Small fresnels, battery-powered, wirelessly dimmable

[gareth]

An upcoming production that I'm doing is going to need a small quantity of lanterns on wheeled stands - small (100/150w) fresnels, or Dedolights, or that sort of thing. They need to be untethered by cables, so battery power is required ; and they need to be controllable from the console. The 'look and feel' of tungsten is something that's been specifically requested, so I'd like to steer away from LED sources.

 

So I'm looking for suggestions of kit that people might've used in the past which they think might work.

 

Is there such a thing as a Dedolight (or similar) which runs on 12v and has an integrated wireless dimmer?

 

I've had several very successful experiences in low-current situations with RC4 wireless DMX kit in the past, so one thought I had was something like an RC4 wireless system and a chunky (eg. 20Ah) li-ion battery built onto the base of the stand - but RC4's butchest dimmers only seem to be rated at 5A continuous, so they're not going to be up to the job.

 

Anyway, I'd appreciate any suggestions that anyone might have, if anyone's had any experience of this sort of thing. Thanks.

[alistermorton]

You could slave a power mosfet to increase the current capability of an off the shelf dimmer. Large power mosfets aren't hard to come by. Or maybe City Theatrical have a bigger dimmer available of the shelf.

 

If you could get the warmth and smooth laggy dimming of tungsten would you consider LED?

[gareth]

I'm the proddy, not the LD, so the ultimate decision isn't mine - but I suspect that if we could find an LED fixture which had enough of the characteristic of a tungsten lamp then it may well be a possibility dependent on cost.

 

I've already been directed towards City Theatrical's wireless dimming, and they do seem to offer a higher-current device than RC4. I have a slight reluctance when it comes to CT thanks to some rather apathetic aftersales support in the past - but that was some time ago so maybe they need another chance!!

[Brian]

Modify some Minuettes?

 

Cheap enough on eBay to buy the body and easy to drop something like an A1/215 12V/100W lamp into them.

 

 

[E2A]

 

In fact, don;t even modify them Just drop a 12V 100W lamp with a GY9.5 base into them.

 

https://www.medlamps.co.uk/osram-64628-fdt-a1-261-12v-100w-gy9-5.html

[Jupton24]

Some new LED's on the market right now have a colour that can mimic the colours of tungsten lights (I use somewhere I work at the moment but I dont know the make of them!). like you say you could use a chunky battery. have you looked into cinelex they do v mount version that might be useful for you as they just require a battery to operate them. Edited July 31, 2019 by Jupton24

[alistermorton]

Now that's an idea, Brian. 8A or so shouldn't trouble a decent Lead cell for a reasonable duty cycle I'm pretty sure I read an article on the RC4 website about paralleling outputs to increase the capacity - that might be worth investigating too.

[gareth]

In fact, don;t even modify them Just drop a 12V 100W lamp with a GY9.5 base into them.

 

https://www.medlamps...100w-gy9-5.html

 

Ah, this is definitely something to look at. Cheers, Brian.

[david.elsbury]

I was wondering if the Astera AX5 might do it for you?

But Brian’s idea is pretty cool.

Edited July 31, 2019 by david.elsbury

[Jivemaster]

Look at tungsten par cans. The lamps are all 6, 12 or 24/28 volts so suit lead acid, even if there is a transformer in the can.

 

However anything battery will have a weight penalty for the battery that may outweigh the lack of a cable tether.

[alistermorton]

QolorFlex 3x10 dimmer from City Theatrical can be configure to be 1 x 30 if need be! You'd need to add a wireless interface too (Tx + Rx).

 

Theatre Wireless RC4 S3 DMX4dim-500 can do 15A per dimmer continuous and 40A intermittent(although total continuous for the whole pack is 42A limited by the input connector). Built in Rx, you'd need the Tx too.

 

Could both be worth investigating?

Edited August 1, 2019 by alistermorton

[gareth]

RC4 kit is firmly on the radar - I've used it before with great results, and it seems that they have just the right products to do what I need.

[gyro_gearloose]

Another option for wireless DMX could be the SmartShow Wifi/DMX bridge. I haven't used one myself, but I know others on here have used SmartShow kit before with good results. Just hook it up to a 12 volt DC dimmer, and a 12 volt / 100W lamp that Brian linked to, and you're good to go. eldoLED make some DC to DC constant voltage dimmable driver which take a DMX input.