Saving power

[iainutron]

if I were to upgrade lighting stock to all source 4 type technology, How long would it take to get my money back?

 

Is it a no brainer? How much power would you save? Would it start saving money eventually?

 

Eg replacing 20 1200watt cantatas with 650 watt S4

 

Anyone done it before? What sums do I need to do to see if its worthwhile? How often do you update your lantern stock?

 

Practically it would also make sense to have fewer lantern types for spares and lamp stock. Previous purchase policy seems to have been try everything! (Strand/selecon/cct/s4/sl nightmare.) It must also save time focusing?

 

Thanks for your help.

[mumbles]

Eg replacing 20 1200watt cantatas with 650 watt S4

I've always found the 575 lamps for s4s as bright as 1200w cantatas, but anyway, and being pedantic, the lamps come as either the 575 (older bodies will only accept these) or 750 (newer bodies accept either the 575 or 750 lamps).

 

 

Practically it would also make sense to have fewer lantern types for spares and lamp stock. Previous purchase policy seems to have been try everything! (Strand/selecon/cct/s4/sl nightmare.) It must also save time focusing?

The main time saving and budget saving comes from the fact that you only need to have sets of spares and interchangeables for one style of lantern. Only needing the lamps, lens tubes, shutters for a s4 will save space and money, well apart from the fact that it is easier to learn how to fix them when they break.

 

Hope this helps.

[Don Allen]

You need to know how many hours a year you are running your rig, the load you are drawing, the cost per unit you are paying for your power, the life expectancy of the lamps you are using, the depreciation or maintenance costs of your rig per year and the cost in labour of relamping and maintenance. This gives you your annual running cost of your rig.

 

For a replacement rig same formula but there would be a reduction of 1K lamps to 650 watt or 575 watt, plus overheads if you are using discharge lamps such as ballast loss, fan consumption, any difference in lamp hours.

 

Work out the cost of buying the new rig as there will be rigging costs etc.

 

Look at what your projected savings in running costs are, divide that into the cost of your new rig and that is how many years it will take to recover the expense of changing the rig over, then you start saving money.

 

This is a specialist area and there is software available to use for doing calculations.

 

The Selecon Acclaim axial 650 watt zoom profile has a higher lumen output than most older 1K profiles which is why it is selling so well. More compact, easy to clean, lower power consumption, less maintenance as it is replacing older profiles. With examples such as the Parnel, there is a reduction in light output, but people can get used to it.

 

As a guesstimating two to three years if you have a busy rig ?

[Tourbus]

Hi Iain,

 

what business are you in?

 

I see this as a good idea if you are in a theatre or venue.

 

However, if you are in rentals I seriously would not advise it, unless you really know your market, and know that your client would be happy hiring Source 4 Pars rather than 1200W Cantatas.

[David A]

If you happen to be in an airconditioned building you can also factor in the saving in power that the reduced heat extraction costs or alternatively the extra cost of heating the building.

[Just Some Bloke]

if you are in rentals I seriously would not advise it, unless you really know your market, and know that your client would be happy hiring Source 4 Pars rather than 1200W Cantatas.

I assume Ian meant Source 4 profiles. Why would he want to replace prolfiles with pars?

 

Sounds like a good idea to me. If you could get the paperwork together that makes it sound like you'll save money by having brand new kit, then go for it!! :)

[Tomo]

You can be almost certain that your clients would prefer Source 4 profiles over 1200W Cantatas, if only because they are so much smaller and lighter!

The optics are a huge improvement as well, although that may be less important for you.

 

However, the expense of changing over is considerable, so you will need to do some serious research into your current costs and usage, and from the usage you can work out the expected running costs of a Source 4 rig.

 

That will give you the savings you can expect - and from there you can make your decision.