Tomaz-89 Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 Heya, Our church is planning on getting new lights. We are interested in getting about 8 LED pars because of their 3 colours and low heat output. We are also planning on getting some scanners in the future that we will be able to run chases from at special events. Is there any desk that is capable of running the LED's live? We only have a small budget but want enough to be able to expand. Pairing the LED pars will be possible if the number of channels is a problem. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 All controls should be able to do this - the snag is channel size and cost. So how much have you to spend. Even cheap basic controls can do something live. If you set all of the to the same DMX address, then you could simply have 3 faders for red, green and blue - bigger (and more expensive) controls will handle them all separately, or in groups or...... well in many. many ways. Budget will set the scale. I assume you do know they aren't exactly bright? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaz-89 Posted February 10, 2008 Author Share Posted February 10, 2008 We have a budget of about £300 for a desk, but this could be raised if it will be better for future expansions. I have been able to try out 2 of the LED pars and think that 8 will be sufficient for our church. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjriley Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 I'd still be wary about using purely LED Pars because of light output of nothing else also the cheap ones do not last very long and because of cheap led's the light output is even poorer. I would only ever use LED Par's as part of a much larger rig. How about a multidim, Some pars with gels or if you need colour changing cheap scrollers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaz-89 Posted February 10, 2008 Author Share Posted February 10, 2008 We have quite a small church, stage is only about 3m by 9m.We have 4 Par 64s that light up the stage currently. Could we swap the plugs for IECs to connect to a multidim? What desk would be suitable to smoothly control these and LED pars live, and for future scanners? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niclights Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 As said, any desk will be able to control. Just choose one with enough channels - three minimum per LED device, but if the console does not have soft-patching capability you may have to allow for fixture definition - ie. 5-6ch. Obviously you can choose to run as many fixtures as you like on the same address. This will be a compromise between flexibility and desk cost (channels). As you increase in level consoles have features to make the manipulation and operation of moving lights easier and quicker, but they do not need to specifically be designed to do so. Similarly you might get more scene masters (sub-masters/playbacks) and more chase options etc. It's not true that the cheap LED Pars don't last very long. I still have forty units working after two years. If you've tried them and think they're suitable then sounds fine to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 You got daylight in the room? PAR64s will add brightness - LEDs will hardly be visible - there really is that much difference! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaz-89 Posted February 10, 2008 Author Share Posted February 10, 2008 Hardly any daylight gets into the main hall so that isnt a problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 We have 4 Par 64s that light up the stage currently. Could we swap the plugs for IECs to connect to a multidim?You can but you'll have to remember that 1000w/230v=4.35A meaning that 4 will draw 17.4A. The Multidims I have are only rated for 16A over all and 5A per channel. But we are only at 230v in the Specs in most places you'll still find you are getting neerer to 240v. So 1000w/240v=4.17A, 4 will draw 16.68A. So You Can, but couldn't use all of them at once. Josh Moderation: His post has gone, so yours is irrelevant now. I would point out that in the UK, we are still on 240V except in the specifications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaneBryan Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 Josh got in there first with what I was going to say. If, when you say MultiDim, you are referring to the ShowTec MultiDim (or Trancesion or whatever they call themselves nowdays) then the convential PAR64 units would work with the IEC connectors yes. However... I must stress what Josh said about Power Draw.It might be practical to connect the 4 loads to the MultiDim BUT (assuming they are 1kW lamps) then all at full would definitely exceed the capacity of the 13A supply. If however you are referring to a different MultiDim, such as Richmonds MultiDim system which uses dimmers and wall plates with dimming controls and such then that is something totally different. EDIT: I've seen each channel of the ShowTec MultiDim units rated at 3A, 4A and 5A. You should check which yours is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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