Strategy for upgrading theater lighting

All good, but I must recommend looking at the numerous alternatives to show baby for wireless DMX. systems that are more secure, provide longer distances, have smaller packages. There is a lot to consider. Several options are, in my opinion, better performers at the same or lesser expense.
 
What changes in equipment or operation did you make to reduce the peak demand?

The primary change was retiring 60 1000W fixtures in favour of 60 100W LED fixtures, installing LED worklights in the auditorium that are used during rehearsals and other dark days, LED exterior lighting, and automating the HVAC fresh air dampers. That dropped us from peaks of about 65 kW to under 40 kW for most months, June and July being the exceptions.

My venue is a standalone facility about 10,000 sq ft with about 100 performance nights with other activities mostly in the evening for another 225 days of the year. The local utility charges corporate customers a higher rate for the first 50kW. The rate above 50kW is actually less but there is significant step in the delivery charge to the tune of $600 per month (see sketch) We paid the delivery charge but did not really benefit from the reduced rate. So there was a potential savings of $7,200 per year in delivery charges if we could keep the monthly peak below 50kW. The biggest power uses are the HVAC compressors when cooling, and the stage lights, with the stage light contributing the most during tech weeks and performances. Reducing the lighting load also reduces the HVAC load so there's a win-win.

So the contributing factors are climate, the billing structure of the utility company, and the significance of the stage lighting to the operating cost.

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In the case of my old high school, our stage uses quite a bit of power, and is entirely comprised of halogen and incandescent bulbs, which doesn't look good for their "green initiative" as they break it down to each section of the building. Plus, I think they're getting tired of the constant requests for a couple hundred dollars in FELs, HPLs and EGGs..

But then they look at the immediate cost of replacing everything and slowly slink away...
 
The primary change was retiring 60 1000W fixtures in favour of 600 100W LED fixtures

Even assuming you meant 60 - not 600 - LED fixtures and assuming just 10% the wattage was the same amount of light, I'm skeptical it paid back. $7000/yr gets you somewhere around $75,000 - in the area of 5% interest and 15 years - hardly enough to buy 60 LED profiles equivalent to 1000 watt tungsten halogen profiles. And that's only assuming none of the other upgrades cost anything.

I am well aware that figures lie and liars figure, but payback can be calculated. You may be counting on energy prices going up a lot, which helps the case, but not enough. And even if you show that the stage lighting accounted for 10%, not just 2% like the Seattle Rep study, you really only had $700 a year to replace all those fixtures, and its obviously not close.
 
I mean... Straight Incandescent to LED would be about 10% of the Wattage. Let's say you're replacing 1KW Kliegl Scoops with LED floods. (God forbid you still have them)

Halogen bulbs are a bit more efficient, so it's not quite as stark a difference.
 
Yeah, I meant 60 (typo fixed) and yes it saves us about $7000 per year on our hydro per year, almost entirely attributable to not paying delivery charge premium and not the piddling few cents per kWh charge. I am well aware that demand charges alone would never provide any payback. The ROI is about a decade but we are absolutely achieving the ROI. We did this several years back before LED profiles were a thing. That said, our primary motivator was not energy savings, it was to get colour mixing and not have to double and triple hang conventionals.
 
Yeah, I meant 60 (typo fixed) and yes it saves us about $7000 per year on our hydro per year, almost entirely attributable to not paying delivery charge premium and not the piddling few cents per kWh charge. I am well aware that demand charges alone would never provide any payback. The ROI is about a decade but we are absolutely achieving the ROI. We did this several years back before LED profiles were a thing. That said, our primary motivator was not energy savings, it was to get colour mixing and not have to double and triple hang conventionals.

If you lent $52,000 at 3% for 10 years, you would get back $7000/year. Or maybe it was interest free. I'm still surprised you could acquire 60 LED profiles and make the other upgrades to work light and mechanical systems for $52,000 or $70,000.
 
I'm late to the party here, but I'd also bring up the funding issue for fixture replacement. If the Powers That Be are approving conversion in drips and drabs, it makes sense to me to replace things behind the scenes first, then move onstage. If you've done the hallways and dressing rooms, but have the stage and house still left, you may be able to leverage funding that drys up when the highly visible changes have been made. Not that most folks would visually notice a good conversion, especially in non-dimmed applications. They'll sure notice a sloppy color temp change, though.

This has been my strategy on a gig that I PM every summer. I started by converting the exterior lights on the tent, as well as the work lights backstage and in concessions and ticket sales. This year I'm moving on to the house lights, and possibly starting the conversion over the stage. It's worked out well, because the funding hasn't dried up yet, though it does trickle instead of flow in. I'm still hoping for a donor that wants to "name" the new lighting rig.
 
Your photos show all the instruments on the on-stage electrics focused as downlight. Great for reading sheet music, but usually awful for lighting actors, dancers, etc. is that your normal rep plot?
Sorry for the belated response. The lighting was temporarily in that configuration between quick activities. Normally they are aimed in more appropriate and interesting directions!
 
I'm late to the party here, but I'd also bring up the funding issue for fixture replacement. If the Powers That Be are approving conversion in drips and drabs, it makes sense to me to replace things behind the scenes first, then move onstage. If you've done the hallways and dressing rooms, but have the stage and house still left, you may be able to leverage funding that drys up when the highly visible changes have been made. Not that most folks would visually notice a good conversion, especially in non-dimmed applications. They'll sure notice a sloppy color temp change, though.

This has been my strategy on a gig that I PM every summer. I started by converting the exterior lights on the tent, as well as the work lights backstage and in concessions and ticket sales. This year I'm moving on to the house lights, and possibly starting the conversion over the stage. It's worked out well, because the funding hasn't dried up yet, though it does trickle instead of flow in. I'm still hoping for a donor that wants to "name" the new lighting rig.

The school and some benefactors have upgraded all the house, hall, dressing rooms, etc. to LED. Only the stage lighting remains conventional. I really like the Kreios FLx 90w as a work light. Perhaps we can get 8-10 of those.
 
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You have a good base in the strand rack - because it has relay modules available for you to start distributing power for LED’s.
Choose a few circuits at ends and in middle of your plug strips, replace the existing dimmer modules with relays - change out the plugs on the strips to Edison so it’s clear they are supplied from the relays.

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My humble opinion

Carmel

I really appreciate your point about using Edison plugs on channels that are converted to Relays. This makes tons of sense and would prevent someone from plugging in a LED non-dimming fixture into one of the dimming channels. Since it is a student driven environment we need to try and lower possibility of mistakes that damage expensive assets....
 
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I've used the Krieos a few times, both 60W & 90W versions. They are a bit glary (barn doors and snoots are available) and really bright for a good price. Color quality is very nice too, but limited choices.
 

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