Suggestions for LED stage lights for school

[Hockeybod]

No Elf'n'safety in those times, I expect they had small children operating them too. What could possibly go wrong? 🤣

[sunray]

2 hours ago, Hockeybod said:

No Elf'n'safety in those times, I expect they had small children operating them too. What could possibly go wrong? 🤣

The senior school I attended had a brand new building the same year I started. The sockets and wiring was installed by the builders but a massive bundle of red&black singles was left coiled at ceiling level. As a 13/14 year old I did a lot of electrical work to complete it and to alter the ring final & house light switching. Imagine the outcry that would cause these days.

[Tomo]

Just like with floppy disks, vinyl (now PET) records and thermionic valves, it will eventually become difficult (read - expensive) to purchase quality replacement lamps for existing halogen theatrical fixtures, as the factories that make them decide it's not worth their while.

However, this is some time in the future, and of course halogen lamps can last several years in "lightly-used" rigs.

My recommendation would be to start putting aside a kitty towards infrastructure upgrades to support LED fixtures in a few years time.

Infrastructure like switched power controls and installed cabling is often a better investment than fixtures - you can usually hire a few fixtures for not a lot, but temporary infrastructure costs a lot of time and cash you'd rather be spending directly on the show.

As time goes by there will no doubt be a healthy secondhand market in the 'decent' LED fixtures, so you will probably be able to afford some good-quality fixtures with many years of life left - it's currently a bit of a minefield though.

[Junior8]

That's good advice. I understand you are not actually employed at the venue but in the past I was able to get a fair bit of small but desirable work done when contractors were on site for other purposes so it is worth passing this advice on. 

As far as H&S goes Strand were better than some and the Junior 8 was designed so that fingers could not get into the resistances, others were not so scrupulous. But hey there was still a fair bit of two wire 240v in older houses when I was a lad... 

[sunray]

3 hours ago, Junior8 said:

That's good advice. I understand you are not actually employed at the venue but in the past I was able to get a fair bit of small but desirable work done when contractors were on site for other purposes so it is worth passing this advice on. 

As far as H&S goes Strand were better than some and the Junior 8 was designed so that fingers could not get into the resistances, others were not so scrupulous. But hey there was still a fair bit of two wire 240v in older houses when I was a lad... 

Oh please J8, don't make me feel older than I really am. I can't begin to count how many 5A 2p sockets I insalled with 3/0.029" twin.

[sunray]

On 8/7/2022 at 8:07 PM, Hockeybod said:

That's me! I don't even work for the school but my youth theatre group uses the hall for its productions and theatre tech is something I'm interested in. Both the school and my group benefit from any improvements.

I've just realised the situation you are in.

This actually mirrors my own situation, I discovered I'd volunteered to become the 'everything with a plug' guy for my local church hall AmDram group and soon started trying to bring them into the 20th century... however this was in the 21st century! I soon ripped out the totally inadequate and dangerous extention leads for the lighting and replaced some horrible hanging arrangement with some short bars.

Effectively the AmDram group (me) was providing facilities for the hall owners, and a fair bit of donation on my part.

Suddenly my apparent volunteering seemed to have extended to 2 other groups which has been helped by some lovely donation from others in this forum.

[Junior8]

2 hours ago, sunray said:

Oh please J8, don't make me feel older than I really am. I can't begin to count how many 5A 2p sockets I insalled with 3/0.029" twin.

Nice to hear of a fellow sufferer...

[Hockeybod]

13 hours ago, sunray said:

I've just realised the situation you are in.

This actually mirrors my own situation, I discovered I'd volunteered to become the 'everything with a plug' guy for my local church hall AmDram group and soon started trying to bring them into the 20th century... however this was in the 21st century! I soon ripped out the totally inadequate and dangerous extention leads for the lighting and replaced some horrible hanging arrangement with some short bars.

Effectively the AmDram group (me) was providing facilities for the hall owners, and a fair bit of donation on my part.

Suddenly my apparent volunteering seemed to have extended to 2 other groups which has been helped by some lovely donation from others in this forum.

Let me guess, you bought a few bits, maybe £20 and thought it's not much, I'll just donate it, then after a couple of years it's added up to hundreds and you still haven't claimed anything back?

You know you love it really.

[Gerry]

1 hour ago, Hockeybod said:

Let me guess, you bought a few bits, maybe £20 and thought it's not much, I'll just donate it, then after a couple of years it's added up to hundreds and you still haven't claimed anything back?

You know you love it really.

I stopped counting when I past the 4000 GBP mark.

Cheers

Gerry

[sunray]

9 hours ago, Hockeybod said:

Let me guess, you bought a few bits, maybe £20 and thought it's not much, I'll just donate it, then after a couple of years it's added up to hundreds and you still haven't claimed anything back?

You know you love it really.

That just about sums it up.

The first job - altering the FOH arrangements and removing potentially dangerous wiring, some of which showed significant overheating, terrible joints and mechanical damage) was done at cost, however being at retiring age and needing to lose a load of accumulated 'stuff' I donated anything 'in stock' which probably amounted to 80% of the job. I think I only had to purchase hook clamps, safety wires and M12 studding

The drop studs may look similar however the original M10's were bent at right angle (showing signs of cracks) and bolted through the angle iron roof trusses. Now the m12's are secured using unistrut L brackets (2 per drop) as recommended by a member of the church. The bar arrangement isn't what I'd wanted to do but 'the church' had to have final say as is the case with the 13A sockets.

I've aquired about 50 random S/H fittings, 4ch dimmer packs, desks etc. All cheap/amateur stuff most of which stays firmly my property for now as it gets moved around. I haven't done a running total but it'll be somewhere £1 - £2K. The AmDram groups concerned have also been very lucky to receive some items donated to them via members of this forum.