Automated Fixtures Something similar to HES SHOWGUN under 2.4kw

[lighttechie5948]

I don't see Mike saying to consider the use of the money as telling him how to spend it.

No, I don't take offense to it at all. He brought up a good point. However, like I said before, the budget for this show is increased do to the lack of spending in other areas, and the relationship we have with the shop.

 

[mstaylor]

Now back to the discussion, what are you trying to do. Wr can suggest a bunch of lights, but if we don't know what you are trying to do it is tough.
If you are renting lights, I suggest renting a distro and either have them tie it in or get an electrician.

 

[lighttechie5948]

I've basically decided to go with a VL-3500 Wash or Mac 2k Performance Spot. I'm pretty sure the VL3500 can work on 120V and I know that this rental company was able to give me the Mac 2k Performance at 120V in the past.

 

[derekleffew]

I've basically decided to go with a VL-3500 Wash or Mac 2k Performance Spot. I'm pretty sure the VL3500 can work on 120V and I know that this rental company was able to give me the Mac 2k Performance at 120V in the past.

From the VL3500 Wash spec sheet.pdf :

Power Requirements:
Standard AC power distribution from 200-264 VAC, 50/60 Hz. The unit requires 7 to 12 A depending
on the AC supply voltage.

 

[SteveB]

The 120v Profiles took more then 20amps, if memory serves and you need the electronic ballast model, where as the newer magnetic ballast units are only rated for 200-240volts. That's how I remember it and why I always get a 208v distro with any Mac2k Profile rental.

 

[derekleffew]

The 120v Profiles took more then 20amps, if memory serves and you need the electronic ballast model, where as the newer magnetic ballast units are only rated for 200-240volts. ...

I'm not sure whether the magnetic or electronic is newer (both are at least 5-7 years old), but
MAC 2000 Profile II (E):

120 V / 60 Hz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1540 W, 16.3 A

 

[DuckJordan]

it still hasn't been covered what you are attempting to do with this fixture... The biggest thing is we can't really give you good suggestions without knowing the requirements...

 

[SteveB]

I'm not sure whether the magnetic or electronic is newer (both are at least 5-7 years old), but
MAC 2000 Profile II (E):

Thanks Derek.

The confusion lays with the information Martin has on it's website. The downloadable specifications lists as following:

AC power: 200-240 V nominal, 50/60 Hz (magnetic ballast)
Main fuse: 15 AT (x 2, for use with 208-240 V power)
Main fuse: 20 AT (x 2, for use with 100-120 V power)

Which seems to indicate 200-240 volt operation alone, but gets confusing when you see the fuse data that indicates 100-120v power.

You have to go to the manual and scroll all the way down to see the actual amperage draws at various voltages to see that the fixture can run below 200 volts. Looks like a typo to me.

FWIW, Martin has apparently moved to magnetic ballasts, not that means anything apparently and according to their data. Google-ing shows assorted info. about buy-back programs to upgrade to magnetic. I'm still trying to find out where I read that the magnetic ballast changed the auto-sensing voltage capability, which is why I was under the impression that the recent Profile fixtures only accepted 200-240volts. If I find any info. I'll post

I also just e-mailed Matts Karlsson at Martin to clarify if it's a typo.

 

[derekleffew]

From a 2002 thread on LightNetwork:

I have 28 Profiles and 12 Performances on "The Producers" tour ...

We run our lamps at 110V and do still use the L6-20 connector to keep them from being plugged into a dimming circuit, we changed the internal fuses to 20A as required and have not had any real problems relating to that. Our fixtures all have the electronic ballast.

I wasn't going to bring this up, but from the same thread:

The show travels with 5 ETC Sensor dimmer recks of 72 dimmers per rack with Advance Features dimmers. 1 rack is for front of house while the other 4 are for the stage. We power all of the moving lights from the dimmer racks so all movers run on 110 volts (the standard in the US and Canada) and can be turned off from the obsession console.

Before someone says "Hey you can't run the moving lights from dimmers!" let me say now that under the right conditions, yes you can. You need the right dimmers and those dimmers must be configured properly, in our case the dimmers are set to switch mode at the rack and the console is using a profile that will never allow the dimmer to dim, the only options are 0% or 100%. I never manually change anything with these dimmers and when I do need to turn a fixture off I use a macro to perform the task. This ensures that I never fade the power down, this also makes it really fast.

One would hope that with the advent of the R20 and/or CC20 modules, the poster would not be running moving lights from a dimmer set to "non-dim" or "switched" today.

 

[PadawanGeek]

The confusion lays with the information Martin has on it's website. The downloadable specifications lists as following:

AC power: 200-240 V nominal, 50/60 Hz (magnetic ballast)
Main fuse: 15 AT (x 2, for use with 208-240 V power)
Main fuse: 20 AT (x 2, for use with 100-120 V power)

Which seems to indicate 200-240 volt operation alone, but gets confusing when you see the fuse data that indicates 100-120v power.

You have to go to the manual and scroll all the way down to see the actual amperage draws at various voltages to see that the fixture can run below 200 volts. Looks like a typo to me.

Here's from the Mac 2000 Profile II manual:
(can be found here)

ELECTRICAL
Operating ranges (electronic ballast) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100-130/200-260 V, 50/60 Hz
Operating ranges (magnetic ballast). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200-260 V, 50/60 Hz
Main fuses (x 2 - when local AC supply is 200 - 250 V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 A
Main fuses (x 2 - when local AC supply is 100 - 120 V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T 20 A

Power supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Electronic auto-ranging

For the electronic ballast you can run either 110 or 208. With the magnetic ballast you have to run between 200-260 volts. All cleared up?

 

[SteveB]

"For the electronic ballast you can run either 110 or 208. With the magnetic ballast you have to run between 200-260 volts. All cleared up?"

As follow on and as per an e-mail sent to me from Martin, they switched at some point recently to magnetic ballasts for all Profiles II's, thus best check to see if the unit you are renting can run on 120v or needs 200-240v.

 

[shiben]

I guess my big question with this entire thing is what in shakespear are you doing that requires some very large MLs that work on hundreds of foot throws? I mean, I love big lights and big looks, but that just seems obscene, from my experience with Shakespeare, you can probably get away with MAC 700s if you need spots or VLXs if you want washes. Maybe Im wrong, but In my mind I cant figure out what its being attempted here.