Something rather unique to our show setup is
the lighting. We wanted something to shed light on the
stage, but also add a bit of mood to the music. We started
with 4 clip on utility lights fixtures-- the type with a big
clip and reflector. You can pick them up at a hardware
store for about three bucks. We stuffed in some 75 watt
colored flood lights and ran them across them from a hollow
aluminum pole. We hung the poll from the ceiling with
some hanging strap (thin metal strip with a bunch of holes in
it), ran an extension cord to it and thus are first lighing
setup.
Now, this setup did just fine lighting up the performing
aira, but it didn't do much after that. So, we made some
additions.
First, an additional 12 clip on lights were added
for a total of 14 stage lights and 2 house lights. The
lights were arranged in four sets of red, green and blue along
two white "solo" lights. On the control side, things get much
more fun!
Que works for a compney by the name of Electro
Cam Corp. Electro Cam manufactures industrial control devices
mainly for the packaging industry. These devices have
the job of switching things on and off. Que is a programmer
and write the software for these devices. Now, Electro
Cam throws away a lot of non-working or simi working parts that
gets thrown out. Que often dumpsite dives for junk like
this, repairs it and uses it for himself.
Sense these devices are normally intended to control
industrial equipment, they would have no problem switching on
and off lights. So Que put together a device from his
collection of parts and wrote some special software for it.
He mounted the controller on some DIN rail bolted to the aluminum
light pole and bought a bunch of wall sockets. He wired
the sockets to the controller and then plugged in the lights.
After a lot of hard work, we had a kick ass light show.
Tazz, Guy and Wanker with the new lights
This light controller can do changes between red, green
and blue at any speed or be switch on and off manually.
There are also two solo lights which can light ether the singer
and/or the drummer. It also controls the house lights.
Specs :
Number of lights : 17
Current lights : 4 red, 4 green, 4 blue, 2 white, 1 yellow
(house light), 1 pink (house light), 1 small red
Max. power : 1,275 watts; 10.6 amps at 120VAC
Cost : about $120
The controller could easy be replaced with light
switches. Five light switches could do the majority
of what the control does now. One switch for each color,
one for solo lights and one for house lights. That with
some extension cords and one could build their own light board.
If you want to build a light display yourself and want more
information, contact Que.
And no, he's not intrested in build one for you.
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