we LIKED IT!
sorry just had to get that off my chest

I am all for the actor driven realistic approach, that would make it a props problem, not a lighting problem.

However, in the traditional nature of our theatre, our TD and special effects guy had the great idea of using inductive coils to make the lamps work. They wanted to put the primary coil in the table and have the secondary in the lantern, and then when you set the lantern down on the table it would switch from internal power to inductive power. While this is a very cool idea in theory, it just didn't seem practical to me. First off, we can't dim an inductive load. Second, making the coils would not be that fun. Third, they would have to do some pretty good math to make the coils the right size to get the right voltage out of the secondary coil. All that and the fact that it just might not work (many ideas that our TD comes up with seem really cool until they need it to work right every day).

In any event, I ordered the RC4 Wireless package today, should have it in house tomorrow. Once we get it set up and working I will let you all know how it works out. The guys there are very helpful. Oh, and for those of you who work in schools, they do offer academic pricing 5% of their packages, and 10% of individual units. Every little bit counts.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

If you were doing inductive coils, you might as well wire each table. I could see it working, like how rechargeable toothbrushes work without actual contacts.

OIL lamps might be one of the most dangerous things to have on a stage.

 

[icewolf08]

If you were doing inductive coils, you might as well wire each table. I could see it working, like how rechargeable toothbrushes work without actual contacts.

That is exactly what the idea was, and as I said, while it seems cool, and like it should work in principle, it also seems like a ton of work for a simple effect.

 

[Van]

You could dim an inductive load with an IPS dimmer.

 

[avkid]

Here's a stupid simple idea, take out the guts of a battery powered LED Candle and split the LEDs into two circuits.
One switch for each circuit.(one dim, two bright)
If you use NiCad batteries you can just plug them in for a few hours pre-show.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

I saw these awesome battery operated candles.

They are the size of a votive and use two AA's. They have an on button, but you can actually BLOW THEM OUT.

 

[avkid]

They have an on button, but you can actually BLOW THEM OUT.

Are you playing with me?

 

[Van]

I saw these awesome battery operated candles.

They are the size of a votive and use two AA's. They have an on button, but you can actually BLOW THEM OUT.

That's a pretty easy circuit to build as well. You essentially make an audio activated / de-activated transistor driver. you can use a teeny tiny condenser mic mounted just under the "skin" of the top of the candle with a small < 1/8"> hole as an opening. The circuit turns the gain down on the mic so that the "wind" noise which you normally wouldn't want, is the only thing that provides enough current to kick the transistor over.
I've got a circuit diagram for this at home.
Again it's one of those thing that you can buy, for $19.95 or make for $5.00 plus your time. I like building creative things like this, but maybe that's just me.

 

[derekleffew]

Somehow I just can't picture Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford running around blowing out all the candles used in Phantom, thus the need for wireless, battery-powered dimming. Have fun with your kit, Alex, and explain to Porkchop that this isn't the same thing as wireless DMX for remote moving lights.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

These are the exact ones that I have. And Van, they're only $7, so unless you like soldier burns, these work, and they flicker (not strobe) realistically.

 

[derekleffew]

Well, I'll bookmark that site for the next time I do The Glass Menagerie: "Blow your candles out, Laura." Does J. Michael Gillette know about these?

 

[Van]

I saw a really cute candle set up and Home Depot not too long ago. It looked like a piece of wood with three round recesses in it. In each recess sat a 2 1/2" diameter candle, the shortest being about 3 inches and the tallest about 5". The cool thing about them was, if they were "off" you'd pick them up then set them down on thier recess, and they turned on. You could pick them up and walk around with them after that and they didn't go off until you put them back into the holder again.
cool huh ?

 

[icewolf08]

So, I guess, now that I have done an entire show using the RC4 wireless DMX (not to be confused with W-DMX) and wireless dimmers I can give a little review. I will try to get a few pictures too.

Anyway, ordering was a breeze. Called up, and chatted with them for a bit about the project. They sent me a link for the academic discount (huzzah for working for the U), and the next day I had the gear on my desk, as they ship everything overnight.

Setup was pretty simple. I think the hardest part was finding a good place to setup the transmitter. Turned out that I never had to move it from the booth, where I set it up for testing. The transmitter is powerful enough to have good signal anywhere in the house and on stage.

I had to do some R&D as to how to fit the dimmers and batteries in the lamps, and what lamps to use. The dimmers are about the size of two 9v batteries or four AA batteries, so pretty small. The rig ended up being eight AA batteries batteries in a single harness, and four 6v 250mA lamps (two pairs each wired in series). The lamps sat on top of the battery harness which sat on top of the dimmer. That entire rig sat in the lamps.

Total effective burn time (read: battery life) of the rig at full was 2:15. The unfortunate thing was that the burn time in the show was about 1:15, which meant that we could really only safely get one show on a set of batteries. We gave the half deads to FOH for the usher's flashlights.

So, IMO the RC4 wireless is a great product, and certainly helped make this show. I would recommend them to anyone who needs wireless DMX or wireless dimming.

 

[derekleffew]

...Total effective burn time (read: battery life) of the rig at full was 2:15. The unfortunate thing was that the burn time in the show was about 1:15, which meant that we could really only safely get one show on a set of batteries. We gave the half deads to FOH for the usher's flashlights...

Of course audio depts. do that all the time. Did you consider recharge-ables? Or dismiss them as being cost prohibitive? Or would even the 2500mAh type not last long enough?

 

[icewolf08]

Of course audio depts. do that all the time. Did you consider recharge-ables? Or dismiss them as being cost prohibitive? Or would even the 2500mAh type not last long enough?

I have been having the rechargeable debate for a while now at the theatre. I certainly would have used them if we had them, but since the sound department isn't using them, it didn't seem to make sense as an investment for this show. We actually looked at using a 12v rechargeable lead-acid battery for this show, but the props department wasn't thrilled with the weight of them. They would have allowed us to actually get some serious output, another time.