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    rosco4069
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New LED install, Cart/Horse for light to Board, newbie to LED, where to start

I work at a college, and have the opportunity to start the process to upgrade a room to a multi use room(theater-loosely used term, ballroom, convention etc.)    I spent years in lighting/theater, rock and roll,   etc products(I saw many of my boards on the legacy side, so I guess I am old)  fixture/dimmer/board.  I even use LED  kits for architectural highlights and special events,     But as I am researching installing a grid of LED's something feels like its missing.

I love the idea of using a fixed power source and programming a board to handle the color/intensity etc....  but daisy chaining 30 lights together and running a dmx straight to the board feel like something is missing.   What goes between the fixture and the board??

What boards are suggested for a new install, only possibly 25-30 lights all together ( I like the lustr series and all its accessories),  mostly  single podium/head table stuff, some small theater/ no dance( 20 by 32 stage, that gets torn down).    I like the simplicity of the Congo line(Jr.) easy up easy down,  color mixing for galas etc.

This project is at the very beginning,  at a wish list budget money phase,  once I have all the parts, and even a training session in some other city(higher ed is funny that way),  and I can see this easily into 6 figures, once I have all the parts.   I just a crash course in all the right parts.      

(I've been begging to get to USITT, never saw the budget approved for that)

Thanks in advance

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  • ETC's LED fixtures use internal power supplies, so all you need to do is daisy-chain hot power through them (they'll take either 120VAC or 240VAC), and do the same with DMX.  Then connect your console up to the first fixture in the chain. You do not need any other equipment.

    For your application, I would suggest either the Element console (from the Eos line) or the Cobalt Kid console (from the Cobalt line, which is what Congo is called now).  It's likely that other venues at your school will eventually upgrade in the Eos line, so it might be worth it to stick with that.  Cobalt is plenty powerful, but it can be unintuitive to students with a theater background.

  • in reply to Paul Toben
    Thanks, we don't have much for a theater program, so I will be the "it" for this. I've got numbers($$) and see where this actually goes. Hoping, but not holding my breathe.
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  • in reply to rosco4069
    We have a brand new space that get exactly the same type of use as yours - theatre, music, lecture, events. We have 42 D22s and 5 Paletta 11s for cyc lights on the theatre end. 120v powered on 7 relays with edison circuits spread through a pipe grid that spans the whole room. 8 net3 nodes that can be programmed to either universe one or two with ETCs software. For what you're doing as long as you have proper power, its literally as easy as just getting DMX from the console to the first light in the chain. 30 is a good number for one run of DMX, no more than 32 fixtures on one homerun. We use an Element from the Eos line and love it. It's perfect for doing all that the space needs- its intuitive to most theatre people when Cobalt isn't as said above, and its not overkill for the room. I had no problem switching from a Strand 300 to an Element and an Ion. ETCs Desire series are awesome wash lights and the S4 series 2s are gems.
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