What fixtures should I rent?

[zmanb]

My High School Theatre has 11 Source Fours and 10 Fresnels (this is whats left after a massive sweep out over the summer of everything that didn't work and would have cost more to fix than to just buy new ones.) the only problem is we have faced MAJOR budget cuts the past 2 years resulting in not enough money to buy any new light fixtures. We have enough money to basically rent anything I need (I do all lighting with no help; Designing, Hanging, Focusing, Running, Everything) but just rent, like i said, I can't buy any fixtures. I have no one around here to ask anything too either cause no one has the slightest clue about lighting... not even our tech director. Anyways, I have to basically light our upcoming show before the set is even up (i'll tweak it once the set is up, of course) due to stupid scheduling conflicts with concerts for other things happening that need the whole stage.
Basically, my main question is - What fixtures are best to use for down lighting in conjunction with the source 4's and Fresnels I have (I am also going to rent more of them)?
We use mainly 26 degree, sometimes 36 degree barrels for the source fours.

Also, Any rough guess on how many lights to rent? We have a... medium (ish) sized proscenium stage... I feel like its somewhat average public high school stage sized. Our auditorium sits roughly 300 people if that helps at all (sorry these numbers are so uncertain and not specific, I don't have all the numbers with me right now.) I am thinking atleast 2 different colored stage washes, me and my friend built 2 extensions out into the auditorium (we had to take some rows of seats out) over summer and I think those will take about 3 source 4's a piece? Just any help would be appreciated! The directors really antsy to have all the lights hung by the time the sets put together so I am starting to look at rental prices and options for where to purchase them.


Thank you SO much! Sorry for so much rambling and such a "question".

 

[Les]

We'll need a little more info from you before making an educated recommendation.

What is your throw distance? From what angle?

How big is your stage (length and width) and how big of an area are you trying to light?

How many dimmer channels do you have available?

Many stages can do very well with 15 areas, which will equate to 15 fresnels and 30 ellipsoidals using the McCandless method. 9 areas bare minimum. You want at least two front lights per area, and one downlight; back light IF you can. If your budget is really really slim, you can get by with a single front light per area, but your design may suffer (you will lose some depth perception and gain shadows) and you sacrifice control.

This is to light faces. For color washes, try renting a bunch of par 64's. That will be your cheapest option.

If you want gobos and/or specials, this will take additional ellipsoidals. Best to rent the same type of light you already have. If you have Source Four's, rent more. As far as fresnels go, it doesn't matter the brand, just try to get the same lens size (6", 8").

What was wrong with your other lights exactly? What type (brand/make/model) and what was their final fate?

 

[zmanb]

We'll need a little more info from you before making an educated recommendation.

What is your throw distance? From what angle?

How big is your stage (length and width) and how big of an area are you trying to light?

How many dimmer channels do you have available?

Many stages can do very well with 15 areas, which will equate to 15 fresnels and 30 ellipsoidals using the McCandless method. 9 areas bare minimum. You want at least two front lights per area, and one downlight; back light IF you can. If your budget is really really slim, you can get by with a single front light per area, but your design may suffer (you will lose some depth perception and gain shadows) and you sacrifice control.

This is to light faces. For color washes, try renting a bunch of par 64's. That will be your cheapest option.

If you want gobos and/or specials, this will take additional ellipsoidals. Best to rent the same type of light you already have. If you have Source Four's, rent more. As far as fresnels go, it doesn't matter the brand, just try to get the same lens size (6", 8").

What was wrong with your other lights exactly? What type (brand/make/model) and what was their final fate?

Sorry, I will try and get my papers with the stage size, throw, etc. ASAP. Hopefully by sometime tonight.

The lights we got rid of were 2 Cyberlight (2000's I think?). The motors broke and enough was wrong with them(caused by lack of maintenance I assume?) that they were only good for parts, so we gave them to a college in the state and are waiting to hear back from them about getting anything in return.

which reminds me, I would love to rent at least a couple moving lights for any specials and things like that. Any ideas for inexpensive to rent, yet pretty good and capable moving lights?

Also we got rid of around 65 Strand ellipsoidals. I kept 10(ish) of them in case I ever stumbled upon a fix, but from what we could tell and a former graduate, who now does lighting on broadway, when he came back and looked, most had basically died and just stopped working completely and some were so unreliable (they would work for a while, then after turning the lights off and back on a few times, they would eventually stop turning on. So I would go up and tinker with them a little to get it to work, then it would happen repeatedly. And it wasn't the dimmers because we switched them out and tried them all over the place. I guess technically some were "repairable", but if they were, it would cost more to repair then replace... unfortunately we don't have money for either. We are eventually hoping to be able to buy enough source fours and move all down lighting over to source four pars.

This is the state of things I stepped into here, but the tech director really has no knowledge of stage craft (makes sense, huh?) besides the extreme basics, and the Director just knows what she has been able to have for lighting previously so now just expects that from me no matter how hard I try to explain the problems I am having.

 

[Pie4Weebl]

If I were you I would rent lights to fill out your stage first, as opposed to moving lights how about Source 4 Pars with color scrollers on them? "A couple good moving lights" can run you well over a grand or two for a week. If you need specials figure out what they are in advance and rent a source 4 per special. I promise you at $12 a fixture it will come out cheaper than moving lights.

 

[Les]

... most had basically died and just stopped working completely and some were so unreliable (they would work for a while, then after turning the lights off and back on a few times, they would eventually stop turning on. So I would go up and tinker with them a little to get it to work, then it would happen repeatedly. And it wasn't the dimmers because we switched them out and tried them all over the place. I guess technically some were "repairable", but if they were, it would cost more to repair then replace...

Actually, they would have cost about $10-15 each to fix. Your sockets were going bad, which is a common occurrence with ellipsoidals over ten years old, exasperated by swapping lamps from "bad" units to "good" units.

It's a simple repair really, just got through doing a bunch of lights myself. It takes about 10 minutes per light.

 

[Lotos]

Actually, they would have cost about $10-15 each to fix. Your sockets were going bad, which is a common occurrence with ellipsoidals over ten years old, exasperated by swapping lamps from "bad" units to "good" units.

It's a simple repair really, just got through doing a bunch of lights myself. It takes about 10 minutes per light.

Sitting at my work bench doing the same as we speak... Going through a crate full of Altman 360Q and Strand 22xx Lamp Caps... The fibreglass in the sides of your fingers gets a little annoying, but it doesn't take much time per light... TP-22/TP-220's have this really nasty habbit of arcing out when dirty or poorly seated lamps are inserted.

We really ought to start a collaborative article on swapping sockets out in common fixtures... Unless... We already have one, and I just don't know where to look? (In fairness... I've never really gone looking...)

 

[derekleffew]

We don't have one, and seeing as how you're in the process of doing it and could likely take and post pictures, I nominate you, Lotos! Just click on Replacing Sockets in Stage Lights and add content.

 

[Lotos]

We don't have one, and seeing as how you're in the process of doing it and could likely take and post pictures, I nominate you, Lotos! Just click on Replacing Sockets in Stage Lights and add content.

Me and my big mouth... I guess I'm bringing my camera to work tomorrow For now, the article will have to do with my poorly worded text.

 

[zmanb]

Where would be a good place to buy these for Strands?

 

[Lotos]

Where would be a good place to buy these for Strands?

If you're referring to the standard TP-22 sockets... Contact your local dealer, let them know you want a Standard TP-22 socket, give them the quantity. They may ask you what light it is for.

 

[derekleffew]

The TP22 (shown on the left) G9.5 Lamp Socket. If the fixture will accept it, and many will regardless of what was originally supplied with the fixture, the TP220 socket (shown on the right) with integrated heat sink, is preferred. Either should come with 36" leads, as splicing is not recommended. Prices for either range from $8-25, with the TP220 only slightly higher.

 

[Lotos]

View attachment 3796
The TP22 (shown on the left) G9.5 Lamp Socket. If the fixture will accept it, and many will regardless of what was originally supplied with the fixture, the TP220 socket (shown on the right) with integrated heat sink, is preferred. Either should come with 36" leads, as splicing is not recommended. Prices for either range from $8-25, with the TP220 only slightly higher.

If this is the 22xx Series Lekolite (The OP hasn't given a yay or nay, I don't believe) the lamp cap has an integrated heatsink that the TP-22 becomes a part of... This will not accept TP-220's properly... They will fit, but you will need to leave off a part of the original cap when re-assembling.

If it's a Strand SL... They originally came with a different heatsink design, with the simple ceramic section of the TP-22 inside... These are removeable by popping out a rivet, and you can replace JUST the ceramic section. (Careful who you order from, OSRAM's dont fit without a trip to the bench grinder to take 1/16" off the top... I believe the original part was a Philips or GE)
They should also take TP-220's, if you remove the original socket and heatsink... Though I imagine this is slightly less than optimal.