Hockeybod

On 9/24/2023 at 6:55 PM, mksound said:

We’ve been using the Ikea LADDA AA’s for the last 18 months and find them great. We have a set of 84 as we would regularly use 30 channels of wireless for shows between Trantec, LD Systems and Line 6 mics (HH and BP). We get 2 shows out of a charge, with a full spare set. 

We have 2 16way Bonsai chargers bought from Amazon which have been great so far. 

The batteries themselves are a neat fit in most of the battery compartments but  haven’t found any that they won’t fit into.

 

Interesting - we currently use new AA alkaline batts for every show, yes they will last longer but we've had rogue ones that didn't and it's not worth the hassle. Which Ikea AA mAh capacity do you use? 1900 @ £1.25 each or 2450 @ £2.00 each. With two sets for 14 mic packs the cost is still reasonable even if you had to replace them twice a year.

On 1/3/2024 at 10:34 AM, paulears said:

No, the wrap is simply to get enough friction - if the cable is now a bit short. a few less turns will be fine. The killer is always that you must work out where the travel starts, and of course no joins at the winch end during the travel. What usually happens is you run out of good cable and discover you can only open partially. They're just fiddly.

Job done, following the instructions you all provided made it very straightforward. The two key tips for me were

1. compress the tensioning springs with cable ties and only release them once the cable is fairly tight and everything else is finished. Tight is good!

2. Fill the winch drum almost full apart from one or two turns to avoid crossing over. Too much cable on the drum isn't a problem, but too little WILL restrict the travel of the curtains and prevent them from opening or closing fully.

Thanks for all the replies and useful tips. I plan to do it this evening. I agree fresh cable is easier to work with, and I wouldn't even bother with one that has and kinks in it

On 1/3/2024 at 11:27 AM, DrV said:

Say which way you want it to rotate to open the tabs and I'll describe it step by step. I'm forever having to rewind ours because other stage users keep managing to get it off. Is it stage left or stage right?

Sorry, been away from PC for a day St right

A couple of years ago I replaced the steel cable on our stage curtain winding mechanism, and over the holiday some idiot has taken the cable off and left the ends hanging loose. It took me ages to work out how to do it last time, and stupidly I didn't take a photo of it when complete. The attached pic shows the mechanism as it was before replacing the damaged cable, fortunately this time the cable isn't kinked. I seem to recall the the length of cable wound round the drum determines the length of travel of the curtains, and the leading track carriages have a clamp to adjust the curtain positions, but apart from that it's vague.

Can anyone offer any instructions to shorten the task?

13 hours ago, gareth said:

Martin Atomic, or equivalent. Particularly the newer LED version - they rock. Best thing for a lightning effect.

So it should for £3K+!

Thanks, I just remembered I have a Xenon strobe at work I don't use any more so I'll give that a try. Hope the tube hasn't gone, they're not cheap (assuming you can still get them).

Out of interest, around 1 in 100 people have epilepsy, and of those around 3 in 100 people with epilepsy have seizures triggered by flickering light. That means the likelihood of someone in the theatre having photosensitive epilepsy is around 3 in 10,000, but if you have 100 people in the venue then it's a 1 in 33 risk which is why it's worth issuing a warning.

Most commonly the trigger is between 16-25Hz but can be anywhere from 3-60Hz. We use 30Hz in the Eye Dept and I have never triggered a seizure (yet).

Any suggestions for creating a lightning lighting effect? I think incandescent will be too slow to produce a realistic flickering effect. LEDs of course have a much faster rise and fall, is it worth investing in an LED strobe - it's not a big stage?

Thanks

13 minutes ago, J Pearce said:

Worth talking to Sir Henry Floyd Grammar in Aylesbury. They have a performing arts tech there (me for 3 years) who might have suitable teaching experience and be up for some freelance work.

Thanks. Risborough School is now part of the academy that includes SHFGS, and Vince Foreshaw is Deputy Head at PRS, but I try not to bother them too much! I think we may have bagged one of the lecturers from Amersham College who specialises in lighting.

I help run Risborough Youth Theatre who perform at Princes Risborough School. I know next to nothing about stage lighting and all our lanterns have been taken down for PAT testing to be done this week. Assuming at least some of them pass we'll need to put them back up and it seems like an ideal time to do some teaching to a small group. It would include safety, lantern types and how they are used, and which ones are best placed where, relative to the stage, for general use. We have a mixture of floods, profiles, fresnels and PARs controlled from a Jester desk.

We'd be happy to pay up to £200 for expenses and an honorarium. The ideal date is Friday 2nd September but it's not set in stone.

The terminology is confusing and there's a good guide here FAQ: What are FTP cables | Eland Cables

If it's a permanent installation, given the price difference why would you not use at least Cat 6e or even Cat 7 with shielded connectors? Admittedly foil shielding doesn't like being bent and is usually thicker, but you're only going to do this once so why not over-spec?

I've just installed a dual 40m permanent 6e cable run with shielded RJ45 faceplates at the school we use for performances. It worked perfectly at our last show and we had always had problems with drop-out using an extension reel, even a good quality one with Ethercon connectors.

On the subject of Ethercon, although they seem secure some sockets are still very prone to drop out with even a small movement. I have found that filling the back of the connector including the chuck and boot with silicon sealant or epoxy resin eliminates nearly all movement once it's set. It means they can't be re-used but they're cheap enough.

13 hours ago, sunray said:

I've just realised the situation you are in.

This actually mirrors my own situation, I discovered I'd volunteered to become the 'everything with a plug' guy for my local church hall AmDram group and soon started trying to bring them into the 20th century... however this was in the 21st century! I soon ripped out the totally inadequate and dangerous extention leads for the lighting and replaced some horrible hanging arrangement with some short bars.

Effectively the AmDram group (me) was providing facilities for the hall owners, and a fair bit of donation on my part.

Suddenly my apparent volunteering seemed to have extended to 2 other groups which has been helped by some lovely donation from others in this forum.

Let me guess, you bought a few bits, maybe £20 and thought it's not much, I'll just donate it, then after a couple of years it's added up to hundreds and you still haven't claimed anything back?

You know you love it really.

No Elf'n'safety in those times, I expect they had small children operating them too. What could possibly go wrong? 🤣

I took out and repaired all the ones that would clearly fail visual inspection, mostly because the outer insulation was torn. Some others have rubber outer insulation which I suspect has deteriorated with age. I'll see what PAT throws up, but expect I'm going to be in the market for some new silicone 180deg cable.

Does anyone remember the Sunset dimmers my Dad used to talk about? I seem to recall something about water cooling and hearing them sizzle. He was thrilled when the am-dram group upgraded to a new solid-state system, must be 45 years ago.

45 minutes ago, sunray said:

'goto person for everything with a plug'

That's me! I don't even work for the school but my youth theatre group uses the hall for its productions and theatre tech is something I'm interested in. Both the school and my group benefit from any improvements.

More good advice, thanks. I'm coming round to the same conclusion - what are we gaining from switching to LED? There's plenty of used halogen lighting out there if some of ours don't survive PAT, and we already have more lights than we really need or use. What we really need is expertise, not more kit!

Thanks for the advice - the current budget is nil! I'm looking for a ballpark figure to see whether we need to apply for a grant towards the cost and hence what our options might be.

I do sound and confess I know very little about lighting. My Dad did professional stage lighting (I remember him telling me about Sunset dimmers) and must be turning in his grave 😔

We have DMX cabling in place running two banks of Zero88 Betapack 3 dimmers. A new desk is definitely needed, but how much of the old installation might be re-used, for example the 15A cabling to the lighting rails?

It's time to think about replacing the old stage lighting for a school hall with LED lights. The stage is used for around six productions a year so not heavily used. We have:

• 10m wide proscenium-type stage
• Two full-width lighting bars in front and two behind the proscenium arch, internally wired with 15A sockets
• 24-channel Zero88 Jester which I understand 
• won't run LEDs but it means we already have DMX cabling from the booth to the stage.
• A small budget!

Any suggestions would be welcome, including 'don't buys'! I've attached a picture, best one I could find without going there specially.