Super trouper led retrofit

Alfonso

Member
Hello, a buddy of mine told me he worked on a show with someone who put an led retrofit in a strong xenon super trouper. I cant seem to find anything that would work. Does anyone know of any product that would allow me to put an led in my spot light? Even if it's not as bright as the 1000 watt xenon bulb thats in it currently .
 
Hmm, intriguing. Perhaps retrofit an ETC S4WRD to cram into existing reflector. As it's rather deep, would need to extend the LED array from the baseplate by 6-8" I'm guessing.

s4wrd_lamp_burner.jpg
 
LEDs work well because they are a point source as compared to a filament. HOWEVER, xenon is also a point source that is many times brighter. Competition with a super troupe will have to come from something built from the ground up based on LED technology. I can't imagine any retrofit that would hold a candle to the output of a xenon. It would be a whole different optical system based on what can be done with LEDs.
 
What a LED Retrofit? Wouldn't have to re-surface all the gate assemblies every other year and other than clean out lenses grease rails etc... it would put my department out of work on what takes days to get done each. Great in twelve spots done between work and high profile customer and only like 24 more to go not including various other Super Troupers to do in an unknown quantity from work.

A cautionary thought about going LED if even feasible. Spent hours chasing seat height of Iris changes - "Something is a bit off" in finding the center of the beam, than trying to lock it down at that center, found reflectors that had de-adhered themselves from their mounts. The less heat would help if a viable LED lamp, but factory or factory authorized install with service call probably would be best for that lamp swap. A perfectly new and good lamp won't help a fixture that needs work. Past "upgrades" to fixtures in this class have shown various abilities of those doing the upgrade - lack there of. What's this e-tapped bundle of wire doing here type stuff.

I would suspect if there is a LED option - wonder about such a thing in viability, you should have factory or factory service center it installed. Not a DIY upgrade I would hope. In constant many times a week contact with Strong also, think I will have been told if they had such a thing.
 
I've been working (in my little spare time) on an LED retrofit for an old leko, need to get back into milling the aluminium heatsink and 'carrier'/heat dispersion system - the carrier will slip through the back of the reflector, get some thermal paste put on, and then the heatsink on from the front with the 110V direct-wire LEDs already attached with thermal paste and screws (wiring passing either around or through the aluminium block w/ high temp insulation). I plan on making it two-sided but a larger lamp socket/reflector center could take more more powerful LEDs. In a quick search, 150W of LED on an aluminium carrier can be had for $6 - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Rea...p-Bulb-220V-Input-IP65-Smart/32824385030.html
 
I've been working (in my little spare time) on an LED retrofit for an old leko, need to get back into milling the aluminium heatsink and 'carrier'/heat dispersion system - the carrier will slip through the back of the reflector, get some thermal paste put on, and then the heatsink on from the front with the 110V direct-wire LEDs already attached with thermal paste and screws (wiring passing either around or through the aluminium block w/ high temp insulation). I plan on making it two-sided but a larger lamp socket/reflector center could take more more powerful LEDs. In a quick search, 150W of LED on an aluminium carrier can be had for $6 - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Rea...p-Bulb-220V-Input-IP65-Smart/32824385030.html
Be aware that the AC LED modules like linked actually turn on and off 120 times per second. This may not be visible but will cause problems with video or even some still cameras depending on the shutter speed. LED systems used in theater use an external power supply and modulate the LED at a very high frequency.
 
What a LED Retrofit? Wouldn't have to re-surface all the gate assemblies every other year and other than clean out lenses grease rails etc... it would put my department out of work on what takes days to get done each. Great in twelve spots done between work and high profile customer and only like 24 more to go not including various other Super Troupers to do in an unknown quantity from work.

A cautionary thought about going LED if even feasible. Spent hours chasing seat height of Iris changes - "Something is a bit off" in finding the center of the beam, than trying to lock it down at that center, found reflectors that had de-adhered themselves from their mounts. The less heat would help if a viable LED lamp, but factory or factory authorized install with service call probably would be best for that lamp swap. A perfectly new and good lamp won't help a fixture that needs work. Past "upgrades" to fixtures in this class have shown various abilities of those doing the upgrade - lack there of. What's this e-tapped bundle of wire doing here type stuff.

I would suspect if there is a LED option - wonder about such a thing in viability, you should have factory or factory service center it installed. Not a DIY upgrade I would hope. In constant many times a week contact with Strong also, think I will have been told if they had such a thing.

The condition of most Super Stupors ''in the wild" is not encouraging to start with, as you note multiple causes of/reasons for. If the spotlight needs to be rebuilt, optically, as well as the lamp retrofit and associated changes, the only reason to keep it is the familiar form factor. I submit that a superior form & design that makes the best optical use of the the LED source will prevail at a price that will not make retrofitting Super Troupers financially viable.

Edit ps - don't get me wrong, it might be an interesting project or have other internal corporate benefits, political incentives, etc. On it's own I don't think it would pay back the associated costs.
 
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If we're (as a discussion or as an industry) going to superior form and design for LED optics, we're likely going to end up moving towards something like one of these solutions (I've not used any of them but they all seem to have their uses although I'm not sure about the cost/benefit):
https://www.aclighting.com/follow-me-spot-control/
https://www.prg.com/technology/products/luminaires/groundcontrol-followspot-system
http://www.spotrack.com/
https://www.robe.cz/robospot/

The obsolescence of the operator in current form has been ongoing for almost a decade. I expect my followspot call next week will be on a remote control device. Mostly those suck, IMHO, because they're essentially steering a moving head fixture whose operational geometry doesn't work the way traditional followspots do.. The PRG Ground Control is particularly sucky in this regard, especially if the light is directly over the target. I fought Dave Grohl's scampering around on a Foo Fighters show for this exact reason.

The auto tracking stuff is deliberately meant to result in unemployment for spot ops, and some of those operators DO need to find other work as the stories I hear from touring LDs are not flattering (Philly, I'm talking about YOU).
 
In having built dual camera truss mounted for one of these systems, and while at lunch today a short discussion on them... To the extent I understood this modern techinology...

Propriority lights - they only work with lights of their branding at this point. Not a large problem with a project in the planning I hear of given same brand fixtures planned for. One thing curious I heard was orientation of the operators. From what I understood of the conversation, it helps if the remote operators are facing the same direction as the stage so Stage Right, is more natual.

Again, I only build dual camera boxes and have no otherwise idea of this new technology.
 

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