Wireless lamppost?

[putzeye]

Hi all, any ideas how to make the lamppost in "Singin' in the Rain" wireless? Director wants the post structure to roll freely, wants actors to dance on/around the post, but also wants the light on top to light throughout the show.
I am wondering if there are battery operated lights that would work and hopefully I am missing some easy option in my online searches.
Thanks!

 

[DELO72]

LED source (or 12V low wattage TH lamp) & large Battery (2 cycle 12V or lantern battery). Charge the battery each night. If the LED is 24V, you could look to do two batteries in series to up the voltage output to match.

 

[Amiers]

Anything battery powered really.

 

[StradivariusBone]

Ooh! I did this recently for another show. I had good success running a 12v LED light for landscaping off a 9v battery. I put a switch inline so the actor could surreptitiously flip it on as needed, but you could probably get fancy with some kind of relay and a wireless signal.

 

[RonHebbard]

Hi all, any ideas how to make the lamppost in "Singin' in the Rain" wireless? Director wants the post structure to roll freely, wants actors to dance on/around the post, but also wants the light on top to light throughout the show.
I am wondering if there are battery operated lights that would work and hopefully I am missing some easy option in my online searches.
Thanks!

@putzeye What era? Gas light (With or without a pilot)? Really old, old enough that a lamp lighter comes around and lights the wick at nightfall and extinguishes it post sunrise? Normal incandescent? Metal halide, mercury or sodium vapor?
I've done a couple of these. The last one I particularly liked contained a 120 volt neon flame effect lamp, one of those where the two electrodes within the lamp's globe are stamped from thin sheet metal which vibrates in the shape of a candle flame and the neon fires across the broader surface at the base of the flame and visually rises up self extinguishing at the narrow pointed tips before auto-repeating quite similar to a gas flame. The fixture had four sides with each side using a lightly frosted gel to obscure the fact that we were using a neon lamp rather than a candle. We didn't have any control other than an on - off switch on the upper part of the base. A deep-cycle lead acid battery provided power for a 12 volt to 120 volt inverter. I remember having a low wattage 120 volt incandescent lamp concealed from the patrons' view within the base next to the battery and inverter to appease / dummy load the inverter as the neon lamp was not enough load to convince the inverter to function. The lamp was lit in the wings and rolled about as desired then eventually snapped off by a performer as part of their blocking thus patrons never saw the fact that the flame lit instantly at full brilliance. Having the flame snap out wasn't a problem. If you need wireless, hands free, control and / or dimming, have a chat with Jim, I believe his name is, at RC4.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.

 

[Van]

For the short duration of this dance number you could easily power this trick from a high power LED and a 12v lead acid battery similar to the kind used in UPS, fire alarms, and 12v motorcycles. For giggles you could also build an Inverse Light sensing control circuit, in addition to the on-off switch. this simple circuit allows you to turn the lamp on off-stage the LED will stay off until until the stage lights come up. the lamp will then self-extinguish once the stage lights go down again. All it takes in a light sensitive sensor and a few cheap components. There are plans-o-plenty on the interwebs.

 

[RC4Wireless]

We have specialized in this kind of thing since 1989. Wireless, DMX controlled, any kind of battery-powered load you could ever need to drive: LEDs, halogens, servo motors, solenoids, relays... literally anything, from 5V to 35VDC.

Jim
www.rc4wireless.com
www.wirelessdimming.com
866-258-4577

 

[kicknargel]

For 12v DC bulbs and etc, look at suppliers for RVs / motor homes.

 

[Chase P.]

I just finished the load in for a show with multiple RC4 units running on it, my first time using them. We had eight of them for LED strips and several more built into incandescent motorcycle headlights (on motorcycles). They aren't cheap, but they're flexible as heck, and very easy to use. Once your venue has a couple, you'll find a million cool places to use them. Add a motorcycle battery or two, and you could rig just about any practical on stage you'd ever want to.

 

[Crisp image]

I used wireless DMX units (cheep ones off Ebay) and led strips. I put a pad of strips in the base of the light and then use a LiPo (Radio Controlled drone type) battery. They are high discharge and quick to charge.They do have their safety process to follow when using them but if you know how to handle them everything is ok.
this one is powered by a 9v battery that you would find in a smoke detector. The actual lamp is constructed from MDF and acrylic. It has a switch on the back of it to turn it on. My other lamps look the same but have the wireless function. Oh and I used warm white LED.
Like it has been said there are lots of ways to skin this cat. now you have to decide how it suits you.
Regards
Geoff

 

[Stan Longhofer]

Hi all, any ideas how to make the lamppost in "Singin' in the Rain" wireless? Director wants the post structure to roll freely, wants actors to dance on/around the post, but also wants the light on top to light throughout the show.
I am wondering if there are battery operated lights that would work and hopefully I am missing some easy option in my online searches.
Thanks!

We did this in a high school production a couple of years ago. We used lantern flashlights as the light source. Took them apart and moved the push button switch to the back side of the lamp post base. The battery lived in the base itself, and we moved the lamp fixture to the top of the post with a frosted globe. The stage crew would move on the lamp post and then push the switch when the post was in place. Fairly simple and worked well.
The hardest part was making them movable and yet stable enough for swinging upon. Our tech director designed to have casters on a board that was hinged inside the base that could be pushed down and locked in place for moving, but allowed the casters to rise so that they weren't in contact with the stage floor when the unit was in place.

 

[Crash_Override]

I have used Astera AX3 lights for wireless operation. Long battery life and very powerful. You can control those from your console via Lumenradio CRMX or their own CRMX device. Although they are rather expensive.
http://astera-led.com/ax3/

 

[Mark Harris]

My question to the director would be "what's your plan for when (not if) the actors/dancers swing too hard on the lamp and it falls over?"
If actors are climbing on it, it should be fixed, IMHO

 

[jayvee]

+1 on RC4 - renting from them was super easy and they are a friendly bunch. Setup and control was a breeze. I lit up the gate for our production of Secret Garden this fall with LED tape and a 12v battery from HD.