allsounds Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 have just had a search on BR but no luck. Am looking at doing the general service of intelligent lights course. Has anyone been on this course and would you recommend it? Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pscandrett Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Am looking at doing the general service of intelligent lights course. Has anyone been on this course and would you recommend it?Yes, and yes; it's a little more theoretical than I thought it would be (talking about stepper motors and how they work, for example) and less practical with specific reference to particular fixtures, but overall I've found it very helpful when troubleshooting my/our minimacs, Mac 250+ and Mac 300s; it gave me the confidence to dive in, for a start! For the price I think it's probably worth it (I was fortunate to get it when it came to Manchester, near me, so saved on any travel expenses that would have otherwise have been incurred). If anything I'd have liked to have been able to play with a fixture a little more but there's plenty of time to do that back at work, I suppose. One tip - take notes as you go, as there's a test at the end of the day. I naturally take notes anyway but have found it useful to refer back to - particularly some of the off-the-cuff comments that I scribbled down as they were said! HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Young Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 I've taken part in both that course and another course run with it back to back on the practical service of Mac 500, 600 and 250 Krypton that was hosted at The University of Sheffield Union of Students when I worked there as a volunteer. The general service course is very much worth doing if you have little knowledge of how arc-discharge lamps and electronic motor control work. It will teach you about how a discharge lamp works, the circuit components and how a lamp can fail to strike, along with troubleshooting guidelines. The course also includes advice on PCB issues, including the purpose of, testing and replacement of some components, such as fuses for the various voltages used around the light, micro-step motor drive chips, Voltage transformer settings and configurations and a detailed look at the menu system. It also teaches you about the different types of motor in the lamp (micro-step and stepper motors) and how they work and can go wrong. However, although the general course teaches you a lot of the theory behind what is going off inside the lights, I would strongly recommend taking a practical course relevant to you alongside it if you can. This is simply because it is one thing to know that the electric igniter is probably broken in a light, but another thing to know that you have to remove most of the optics (In the case of a Mac 500) in order to get the bloody thing out. The practical courses teach you how to take a light apart and then put it all back together again, in a working condition. You get useful practical tips during this to avoid many common errors that can be made and what order you need to remove/replace parts of the lamp. If you need to know more details about the course just ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich newby Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 This is bringing this up again, but I'm 14, would I still be able to do the courses? I know a few people who are 15&16 who claim to have done some martin courses, but I'm not sure what the minimum age is? Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 This is bringing this up again, but I'm 14, would I still be able to do the courses? I know a few people who are 15&16 who claim to have done some martin courses, but I'm not sure what the minimum age is?That's something you'd need to find out from the training department at Martin. What did they say when you contacted them to ask about the minimum age for attending the courses? You have contacted them, right? I mean, it would be silly to be asking a question like that on a forum like this if you hadn't already asked the company themselves ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich newby Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Yer I have sent them an email and they haven't got back to me yet. I did this about 3 days ago, so ill send another one to make sure. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lightnix Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 To be honest, there is very little point in doing equipment training courses in general IMO, unless you are going to be using the kit regularly or at least in the near future. Unused knowledge tends to be forgotten over time, or made redundant by hard/software upgrades and new models. Apart from that, even if you can identify the precise spare part required to fix a broken mover, it's very unlikely that you'll have it on site and it may even have to be ordered by the warehouse. The days when hire companies sent out hospital racks full of spare parts has passed and they were only there in the first place because early models were so unreliable. Most times, if your kit starts failing en masse and you run out of spares, any half decent hire co will have the backup to get you what you need. My advice would be to wait until you've completed whatever college course you wind up taking and then look at doing short training courses like this, PASMA, IPAF, etc. at that stage in your career, as a supplement to your education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Yer I have sent them an email and they haven't got back to me yet. I did this about 3 days ago, so ill send another one to make sure.Or you could always resort to the old-fashioned, untrendy steam-driven telepone, on 01622 755442. Far more reliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James S Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 There is little point doing a martin course unless you have the kit or work in a situation where you need to be able to take it apart. If your keen to learn about the insides of lights, by some cheap (or broken kit) tat off ebay or freeads take it apart, have a play, work out why what is doing which (and so on). Broken macs regualarly come up on ebay and go for around £200. However, saying that you could buy a cheap mover from chauvet or similar tat producer, take it apart, put it back together and learn from kit that you can then (hopefully) use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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