Remember that just because you have 20 amp outlets in the classroom that it first does not mean that you have more than two if not at best four opposing walls worth of opposing
power circuits actually feeding the room in most cases. This both means lots of
cord feeding one
dimmer pack and no matter the amount of outlets unless wired specirfically for your needs will not be sufficient for a lot of
power in the room. Also it means that say the common exterior wall will be using the same
circuit breaker for more than one class room. In other words, you had at best hope classroom number one does not decide to show a slide show during rehearsal. This all in addition to overhead lighting at times also circuited similar. Worse yet, if it's in an older building the
wire feeding the outlets might not be rated for maximum load. Some amount of looking at such issues will be necessary to look at in outfitting the room. Get the schools maintince supervisor to sign off on the use of the room first in covering the theater department's liability on this issue. That way it's the school and not just the theater responsible if there is a problem in this way.
Just my usual comments about actual
power available verses what seems to be a lot of outlets to tap for it. Test what is from where, ensure it's not going to be a problem and if possible have them
wire the room specific to your use of it. Given a two 20 amp
channel 2.4Kw shoe box
dimmer, I would see if at least the two prime
dimmer packs can be plugged into a split bridge
outlet powered from two seperate breakers sent directly to them. This would be pleanty of
power for such a room.
Lots of
dimmer companies out there. CAE/
Leprecon is my prime source for such shoe box dimmers but you get what you pay for.
Other notes:
Altman 3.5Q5 Lekos are nice along with
Altman #100 3" Fresnels/Inkies for this application. Other companies offer somewhat similar fixtures especially in the
Fresnel if you want a higher wattage lamp. The baby
Altman can also be similar to a mini fifty degree
ETC but I believe a
Altman with a HPR lamp will offer better wattage ranges between HX-400, EHD, FLK and HPR than a
ETC with
HPL 375 and
HPL 575 for this use.
This all with the
PAR 46 to which I would recommend to
stock the Osram Very Wide Flood in addition to the medium and spot. Teh VWFL has a
beam angle of 60x65 degrees as opposed to just 27x13 in
field angle on a medium. Can be useful at close proximity. This is given a shorter snout lighting
fixture because a Wide flood would not work with most
stage and studio cans given the normal snout length. Might have to convert a
track lighting fixture to
stage use for a short enough snout in taking advantage of the
wash lamp. This in additon to Q-Lites and other
wash lights that will probably be of use.
In general, Juno and other low and
line voltlage
track lighting might be an alternative lighting
fixture and hanging
system which could work very well in a classroom studio. There is lots of possible
wash lights even Lekos available for that
line in addition to
PAR lamp fixtures up to
PAR 56 in size. Two
circuit Juno light being optimum in circuiting given a lot of tracks would be necessary after that run to a more perminant
power/
dimmer source. In the end it could be as difficult to
wire up such a
power distro system as hanging pipe or
unistrut plus offering sufficient
power sources to light the fixtures. Also with the Juno
system you can get dead for
power hangers and
power outlet taps in order to hang and
power up more normal or
stage lighting fixtures from it. (Kind of depends upon budget, amount of use and perminance of the room for the application but I would go with it in addition to the
Unistrut below.)
I would also go
Unistrut for the lighting
grid instead of pipe in being cheaper overall for a small space both to mount and in cost. Easier also given the lower ceilings in keeping
throw distance but you would have to be careful of heat treating on the ceiling and more careful with cable attachment to it.
Safety cables by way of eye
bolt and
unistrut nut and washer will still also be necessary. If dropped ceiliing, the minimum proximity to the tiles of fixtures no matter if pipe or
unistrut would have to be kept at 18". For plaster ceilngs it can be less.
Another thing I remember was
Gam I believe them to be "stickups." Do they still make them? Good short proximity
fixture.
PAR 20 fixtures would otherwise be cheaper to get for close up work than the rest given they and the Inkies will have a high theft ratio.
You are also limited in the cordage you can do. It might be necessary to install the outlets closer to the ceiling as opposed to cords dropped from it and tapped across black boards.
Hope the notes help. New theater spaces are fun to work on construction and development of.