tonytech

Yes, but try and find a "professional tester" with a 15A socket for his "push a button pass/fail machine" let alone a 5A one.

I had the original series on video tape (VHS not Betamax) for My Physics dept to use when a teacher was late or ill. Only threw them out last year due to lack of space... T

I retro fitted some LED strip (WS2812) into a storm lantern, it has a esp8266 board and needs a 5V supply. It was before I discovered WLED so runs my own scrappy code. LED strip is wound around a plastic former covered in thick copper foil for heat dissipation. It was just a idle lockdown project, but seems to work well. T

https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-tv-hat?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1vfnvc-Y7QIVx7HtCh1q-Q7kEAAYASAAEgKU1vD_BwE Raspberry Pi and TV hat. Add TVheadend.

I can smell that from here. T

Just found the fault. So this is an update for my future self when I cant remember what I did. On the back of the lamp holder metalwork, secured in such a way to require removal of lots of screws is one of those disc shaped thermal cutouts. It is connected by two blue wires in a heat resistant sheath, The sheath had either not been installed correctly or had moved, because where the wires passed through one hole in the chassis the wires had chaffed through. The bare wire was quite corroded, so the resistance didnt show on my multimeter, but did trip the RCD (or whatever we call them now) Much obliged to all who helped, including by PM. T

The power comes in on a euro socket.Line and neutral have short links to a pcb. earth has a slightly longer link to the chasis. The pcb has a filter circuit, voltage selector, and frequency selector switches. There are connectors to the transformer, a Relay (in one of the yoke arms) and a connector that I think goes to the lamp circuitry and two leads that go to the "phase compensation capacitor" With the transformer, relay and lamp disconnected the fault clears.Measuring between earth and live with a ohm meter doesnt reveal anything, so I'm assuming a capacitor fault. Hopefully I'll get further into it tomorrow. T

Good morning. I'm looking for some wisdom regarding a pair of (old) Mac 250s. They are on a 30ma RCD which has been reluctant to reset, Portable appliance testing them shows a low insulation reading (0.1Mohms) and a high current leakage (10ma) I found a pdf describing replacement of the "Phase compensation capacitor", but I dont think this would cause the fault I'm experiencing. I've had no luck finding a service manual, so I'm turning to you. My fault finding has been complicated so fay by discovering that the lighting bar the fixtures are on has a switched neutral rather than switched live. Grrrr. Ta. Tony

I have one o f these units, It does output 0 to +10v. Due to the lockdown I cant get to my dimmers to test it fully, You need to be fairly handy with a soldering iron to convert the ribbon cable output to whatever input your dimmer has. My 12 ch dimmer rack has two 8pin sockets (Ch1-6 plus 12v and ground and Ch 7-12 plus 12v and ground)Also the unit is a bare shell, so I've had to fabricate a cover for one end and a way of attaching some output sockets.Mine, like the one in the picture has been modified to have the 240v ac routed to a chocolate block on the side.T

I entered the code, but didnt press "Apply discount", so ended up in checkout with a bill. Backed up and read the instructions properly... No bill. I just need a computer with a compatible sound card now. The software looks good from the videos, but worth $395??? T

So do you run your arduino DMX controller alongside your physical desk? How is it integrated? No integration at all, Physical desk is analogue. Arduino is my DMX controller for 10/12 LED fixtures. My next job is to rebuild the analogue desk with an arduino reading the analogue values converting to digital and putting these values into my DMX controller..... At the other end I'll need to convert the DMX back to analogue for the ancient dimmer rack. All a bit of a faff, but fun and mind streaching.

I work with a local ADS, we have a old 12ch analogue dimmer rack and controller. And a low budget. Over the last couple of years I've picked up some DMX controlled LED washes and a couple of "disco lights" Having limited budget and limited space at the desk end of things, I developed a Arduino controller, so I understand the limitations. Arduino + DMX shield costs about £50 add a few buttons and a couple of hours programming.... Woosh (10 hours later) I use a matrix of 12 push buttons and two potentiometers to recall hard coded scenes with the ability to alter parameters on the fly with the pots. I can also control smoke machines and our UV fluorescent tubes as well as a simple cue light. If / when our lighting desk technician is ill or decides he wants to act in scene 2, I can send serial commands from my laptop running Multiplay to automate the whole damn thing. Merging the DMX might work, though Ive noticed that some lights arnt happy with the Arduinos slow refresh rate. Perhaps he could add a feature to "Save" settings either to the Arduinos volatile memory or to a added SD card for recall later. Perhaps he could look into reading DMX data with the Arduino, and display numeric data for each channel? T

I recently bought one of these to convert an old 12ch dimmer pack, my analogue controller needs a set of 26 new faders, so easier to convert to DMX and use a newer controller. It unit has two led display and a couple of push buttons to select DMX channel numbers. It seems to work fine, but I dont have access to the dimmer packs at the moment, so cant fully test it.. It is on a bare chassis with a psu built in, so will need boxing. The output is on a short ribbon cable, so requires a bit of soldering/lead making. T

We, Merseyside based school, have just had a stage refit by Torpedo Factory Group. Formally National Stage I think. Very helpful staff, from design to fitting, They seem to understand the school environment. T

EL wire isnt terribly bright. I've used some white wire to mark the edge of a raised area on our stage... It was masked to be out of the audiences direct line of sight. It was bright enough to stop student stepping into the abyss during a blackout, but not bright enough to be obvious to the audience.It is fairly energy efficient so ran for 6 shows on a set of batteries, saving a further trip hazard.T

Thanks people. some good advice and interesting stuff to research over my long Christmas break.Of course my long Christmas break will be mostly filled with cable sorting and repairs and all the invisible stuff that the teching staff believe the stage fairy / gnome / elf does. Happy Christmas folks.T

The school I work at regularly hires in equipment for its reasonably good productions. One large extravagansa and two or three smaller shows per year. As part of its development program the powers that be are considering the purchase of a dozen radio mic belt packs. I've used Sennheiser G4s with some success and we already have two handhelds and two belt packs in another dept.. Aside form the cost and security (its a good school, but students and staff do break stuff and loose it too!!) I'm concerned that the radio spectrum is an ever changing place. We have a fairly large site with over 100 yards to nearest neighbors and roads so hopefully interference should be limited. I've looked at OFCOM, and read a few posts on here to try and seethe future. I' concerned that after spending almost £10,000 in 5 years time we will not be able to use OUR mics due to the shrinking spectrum. Can I ask the Blue Collective Wisdom for its view. Ta. Tony

Arduino with a DMX shield? I can write the code for half a dozen scenes. I use one for my basic DMX fixtures. There are a few tutorials on the net.T

To clarify, My A level Physics equivalent is an OND in Technology (from the late 1970s) A mish mash of Electronics, Elec Eng, Mech Eng, Materials Science, Fluid Dynamics, Maths and a bit of Economics thrown in. I'm happy with the theory and practice of rigging a lighting bar from a Mechanical and Electrical perspective. I understand power factor, protective earth impedance, reactance, 3phase systems and rigging slings (though I've never had cause to use one) Although I love learning, I think I'm a bit long in the tooth for a Teaching qualification (59 this year) or redoing my degree(which was out of date when I started). Unfortunately no BTEC here. The ABTT courses look good, but I doubt I'll get time off to attend or persuade school to pay. The Head of Lighting gets me a small allowance for a hell of a lot of work (admittedly very enjoyable) and I'm worried someone has worked out that sometimes I plug a table lamp into a 13A socket without a suitable qualification. T

Morning all. I work in a school as a physics technician and "Head of Lighting" "Head of Audio" and "Head of general stage stuff" seems to be on my contract in invisible ink that only the Head of Drama can see. Seriously though, I've been asked what qualifications I have? Apart from tallascope, ladder, scaff and working at height I dont have any formal qualifications that would be much use. Equivalent A level Physics and 2years of a 4year BSc Electrical and Electronic Eng. I have done a portable appliance testing course, and just wonder what formal qualifications are available? Ta. T

Thanks for the replys and message, I've not been on the forum for a day or 3, so plenty to look at and consider. I know Light the way prices were well under market, I had to prove to our procurement officer that I couldnt source equipment cheaper. Thanks again. T

I'm looking for recommendations (or avoid at all costs) for my schools next production. We are in Liverpool, UK. We used to use Light the way in Leeds, who are sadly no longer trading. I'm probably looking for 12 to 16 beltpack radioMics, a comms system and half a dozen LED fixtures. Ta in advance T

I was there Sat eve 7:15, Brilliant sunshine till 8pm ish. My first year. Lighting, projection and sound were great.Think I spotted BigC by Usher hall on Monday. T

Being fairly new to digital mixing, I cant comment on apps and interfaces, but a long time user of pis, I'd recommend some sort of uninteruptable PSU.I have a PiJuice HAT that provides buttons for start up and safe shutdown, It will shutdown the pi automatically and safely in a power fail.Ive used it for almost a year (Pi3 and small 3 1/2 inch touchscreen controlling my home automation system with no failed/corrupted SD cards.T

Again, Thanks again for the hard work.