Upgrading my lighting inventory

[djtaso]

Tips from experience on how to do that?
@Taso do you have advice as well?

Not sure if I can offer much advice on that. I just make sure that every event I do has a full charge and I never really have to worry about battery life. I’ve had my set of uplights going on maybe 3+ yrs. I’ve only had one uplight have a battery issue, but that one was much more sudden and it would only hold a charge for 10 minutes, so I think the battery was faulty rather than something I did.

 

[rickryan.com]

Not sure if I can offer much advice on that. I just make sure that every event I do has a full charge and I never really have to worry about battery life. I’ve had my set of uplights going on maybe 3+ yrs. I’ve only had one uplight have a battery issue, but that one was much more sudden and it would only hold a charge for 10 minutes, so I think the battery was faulty rather than something I did.

Last night, those new lights worked like a champ. I had several of the fixtures on battery power for about 2.5-3 hours and they were all still 80%-90% remaining at the end. Those 9X18s are amazing.

 

[BlueLineDJ]

Not sure if I can offer much advice on that. I just make sure that every event I do has a full charge and I never really have to worry about battery life. I’ve had my set of uplights going on maybe 3+ yrs. I’ve only had one uplight have a battery issue, but that one was much more sudden and it would only hold a charge for 10 minutes, so I think the battery was faulty rather than something I did.

Do you keep them plugged in during the down time all the time? Do you let them drain completely before a recharge or do you always charge them to 100% after weekend use?

 

[maestro]

Tips from experience on how to do that?
@Taso do you have advice as well?

Some fixtures will hold their charge for months while others will drain themselves, I have both types. Li-Ion batteries do best when they are stored with a 60% charge left in them so what I do is use them at a gig and leave them like that until the day before the next gig at which time I charge them fully, usually in the afternoon. It sounds like that is what Taso does too. The thing is, I don't use ALL of the fixtures that I own regularly. I have 24 and usually only take out 12 max to a gig so I have to keep an eye on the others so they don't run down all the way which would cause the battery to dry up. To prevent this, I simply flick the power switches on them to make sure they have some power left then I leave them alone until the next week. I also installed a smoke-detector immediately over my charging area 'just in case' one decides to flare up during a charge. That has NEVER happened to me but there seems to be a paranoia about that so I thought I'd rather be safe than sorry since the charging station is in my garage which is part of our house.

 

[maestro]

Do you keep them plugged in during the down time all the time? Do you let them drain completely before a recharge or do you always charge them to 100% after weekend use?

Not a good idea to drain Li-Ion batteries completely which is why they have a safety built into them. When your light goes out, the battery is NOT actually drained. It keeps a percentage of the charge capacity so it doesn't dry out.

 

[BlueLineDJ]

That is really good BlueLine. You'll get more fun time than you'll ever need as long as you keep the batteries in good shape.

The lenses are 38 degrees.

 

[maestro]

The lenses are 38 degrees.

Yeah, I figured they were around 35 degrees.

 

[rickryan.com]

Did a fairly large, theatre-style room last night and used the new lights. The room has dark green curtains all around with only 8, exposed drywall sections, which are painted dark green. Normally, very hard to paint. I used 8 of the 9x18 fixtures and it blazed the walls (the front stage l/r are an orange, that's why the color is off a bit. I had 2 fixtures under my table and put 1 on the stage, facing the audience, who were a good 50 feet away. Ended up having to move the floor wash when guests at the back of the room complained it was killing them. I ended up putting the 2 floor washes, directly across the floor from each other. Ran everything on a static color during dinner then switched to sound active using the Freestyler plug. Very strong reaction from the guests and this is the first event I can ever remember my wife actually complimenting the lighting, oh and now she loves the new DJ station. BTW, I ended up leaving 2 fixtures in the carry box. Didn't need them.

 

[steve149]

They seem to have very large "hot spots" in the image .. maybe they weren't as noticeable live ...

 

[rickryan.com]

They seem to have very large "hot spots" in the image .. maybe they weren't as noticeable live ...

It didn't look like that to the naked eye. Very good coverage, even on dark green. The main thing I learned, the idea of hanging these on truss and having them face the audience is a no-go. They are simply too bright for it. BTW, I've contacted the vendor about the dead units, twice, and sent video as they requested. Crickets.

 

[ittigger]

The one in the front right, was it a different fixture than the others? The beam seems very different - not just the angle.

 

[rickryan.com]

The one in the front right, was it a different fixture than the others? The beam seems very different - not just the angle.

Nope. After getting a complaint (from the back of the room), I shot it towards the ceiling. A bit later I moved it to the side of the dance floor and added another on the opposite side.

 

[rickryan.com]

BTW, for dance lighting I put up 2 Martin acrobats, hanging from the speaker poles. Then put up 2 Chauvet 255 movers on a "Y" adapter and let them run auto. They practically turned the house lights off. It was a very, very effective display.

 

[ittigger]

Just so we're talking the same thing, I circled it in red - look how much more intense it is.

 

[rickryan.com]

Just so we're talking the same thing, I circled it in red - look how much more intense it is.

Yes, thank you for the critique.

 

[djtaso]

Hot spots are usually because of the camera... not the fixture itself. In person those aren’t really there. On my iPhone it’ll do the same thing, but on my friends $5k camera it’ll show up perfectly

 

[rickryan.com]

Hot spots are usually because of the camera... not the fixture itself. In person those aren’t really there. On my iPhone it’ll do the same thing, but on my friends $5k camera it’ll show up perfectly

It probably was my mistake. They had subs sitting in the corners (not used during the event) and I had to install the fixtures on top of them. They were back from the wall enough to screw up the angle. You are correct though, I do see hot-spots a lot more on my iphone than the other cameras. As far as last night's lighting, I beyond pleased. You were right that those stronger fixtures would up our game. If my wife makes mention of it, you've accomplished something.

 

[maestro]

The main thing I learned, the idea of hanging these on truss and having them face the audience is a no-go.

Yup, way to bright like I mentioned. You have to use a filter or point them upwards.

 

[rickryan.com]

Yup, way to bright like I mentioned. You have to use a filter or point them upwards.

Stupid me. For some reason I thought you were saying to hang them from a truss as floor washes (facing down). You're right. Those things are way too bright to be aimed towards guests. I could see though that with the right ceiling, that could be a very effective area wash by bouncing. I can't tell you how impressed I am by these fixtures.

 

[rickryan.com]

Update: By the way, you may remember I had 2 dead fixtures out of 16 (or not). Turns out, it was a blown fuse on both units. Left both of them plugged in last night to charge. Will try them out this weekend and see if there's something other kind of issue but hopefully, it was just a fluke.