uplights question

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d2benz

DJ
Feb 10, 2011
112
23
52
washington dc
I currently owned some chauvet quad 4s and the freepar RGBA. I want to my uplight collection.
I need advice, should I invest in more Chauvet's quad 4's OR in a chinese version, which offers more pieces of light.
anyone has experice in the reliability of the chinese...if so, please recommend rwhere to get them. I need them to be wireless,
and connectable to chauvet flare-con air...thanks
 
if you're trying to use the flare-con air as your wireless dmx transmitter, then you answered your own question... u need to use chauvet's system. The chinese versions of wireless dmx operate on a different system. The only way around that is to buy a dfi receivers for all the chinese units so that they become compatible with chauvets wireless system. I personally do have 50 of the chinese uplights and don't have any actual issues with them in terms of functionality. They do take a bit of abuse and need to replace about 1-2 a year... but find that unavoidable with 50 units. I also don't use proprietary software which essentially locks me into a certain ecosystem of devices.

I may be wrong on all of this compatibility stuff... but a simple search provided me with the info I mentioned above.
 
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Could u guys link us to the particular models of chinese lights you purchased?

cc
 
You'll pay exactly double if you buy them thru Rainbow. That's where I got my first 2 tester lights. After that, went to ebay and queried 9X18 and found a supplier with the same light but at a cost of $100. You can also try: Cheryl Lau - (https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.lau.733)

Nice! ...Yup, those are the same exact lights! Looks like they carry the white ones, but don't show the black ones, but probably can get the black lights for you. ...Thanks for the link Rick! I will contact her when I'm ready, and see what the pricing is. ...If I can get it for $100 a light compared to $189, I'd buy from them. That also enables me to be able to offer Up Lighting for cheaper prices if I have to in order to get them sold.
 
Nice! ...Yup, those are the same exact lights! Looks like they carry the white ones, but don't show the black ones, but probably can get the black lights for you. ...Thanks for the link Rick! I will contact her when I'm ready, and see what the pricing is. ...If I can get it for $100 a light compared to $189, I'd buy from them. That also enables me to be able to offer Up Lighting for cheaper prices if I have to in order to get them sold.
They are slightly different then rainbow's lights. The antenna is in a different location and rainbow lights only have one power switch, compared to the 2 shown in the chinese link.
I have purchased from rainbow lights as well and they are great to work with. They ship out of Illinois.
 
They are slightly different then rainbow's lights. The antenna is in a different location and rainbow lights only have one power switch, compared to the 2 shown in the chinese link.
I have purchased from rainbow lights as well and they are great to work with. They ship out of Illinois.

I have yet to extend an antenna up from the fixture. As for the switches, you're right, the ones I mentioned have dual switches; 1 for the battery and 1 for power to the unit. I have to admit, the battery switch seemed kinda stupid and annoyed me at first but for half-price, I got over it. The other positive for the rainbows (making an assumption here) is that they pre-test and you (might) have less failure. Both of my rainbows worked but out of 16 of the cheaper lights, I have 2 of them that don't work right. The manufacturer offers to make it right but I haven't bothered. So far, a dozen lights are more than enough for my events. Those are some really super bright fixtures.
 
I have yet to extend an antenna up from the fixture. As for the switches, you're right, the ones I mentioned have dual switches; 1 for the battery and 1 for power to the unit. I have to admit, the battery switch seemed kinda stupid and annoyed me at first but for half-price, I got over it. The other positive for the rainbows (making an assumption here) is that they pre-test and you (might) have less failure. Both of my rainbows worked but out of 16 of the cheaper lights, I have 2 of them that don't work right. The manufacturer offers to make it right but I haven't bothered. So far, a dozen lights are more than enough for my events. Those are some really super bright fixtures.

Are the color menus the exact same as the Rainbow lights? Also, do the rainbow lights connect wireless with these lights?

I'm thinking Rainbow get's their lights made at this factory, and the factory just made a minor change with the switches to differentiate.
 
Are the color menus the exact same as the Rainbow lights? Also, do the rainbow lights connect wireless with these lights?

I'm thinking Rainbow get's their lights made at this factory, and the factory just made a minor change with the switches to differentiate.

I assume that Rainbow is a middleman who buys the lights then re-tests them once they're in the U.S. The dmx radios are compatible between the chinese and rainbow lights. It's really been a relief as my old chauvet dmx radios weren't event compatible with each other between v1 and v2. The menus are the exact same between rainbows and chinese lights. The only difference is the extra switch for the battery. In the Spring, I'm planning to buy a batch of the 6X18 single-row washes to use with these existing fixtures. They also have a tri-element light that does a nice 3-prong wall wash that looks nice (and a bit different from what everybody else is offering). As for brightness, these fixtures are roughly 10X as bright as my slimpar56s. I've had several long-time customers (proms) and venue managers who have been very impressed with the new lights. They're gorgeous.
 
As for brightness, these fixtures are roughly 10X as bright as my slimpar56s. I've had several long-time customers (proms) and venue managers who have been very impressed with the new lights. They're gorgeous.

I agree. I'm not sure there is a better Up Light on the market. The LEDs used appear to be the best quality ones to me. Rainbow says they use high end Phillips lamps in them. These fixtures come with every option I want too. Blows the name brand pars from ADJ and Chauvet etc. away imo.
 
I agree. I'm not sure there is a better Up Light on the market. The LEDs used appear to be the best quality ones to me. Rainbow says they use high end Phillips lamps in them. These fixtures come with every option I want too. Blows the name brand pars from ADJ and Chauvet etc. away imo.

I've noticed that Cheryl's company is now pitching 12X18 fixtures. For mobile use, I'm not sure if the extra brightness is worth the size/weight tradeoff.
 
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You can use the Flarecon Air with other fixtures (I have one as well), but the app is sooooo limited in support that you basically run them as "generic". The ADJ Airstream DMX Bridge is a MUUCCHHH more powerful system. It has the ADJ wireless protocol built in, but you can add additional transmitters as necessary as it has a DMX output.
 
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Do you currently have the flarecon box? If so, you can hook that to any DMX controller or software. At that point, you are just using the flarecon to send the wireless signal to the Chauvet lights, but Chauvet lights only.

After owning 6 different up-lights sets from cheap Chinese dealers, none of them are going to compare to the Chauvet Freedom Par. In fact, it is not even close.

The optics are just not as good so the color mixing is not as smooth and getting the colors you want are a lot hard, if not impossible. Also, you will find much more consistency between light to light with the Freedom pars.

Also the design of the Froom par is truly dedicated for Up-Lighting use from its size to its layout, built in internal antenna, light shield, handle to carry.

The. app itself is not even worth using. I gave up on that a long time ago.
 
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the flarecon gives a d-fi signal which is exclusive to the chauvet network of products. Even if you prefer a different software, and use the flarecon as your wireless signal, it is still proprietary, and will have to get special receivers for any non chauvet fixtures you want to incorporate. I use this style uplight 8pcs 9*10W RGBW 4 in 1 Wireless DMX512 Battery Power Led Par Light Free Shipping | eBay - (https://www.ebay.com/itm/8pcs-9-10W-RGBW-4-in-1-Wireless-DMX512-Battery-Power-Led-Par-Light-Free-Shipping/262163137638?hash=item3d0a240466:g:rQsAAOSwKrhVYxHF:rk:2:pf:0) of which I have 50 or so of. I also use elation moving heads, so I use the universal dmx receivers that you can find on ebay or amazon for $30 each and work with my uplights built in wireless dmx
 
^ yes correct, it provides a Dfi signal which is Chauvet's wireless standard.

But if you are going the Freedom Par route which is Chauvet, it's the way to go.
 
So, Chinese uplights are okay...
but Chinese moving heads are not?

I'm not being snarky...
I'm just wondering why there is a different standard.
More moving parts?
 
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