Flood light control

[sgtdrpepper]

Hello all
I was wondering if there is an easy way to dim a flood light. I plan on having much more light on my graveyard this year but i would like a way to control the floods to set just the right mood. I had thought about just a standard dimer and creating a small control box but am not an electrician and did not know if this would work. Any thoughts.

Thanks

[krough]

I am sort of in the same boat Sgt. I recently bought a bunch of par cans (2 38 and 2 56's) and want to dim them. the 38's are 150 watts and the 56's are 500 watts. The best way to dim my lights are via a DMX dimmer and DMX controller but im not shelling out 500 bucks this year.
So I plan on making a dimmer panel based on this http://wolfstone.halloweenhost.com/HalloweenTech/dimbox_DimmerBox.html
Ill probably start this either tomorrow or next week. Should I make a Krough-to?

[sgtdrpepper]

I was look at going the same way with DMX and found www.behringer.com
They seem to have the best prices on dimmers if you look around. They currently only sell a rack mount dimmer but in the past had just a standard box dimmer. You can also find good deals on boards that would allow full control. But you are right I just cant see putting that much of the already small budget into lighting, even though I know how important it is.. A how-to would be great if you have the time Krough.

Thanks

[Frighteners Entertainment]

What brand is this ?
If it's a VEI, I can probalby get you a pretty good deal.

[krough]

FE
The VEI parts we would need are

DC-1201 Controller or a DC-801
DP-810 Dimmer pack
I think

[Frighteners Entertainment]

FE
The VEI parts we would need are

DC-1201 Controller or a DC-801
DP-810 Dimmer pack
I think

all right, I won't have answer until monday.

[ScareFX]

If you can't spring for a dimmer and controller this year, I have put multiple gels over my lights that are too bright. That seems to work fine and is inexpensive.

[krough]

Any problem of burning thru the gels, ScareFX?

[Dr Morbius]

I know theatrical gels are used in..what else..theatrical lights..those are much brighter and hotter than any flood light.

[madmax]

Dimmers are cheap....no more than 5 dollars at wal mart and big lots. If you can cut a electric cord in half and strip an inch of wire off of both ends you can wire up the dimmer.

probably no more than a 30 min project on your first one and 15 mins on the next one you make.

[madmax]

Here's a picture of my dimmer. It has 2 black and one green wire. When you cut the electric cord in half you strip and inch of the wire off of all 4 wires (2 wires on the male and 2 on the female).

You take one end of the male (the part you plug into the wall outlet) and connect it to a black wire. You do the same for the female end (the part you plug your light into). It doesn't matter which wire you pick.

Next you take the other wire from the male and female and connect that to the green wire. Put wire nuts on them and tape them up or you can put hot glue on the wire nuts then tape....no moister will get in (you can put them in an electric box...I think it a waste of time). Put the male end into an electrical outlet, your lights into the female...then dim.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f117/wkuyoungguns/dimmer001.jpg

[sgtdrpepper]

sounds easy enough. Im off to walmart for parts and will give it a try.
I would like to look into the other options also FE I also play in a small local band and you never know when you might need some extra lighting.

Thanks

[ScareFX]

I know theatrical gels are used in..what else..theatrical lights..those are much brighter and hotter than any flood light.

Dr Morbius is correct. Theatrical gels are made for high heat. I've never had any melting with any light including high output video lights.

[slimy]

Max, the light dimmer will work well for halloween( and IS cheap) but sgt, don't try and use this dimmer with your band. "Rheostatic" dimmers ( like the one max made) do great at dimming lights but will cause electrostatic interference with your sound system. You will be able to actually hear the 60 hz 'buzz' going through your speaker setup. The lights will look great, but the ZZZZZZZZZZZZ is annoying.

My recommendation, make the max dimmer for your haunt. It's simple and you won't care if it gets rained on. If you spend hundreds of dollars for a professional board, you really wouldn't want to leave it outside.

Take that for what it's worth.

[JohnnyL]

Just made the one madmax showed and it works REALLY well. I kind of want to make a little control panel and have about 8 in there and put it in the mausoleum or something, haha.

[BioNecro]

OK, I'm getting tired of walking to reset the circuit breaker. I have an extention cord with three wires, one white one black and one green. the dimmer switch has three wires, one green and two black. I have the greens together and have tried hooking the blacks both ways, each time resulting in a blown circuit. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

[Brad Green]

You have the right cord for the job. The wiring should be all greens together, leave the white alone and intact, and split the black, one end going to the first wire in the dimmer, the second end going to the second black wire. Think of it as a switch that turns the black (hot) wire on and off. All a dimmer does is act as a potentiometer, kind of like a volume control for the amount of current coming through the black wire. The green is just a ground for the circuit (as is the white, both go to a buss bar in the breaker box). As long as you are only splitting the black wire and using the dimmer as a curcuit switch, it should work, otherwise there may be a defect in the dimmer itself and needs replaced.

[BioNecro]

Thanks Brad. I'm not tripping breakers now, but its not dimming either?? I can turn the light on and off with the switch but it will not dim.

[NecroBones]

Man, you guys are doing a lot more work for your dimmers than I am.. I bought simple inline lamp-dimmers over at Home Depot. Basically, it has a plug and a socket, so you plug the light in through it... then it has roughtly a 4' cord with the slider control at the end. I think it'll handle 300W, so you can plug several floods into one with a socket splitter.

[The Crow 1994]

Hey Necro....is this what you are talking about? I might have to pick a few of these up myself.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v125/cschramm23/Dimmer.jpg

:)

[ScareFX]

...I bought simple inline lamp-dimmers over at Home Depot...

I like the idea of using that product. Nice tip NecroBones.

[Brad Green]

Well, hadn't seen one of those toys yet, but yep, that would work just fine! Man, all that wiring for nothing! And BioNecro, kinda sounds like the dimmer switch got fried in the attempt (sorry), but you do apparently have the wiring right at this time. If you want to continue, just replace the switch and everything should work just fine.

[JohnnyL]

I like using the wiring method only because it has the turning knob which I can hook up to an ocillating motor which allows the lights to dim and brighten, looks really good. I also might make a board with a lot of dimmers attached to it to put on the wall somewhere... nothing like full access at the power of your finger tips!

[The Crow 1994]

I saw the dimmer switch with cord yesterday at Home Depot. I believe they had it for around $10 at my local store. I'm gonna go back and pick a few up later.

[NecroBones]

Yep, sounds about right... I think I paid $10 each for mine.

[sgtdrpepper]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I just got back from Disney World for the first time and it really reinforced how important lighting is in setting the mood. MadMax I just put a dimmer together with no problems and that seems to be the easiest way for me to put a small board together cheaply. Maybe one day I can invest in more pro lighting.

Thanks again

[NecroBones]

Hey Necro....is this what you are talking about? I might have to pick a few of these up myself.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v125/cschramm23/Dimmer.jpg

:)

Yep, that's it!

Somehow I missed your question before...

[The Crow 1994]

No sweat, Necro! Thanks for the tip! :)

[hidehoman]

I am sort of in the same boat Sgt. I recently bought a bunch of par cans (2 38 and 2 56's) and want to dim them. the 38's are 150 watts and the 56's are 500 watts. The best way to dim my lights are via a DMX dimmer and DMX controller but im not shelling out 500 bucks this year.
So I plan on making a dimmer panel based on this http://wolfstone.halloweenhost.com/HalloweenTech/dimbox_DimmerBox.html
Ill probably start this either tomorrow or next week. Should I make a Krough-
to?

You can go to cheaplights.com and get a cheap dimmer system.
Or you can build a super low tech dimmer pack from house hold dimmers and and a small box. You will need to know how much power you will be running. Use Ohms law to do this. Amps = Watts/Volts. You have 1300 watts running on 110 volts So you will be running 11.8181 amps so you could get away with running all that on one 20 amp circuit. Your average house dimmer can only controle about 300 to 600 watts( for the love of god get the 600 one) So for your lighting you will need at least 3 and two must be 600 watts. I would go ahead and make it with four so you have a little extra controle. O and for the people talking about using doubling up on gell this will hold in the heat and is a fire hazard. Just get darker gell colors and keep them away from the bulb. Did I forget to say that I am an IATSE Tech.

[ScareFX]

...O and for the people talking about using doubling up on gell this will hold in the heat and is a fire hazard. Just get darker gell colors and keep them away from the bulb. Did I forget to say that I am an IATSE Tech.

I'm by no means an expert on lighting so I'll defer to your experience. I have a couple of questions.

I understand that using darker gel is obviously the preferred method and I understand that doubling up gels will increase the temperature of the inside surfaces of the two layers.

However the Rosco tech notes state the following:
"Two or more layers of lighter (higher value) filters may be used to produce a darker or more intensely colored light beam. However, the combination will be significantly less efficient than a single filter."

My questions are:

If it's a fire hazard, why would the manufacturer say it may be done?

How much risk of a fire is there by using two gels over a 75 watt flood light?

Obviously I don't want to take unnecessary risks.

[hidehoman]

My questions are:

If it's a fire hazard, why would the manufacturer say it may be done?

How much risk of a fire is there by using two gels over a 75 watt flood light?

The problem is the 75 watt flood light, how it is housed and the heat it produces. Most theatre lights have a large space and lenses that contain the heat to the housing and not out to the gel frame and gel. Lets say a Par can. Look at how far away the light sorce is from the gel frame, or a ESR light these lights go up into the 1000 watt range but the lens is about three to four feet from the lamp. If you are using the gel over a work light or converted can. you are placing the gell close to the heat I have seen gel used in this manor melt and smoke. If you double it you are going to add to this heat. I have never seen it burst into flame but it melts like plastic and smokes. I would not do it. I have doubled up on gel in theatre lights but when I must do this I sipe the gels so that they can vent the heat, but then again you are getting slight light polution from the cuts.

[ScareFX]

Thanks.

[Xpendable]

I am computer-controlling flood lights on my house this year using Insteon technology from Smarthome.com and some custom software that I wrote. Insteon uses power-line communications, and the commands are sent from a computer interface that plugs directly into an AC outlet. The switches will receive and respond to control commands sent directly over the powerline. It's like X-10, only 10 times better and far more reliable. I'm fading different colors up and down on the building using 9 flood lights hooked into 3 different LampLinc modules.

USB PLC (the computer interface) $59
2-pack RF SignalLinc couplers (required for reliable Insteon comms) $69
3 LampLinc modules ($24 x 3 = $72)

I didn't actually have to buy anything except for the flood lights since I already owned all of the above equipment. I converted my whole house to Insteon earlier in the year, which allows me to automate every light in the house. Incidentally, I'm also planning to fade the lights in each of the rooms in my house automatically. I haven't done the programming for that yet though. Insteon is also backwards compatible with X10, and I'll be adding a few motion sensors to trigger some special programming in my lighting scenes when kids come up to the door.