house lights

[paulears]

we had a new system installed that has nice big maintained spotlights that come on when the mains power goes off. we were doing a dress when the alarm went off (someone having a crafty fag in the gents). Ring main power to the desk gets cut, stage lighting goes out - nice fade! house lights that do still work are off for show. maintained lighting doesn't come on because power input still present. result - total blackout with alarms screaming! nobody could find the houselight panel in the dark - exit signs still lit, but none anywhere near where people were.

[robloxley]

Power is automagically disconnected from the dimmer packs at the 3-phase incomer if the fire alarm goes off, to isolate a possible source of electrical fire and to make it slightly less likely that a poor fireman will electrocute himself.

Assuming you maintain your kit normally (and hoover the dimmers!) then surely the most likely source of fire in a theatre is either scenery/costume/props being set alight or a fire in the theatre kitchen?

 

As for house lights and emergency lighting, we have the houselights on a separate single channel dimmer that can be run on a HTP basis from the desk or a number of outstations. In case of emergency there's a vastly overengineered switchover system to bring the houselights on, bypassing the dimmer and using a fresh set of fuses (don't ask...).

 

As for emergency lighting proper, we have a variety of systems: a 50V central battery system that supplies maintained lights in the auditorium that provide enough light for people to find their way to the toilet etc. and are strictly bright enough for emergency and run for about 5 days(!) on the huge battery bank; then we have self-contained maintained exit signs; and we also have a non-maintained 12V battery system that supplies a number of concealed fittings in the ceiling that come on when power fails to provide a better level of illumination than the 50V central battery system.

 

Nowadays I'd probably just use a dimmer channel to run the houselights, choosing dimmers which can have multiple outstation control and will do HTP/LTP/whatever with DMX from the desk. If your houselights are 12V downlighters - which seem to be getting more common - then non-maintained battery backup units are easily available.

[benweblight]

emargency lights, I think some of the florries come on, oh and some red leds, and mantained exit signs, which we cover with blak cloth where possible and use a ocuple of nonmainted ones put up for each show

[computer]

yeah I think lights with red LEDs are the emergency ones...

[benweblight]

yeh, thats right, who does those polstyrene tile modules?

[SceneMaster]

"emargency lights, I think some of the florries come on, oh and some red leds, and mantained exit signs, which we cover with blak cloth where possible and use a ocuple of nonmainted ones put up for each show"

 

What do you mean you cover up exit lights? In know they are a pain but it is I think illegal to cover them up. I see you put up no maintained one so that you can turn them on or off but these would have to be by the exit where the maintained ones are on for the performance so why cover up them in the first place. Maybe I'm missing something but this doesn’t seem to make sense. :blink:

 

benweblight please explain.

[benweblight]

well, I cant rmeber if we did that last year, we make an annoucement pointing out exits aswell

[computer]

hey guys back to the main topicish, then:

 

what if I get 8 of these, one for each 'pillar' on each side of the hall.... there are 8 pillars, 4 on each side, and point them upwards and inwards from about 1.5-2m from the ceiling as uplighters with either 300 or 500w bulbs in them.

 

then use perhaps two or one of these depending on loading and location, then put them on DMX 1-4 then I can control them from the desk, probably on the first 2 channels on the generics.

 

what do you think?

[benweblight]

multidim will do that job yeah

[SceneMaster]

Noooo. No the floods. Ok I don't know about this flood but the one below that TLC sell on the same index we have just had discussion here about a week or two ago deeming them not suitable for stage use. TLC Halogen Flood Index. I will find the link to the topic I believe it to be called (cheap flood?). These floods you are looking at are lot more expensive so should be better and they have full tilt not just 40 degrees but the rest of what was discussed is probably the same. If you’re are not using them as touring gear or even permanent location stage gear and just using them as house light then they should be ok. It’s just the light output looks naff for stage use for the other ones and they use the same bulb and these one are smaller. I don't know the beam these floods give out but the other floods give out a very small square beam so won't look too pretty for house lights but work light maybe. The multidim would do the control job but if these are permanent fixture not moving then they should really be used with an installation pack hardwired so no one can mess with it. not a stand mounted pack design for low level touring work. The multi dim also has a low power output according to It’s case it very odd and I don’t understand it (you will see why). I’ll go and find the info and post here later and maybe someone can explain. Not that that I am slaging off the multidim (I own one) there very good for the price.

 

Hope this helps. :blink:

[robloxley]

NO. No the floods. Ok I don't know about this flood but the one below that TLC sell on the same index we have just had discussion here about a week or two ago deeming them not suitable for stage use.

But I get the impression we're not talking about stage use? For cheap and cheerful houselights (which sounds like the objective) then I'd go for some standard halogen floods bounced off the ceiling. It doesn't matter that you can't gel them because you probably don't want to; you probably don't need barndoors; the beam spread will be fine etc.

 

I've done exactly this - well it was actually 2x 1k floods - when touring a small show to venues that often only had a bank of fluoros for houselights. Using just one channel of dimming we were able to provide much nicer, dimmable houselights.

[SceneMaster]

The topic on floods.

 

Read this and see what you think I would suggest as I was advised here to buy the proper gear like a coda if its for a permanent installation (I brought one of the cheap floods just to see what it was like (against advice :blink:) and it is naff but I is now being used as a mobile work light which it is designed for and would work as a house light but still by the really gear if you want your lights to look good and last for many a year. Plus the lamp featured in the 118 halogen lamp topic is the same as in this unit not that this should be a problem as loads of professional gear uses the lamp without problems so there is probably human fault in installation of the lamp or a faulty lamp to play in this problem. I’ll post back later about the multi dim as I have to find my unit first!!!

 

Hope this will be of some help.

 

Forget the stupid comments about zip ties and safety bonds I made in the topic I have posted above they were completely stupid as no safety bond was needed as the stands are only 1m of the ground and if needed a safety bond would need the real chain/wire. (Just covering myself :( )

[computer]

just having second thoughts on the floods, and was thinking perhaps, that 8 of these: http://tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GLQ20W.html on the 4 channels as before would work better, or even, 8 of http://tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GLQB10W.html to mount vertically, one light pointing up at the cieling, the other downlighting the wall. Good thing is you can use coloured R80 bulbs, and dim them easily to get some nice soft wall washing colour effects.

 

ideas?

[TomLyall]

erm im thinking the spotlights are worse, for a start theyre alot less powerful, and you WILL deffinately notice the difference. I think the floodlights would work quite well as houselights, although I would think twice about the dimmer, multidims are great but im not sure if theyre right for the job,

[SceneMaster]

just having second thoughts on the floods, and was thinking perhaps, that 8 of these: http://tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GLQ20W.html on the 4 channels as before would work better, or even, 8 of http://tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GLQB10W.html to mount vertically, one light pointing up at the cieling, the other downlighting the wall. Good thing is you can use coloured R80 bulbs, and dim them easily to get some nice soft wall washing colour effects.

 

ideas?

I don't think the spotlights you have shown are what you are after. (How big is your venue and what sort of venue eg. church, hall ect.). I have one of these spotlights in my utility room at home to give you and idea of light output (they are domestic). The colour bulbs will be even less powerful. The floods are better but you won't be able to colour wash the venue like you described unless you paint the glass of the floods which apparently works. I’ll post the multi dim power spec when I have found the unit.