Installing £10,000 Theatre Lights! | DMX Masterclass | ØY26

[@artisanelectrics]

I would have just bought a massive laser pen

[@TheCod3r]

Yeah but Cory's viewers know better than to listen to Artisan 😂

[@nusermane1076]

@@TheCod3r Ouuuuuuu FIGHT! 😂

[@TheCod3r]

@@nusermane1076 haha all good fun 🤣

[@nusermane1076]

…. but maybe Jordan just had Austin Powers in his mind 😁

[@TheCod3r]

@nusermane1076 he definitely strikes me as someone who would run around pretending to be bond 🤣

[@jtrmca1]

Work as a Professional LX Theatre Tech so work with all this type of equipment daily, but on a much larger scale. Don't normally comment on videos, but just wanted to say a great video with a great basic explanation of how it all works.

[@corymac]

Thank you!

[@Nancyloveguitars]

Our brand is VANGOA and our brand has a new DMX wireless controller, would you like to try it out? Looking forward to your thoughts.

[@makg4655]

@@corymacanother informative view always get jobs that give the viewers something new . 👍👍

[@TheLEDscientist]

DMX has a logical explanation for the name. Back in the day for each dimmer a seperate wire was ran from the light console to the dimmer. By combining these signals in 1 cable with 3 wires, over DMX, everything became way easier to control Back in the day they called that combining of signals multiplexing. This was done with digital signals, aka 1's and 0's So thats why it is called Digital Multiplexing. And that is why it is called DMX. For the install, nice install!

[@corymac]

Wanna learn more about smart lighting? Go check out the link to Orko’s course in the description!

[@mfx1]

He's obviously a very competent electrician and from previous videos network and fibre as well but his performance in this video gave me the distinct impression that he was winging it with DMX and maybe isn't the best person to be teaching it, particularly at the installation level. For a start it's pretty standard to use Cat5/6 for fixed DMX installs Neutrik even make specific panel mount XLR connecters for use with Cat5/6 for DMX installs. Also from the weblink you gave "How to Soldering Properly" Er what? And in the video he really wasn't doing a great soldering job.

[@paulalexander4655]

Great video. I own a technical event production company and started out doing lighting in amateur theatre, schools and then progressed on through professional theatre, night club lighting and eventually started a lighting company that became an all round (sound, video, lighting, Av, staging, rigging etc). It was funny seeing you mixup terminology every now and then. It’s easy when you know but great seeing someone learn. We do some big events and festivals so if you ever fancy doing an episode working with us on site doing temporary power/lighting/video wall, hit me up. Thanks though, another great video.

[@DanHaz]

As an AV guy myself. I would love Cory to learn the power distribution side of AV and the reasoning behind how we do things plus would be cool for someone to show him how we use visualisation software to model and preprogram events as often people don't understand the amount of work it takes to "make the lights flash" 😂

[@justmarije]

@@DanHaz as a fellow event tech i would love to see something like that

[@collodionpositive554]

Remember the Betapacks from my school days, even had one the three channel ones in my childhood bedroom with a bunch of parcans 😅 Last event thing I did was a couple of years ago writing a bit of software to allow you to control Philips Hue lights over DMX (via Artnet) so they could change the colour of some table lamps on stage.

[@rsmckgla]

A good video but imho it’s a big mistake to REMOVE the dimmers entirely. Incandescent lamps still have a place, and we use “practicals” quite often (essentially things like table lamps or even prop street lamps etc) I’m in the process of doing this in a local theatre and we’re retaining the racks and the patch, but repurposing a small number of the 15A outlets on the IWBs to “hard power” fed from 15A RCBOs

[@bubbleobill969]

Yes was about to comment the same I work in theatre, primarily in lighting and incandescent dimmers are still used extensively. While they are starting to be used a little bit less in some places as higher quality LED fixtures have become available, in terms of 'bang for buck' incandescent fixtures are still extremely good. You can have ten incandescent fixtures (or more) for the cost of a single S4 Lustr Series 2/3. They're extremely simple to use, reliable, and the quality of light they output is still better than cheaper LED fixtures. From an education stand point it's also extremely sad to see these go as they are still everywhere in the industry. Those dimmer racks are pretty old though with physical fuses. Modern relay racks can be switched between dimmer, relay, and hot power per channel, each with their own breaker. It's frustrating to see the patch panel be removed also. The best thing would have been to either put in new dimmers or at least power distro racks in their place.

[@aaronm9353]

I agree. If it was me, I would have kept all the existing infrastructure with the 15 amp patch panels and just replaced those Betapacks with the newest Betapack 4s, where each circuit can be switched between dimmer and relay modes. I’m slightly confused about what he ended up doing in terms of power distribution to those IWBs. I’m not sure if he just snipped back most of the outgoing conductors from the DIN rail at the patch panel and wired up only an individual socket from each bar, or did he common all wiring in each bar together to provide a feed to every single socket?

[@Chillielectrical]

@@aaronm9353 Yes we provided a permanent feed to every 15A socket. Each IWB having its own MCB. The option of leaving some sockets per IWB on a dimmer is a good one though.

[@timprice5]

Having done this as a hobby at various local theatres, I completely agree it's a big mistake to remove the dimmers completely. I understand you need a better option for 'hard power', but given you have all the infrastructure in the lighting bars already, it seems silly to not use that as a hybrid of hard power OR dimmed power.

[@CollectorOfThings]

I was looking for a reply like this.

[@rowanclark4759]

Im a ex-theatre LX and Absolutly loved this video!

[@corymac]

That’s awesome!! Thanks for watching! 😁👍🏼

[@marktubeie07]

OK Cory, I admit I'm part of the geeky audience and yes, loving this. There is so much new tech available now, crossing over so many traditional platforms it's fascinating. Great video mate - more of this branching over into where electrical and tech cross would be amazing. Nice to see the other half working side by side too, cool!

[@NikolaiBeier]

Old technology used in new ways. DMX is from year 1986, with additions along the way en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX512

[@Stabby666]

@@NikolaiBeier Yeah I was going to say this - DMX is ancient now, but it still works well and is reliable in pretty harsh environments. It's very closely linked to the way industrial sensors work in industry, except DMX is one-way communication, and RS485 (which is what DMX runs on top of) can be two way, and is used like that with sensors (using e.g. MODBUS, which is kind of a two-way version of DMX) In fact cars also use almost identical tech between computer modules, your dashboard etc. That variant is CANBUS.

[@PhilJohn1980]

Ah, those dimmer packs take me back. I used to do lighting before we had automated boards - two rows of faders and you had to setup the next scene on the one not in use. One show required a fade to a blue wash from floodlights between scenes, and the only way to do that was to cut a length of wood so that it could be run down all of the faders except the last two channels - which were the floods. Then crossfade into the new scene. Now it's just hitting a button - less error prone, but I'd argue nowhere near as fun!

[@SamButlerUK]

I’ve still got a script for our school production of Grease somewhere with all the fader positions for each scene written on the pages so we could set them up and cross fade exactly as you say!

[@SamButlerUK]

I used to do theatre tech at secondary school, it was run by a maths teacher who then left, meaning only me and my mate knew how to operate it. Quite nostalgic seeing it all - we didn’t even have DMX to our dimmer packs, they were 0-10v analogue with 2x 8-pin DIN connectors.

[@electroshed]

@2:04 gotta love a flown speaker with no safety wire....

[@lddj]

I work with this kind of stuff on the daily - so seeing content online about it is really exiting for me because this isnt covered too much online - especially the more in depth electrical side - love to see it and would be happy to answer questions : )

[@corymac]

Great to hear!

[@AndrewLumsden]

👍👌👏 Good job! Round pin 15amp sockets and plugs are used because there is no individual fuse to blow at inaccessible high levels. Generally there is only 5amps coming out of the socket, which is more than enough for any theatre lamps, new or old! 15amp plugs are used because of their size and easily handled, but surprised that no Neutrik "Powercon" connectors were used as these are becoming more widely seen.

[@judebrown4103]

Thanks for this explanation, non sparky here and I wondered about the round pin sockets high up.👍

[@AndrewLumsden]

@judebrown4103 I too am not a sparky but have done sound for numerous amateur dramatic productions over more than 40 years so know what is involved with theatre electrics. For unattended productions I sometimes plug in my sound equipment into a lighting socket so that I know it gets switched off when the lighting "dimmers" are powered off at the end of the show. New DMX dimmers can be programmed to switch on and off without any dimming which may damage sound equipment. Also CCTV monitors and cameras hung on lighting bars.

[@Chillielectrical]

Some of these fixtures did have Powercon and True1 connectors from Neutrik! Didn't end up using interlinks though, just plugged directly into the 15A outlets.

[@mfx1]

Powercon is dated now, True1 is the way forward for new installs.

[@ethansmyth1563]

Do you have to cut the normal 13 amp plug off the neutrik power leads that come with the lights and replace them with the 15amp round pin plugs? Or can the power leads be bought with the 15amp round pin?

[@WillHorwell]

Nice Cory, I'm a film and TV spark so nice seeing a video on familiar territory. Ours is even more modular, using 16a, 32a, 63a all the way to .2 power lock (400amp), sometimes we put a rig in and rip it out the same day, often weeks or months. We use a lot of DMX but most LED heads we use nowadays use wireless CRMX and it's controlled on blackout lighting app (the ipad closest thing to a lighting desk) or a MA lighting desk in a studio rig

[@burningdust]

I used to install and build dimmer packs similar to what you removed. It’s hard to see them go but tech has come a long way and pretty much everything including audio is de-centralizing with the end device now doing most of the work. There’s definitely advantages to that! I just can’t believe they have such a little wimpy panel in the dimmer room. That thing’s a toy! For the LED system it’s ok but to imagine they ran 20kW+ off of that for the incandescent rig!!? Wow!

[@Kaygex]

As someone who works as a Systems Tech (someone who manages the dmx systems for lighting) in the Film & TV Industry its great to see you dive in our world a little bit. Systems can become way more elaborate when you start getting involved with networking, wireless dmx, larger dmx consoles etc. but its mostly temporary installs within minimal time for install. Been watching you since Artisan because we deal and troubleshoot alot of electrical problems on sets and a lot of us lighting techs have an electrical trade background. Would be interesting to see you react to a film & tv rig install

[@corymac]

Thanks! Well, if you can arrange it I’m always happy to try new things! Ping me an email

[@SamButlerUK]

Location LX is wacky. Generator power, huge csa cables, 2kW for a single light source and all the mad rigging that goes around it. That would be fun to see, Cory

[@deang5622]

"Digital Multiplex - don't ask me why". Easy...because it's the equivalent of digital data going down the cable, and because you are sending messages to multiple devices down the single cable and removing the need for one cable per light. So in effect you are multiplexing up multiple communication channels on to a single cable. Easy when you actually understand the words.

[@corymac]

I bet you had fish oils as a kid 🧠 💻

[@squeaky_honda]

The addressing can be explained like: There are up to 1024 houses each with their own letterbox. The data-cable carries commands "House #5, set your dimmer to 30%". Most houses ignore that spam, but house #5 acts on the command. Each of those RGB lamps usually has 3 "houses" (addresses) assigned to it. Some units that have motors reinterpret the command as "rotate right 30%". The "universe" is like a street-name. So, you can have many streets, with each having up to 1024 houses. The full command is "Claydon Road #5, set your dimmer to 30%".

[@ppdan]

Not really. The full frame of 512 channels goes to all devices. Quote from another post : "Data is actually send in a very simple way. DMX is a serial communication protocol based on RS485 that sends frames of data. Between each frame you have a "break" (output signal is held low for a minimum specified time) and a frame start with a MAB (mark after break). Inside the frame you have a series of 512 channels (send in order from 1-512) and slaves are "reading" all channels waiting for their specific data. So for example a simple device with 3 channels that has been given the address 50 will serially receive all 512 channels and ignore the 49 first channels, take the data from the next 3 channels and ignore the rest." It's more like broadcasting 512 consecutive numbers (0-255) in a room and each device is waiting for a certain range of numbers being called.

[@squeaky_honda]

Oh, neat. I didn't look into this specific protocol. I was just explaining general "addressing". The DMX protocol sounds better-suited to burst-transfers of entire new settings. Loading a preset quickly instead of manually tweaking lights one by one.

[@ppdan]

@@squeaky_honda I guess the main concern was to have quick response of ALL devices/channels. The way it is designed it doesn't matter if you change one or all channels ... it will always update 40 times per second (40Hz refresh rate of all 512 channels)

[@elco_os9355]

From experience it is usually quity handy to be able to switch the sockets for each individual light. Often on stages, the lighting set-up could change per show. Sometimes you have some light effects that you don't want to use everytime (for example, some fixtures have loud fans and you only want to use them during concerts) . you can then switch them off individually. DMX is however quite old already. Modern shows with lots of lighting use ethernet connections more often now.

[@AdrianMaunder]

I mean... this is going to be installed in a school... not a modern nightclub

[@elco_os9355]

@@AdrianMaunder we had this on my school. We used the moving head lights with the loud fans during concerts or other events with loud music. But we keep them off during theater shows due to the noise. We also used to move around the fixtures often based on the decor and the kind of bands that were playing.

[@adamgeorge8327]

This makes me feel seriously old as a theatre technician. Though in my new venue we are all LED and have the grand total of 12 Tungsten lights. Our base show file is 2 universes full. My current show is 6 universes full. Eurovision this year used 323 universes of DMX control

[@SamButlerUK]

323 universes 😮🤯

[@pathologicallydead7210]

Im an event/stage lighting operator and technician and its so interesting how an electrician thinks about this

[@pjd00127]

Another great video Cory. Been working in events/theatres for 6 years now and the biggest amount of channels I've seen is 120 per fixture! That really uses up some universes! Got to say very good explanations for a complex topic!

[@corymac]

That’s awesome!

[@moe85moe85]

120 channels on a single fixture 😮

[@callumBee]

I have seen a few use entire universes! Mostly RGB festoon etc where each lamp is a node!

[@SamButlerUK]

Is “make tea” a valid DMX command on that one? 😅

[@ltdeditions]

I worked as a volunteer in the tech crew of my local theater in the early 90's. They had a similar setup as that school (maybe even more ancient). When you were talking about how much power those lights consume, I was reminded of the fact that we had to let them cool off for quite some time before we could get to them after a show (especially the 1500W ones). They got so hot, they would actually damage the filters quite quickly. Now I sometimes build control cabinets for chrismas lighting that use a raspberry pi to control tens of thousands of channels of DMX over ethernet. Crazy how much that technology has developed!

[@corymac]

Exciting times!

[@Chillielectrical]

They do run extremely hot! All of the gels were fried, hadn't been replaced since the original install!

[@petermichaelgreen]

I'm pretty sure it stands for "digital multiplex" because prior to DMX you used to have a seperate 0-10V analog control line for each dimmer (and prior to that you had dimmers with direct manual control)

[@ppdan]

The exact name is DMX512 which stands for Digital Multiplex 512 channels

[@CraigShearer]

Back before DMX, there was AMX - Analog Multiplex 192 - 192 channels over 4 wires

[@johnfenlon458]

I worked at the theatre stage for 12 years so I love DMX better than old. Best way is easy to connect power all on.. then I can use DMX it's self controller come lights on. it was so amazing.. DMX had 0 to 255 You will get MANY MANY lights on. Great work! Thumbs up! Cheers!

[@infidellic]

Ah throwback to triac dimmers, gel scollers, ballast lights, DMX terminators. We got 6 moving heads in my final year doing this kind of thing and even in our relatively small setup we were running close on filling a universe without reusing DMX addresses

[@Stabby666]

I work with DMX a lot (I design PCBs for event tech, primarily), and have considered piggybacking DMX signals over the AC mains signals to save having to run separate DMX cables, or using the unreliable DMX over RF.

[@JasperJanssen]

That outgoing zero88 looks its slightly newer than the zero88 12 channel DMX board that was the New Thing in my school when I was in the lighting club in the 90s. That one replaced our old 12 channel analog lighting desk which output over twin 7-pin-XLR worth of six-channel 0-10V to the two dimmer packs.

[@Birdiemango1]

Alright Cory, theatre technician here that’s trained as an Electrician and completes fresh installs/refurb/maintenance! Older installs pose many technical challenges. A lot of the time we see a LX bar that’ll have 8 circuits in it, fed in 18 Core 1.5/2.5 YY and use 16 cores for the respective Line and Neutral, and the remaining two cores for the CPC. The issue here being that adiabatic may not be met as you’re relying on a combined CPC to feed 8 circuits under fault conditions. Likewise with the dimmed circuits that have been made into ‘Hot Power’ in the video - is there a point of functional switching? We find that if there isn’t a single point and contractors or multiple grid switches that staff and students in schools and such places don’t like operating MCB’s or RCBO’s to turn their systems on and off. It may have been easier to remove the old 15A patch boxes in the control room, and bridge the din rail terminals in the end boxes of the IWB‘a meaning you are only having to re-energise one circuit from the control room to the LX bar instead of every single circuit. It’s how we manufacture new IWB’s (Internally a wired Bars) all the socket outlets are wired to the end box and the din terminals are bridge linked with then a single supply to power the whole bar. It Would also have been nice to see the new fixtures have their interlinking DMX cables ‘triped’ or cable tied to the LX bars as opposed to being wrapped around, along the length. It’s Less so for aesthetics but more for future lighting designs that are implemented. There is a lot of Labour involved with unwrapping cables along a 8M long LX bar as opposed to slicing wraps of tape along its length. As for the OCPD’s being a socket outlet in an educational establishment would this not fall under the requirements for additional protection? In my opinion and from previous EICR’s carried out on theatres, that would warrant a C2 for no RCD’s.

[@sab2713]

Nice to see the move to LED lighting, but to be honest removing the patch panels and all the dimmers has considerably decreased the flexibility of the lighting rig. With DMX control, you can run both LED fittings and Dimmers. I would have left at least one dimmer pack for legacy theatre fittings and practical set lighting fittings. (I worked for many years as a professional theatre lighting tech and designer before moving to AV integration).

[@Chillielectrical]

This is definitely a good suggestion. When we met with the drama teach before hand, they explained that because of the school environment and health & safety rules, they aren't able to modify the rig, and they haven't touched it since it was installed years ago. Shame to be honest.

[@JC-jv5xw]

@@Chillielectrical This is so typical . A drama studio to teach about lighting, but the students were unable to perform the most basic of functions, focusing the lights

[@backacheache]

Perhaps if you would like to go further down the entertainment rabbit-hole how about a video about temporary installations that follow BS7909

[@ewsclass6679]

Ngl it would be kind of frustrating to have no dimmer patching option available, even though LEDs are great, nothing can beat incandescent facelight sometimes

[@supremeicecreme1658]

100% agree with you! I got my say heard at a place I was at a while ago which used to be all-conventional and was getting the LED treatment; I saw that at least some of the old stuff was kept for this exact reason. You really can't beat it for some good, bright front light.

[@Chillielectrical]

Yeah, agreed it would have been nice to leave some dimming options available, and some of the incandescent fixtures. We did give them the option.

[@lucidlx]

A way to turn off the power would be a good addition. Could be as simple as a grid switch panel with 5x 20A switches. The breakers are not made for on/off switching under load. These theatre lights do use power even when the LED is off, so are usually are turned off at the mains when not in use. Great vid to explain the basics of stage lighting though! Especially as we are at the transition from tungsten to LED.

[@corymac]

Good suggestion, thank you 🙏🏼

[@linekodak]

19:30 The olde ones also had a bar that you could have used instead of changing the whole thing.

[@taliday56]

I’m an 18 year old lighting tech currently going to school for mechatronics. Within the next year or two (I think) the school I work at is going to switch the entire lighting rig to LED’s. Luckily I know the board very well (etc element 1). So it should be easy, patching won’t be fun though.

[@RicoGG]

patching is the easy part... trouble shooting after that. not so fun.

[@RJSElectricalCheshire]

I used to do theatre lighting back in the 90s. Back then, if you wanted to change the colour, it was with a plastic colour gel on the front or if you were posh, a colour wheel. Things have certainly changed a bit.

[@kylemson]

Might have missed something here, but when you were testing each of the wall sockets, is there any reason you didn't look for the short at the DIN rail end, i.e.: pull out each circut there and look for the live/neutral short there, to get it down to an individual wall socket?

[@OwenYelland7525]

Great video. Work in the events industry a lot. Some of the fixtures I work with on a day to day are 480 channels per fixture. Once you get up to that amount of data you end up using stuff like artnet or sACN (network based DMX essentially). DMX is a pretty dated standard now but as an industry we’re too scared to move away I feel.

[@corymac]

Thanks for sharing!

[@Chillielectrical]

480 channels wow! Would love to know what fixtures they are? Most I've used is around 48 per fixture, unless it's LED pixels.

[@lucaneumann5986]

@@Chillielectrical the Martin Mac Aura PXL has a "Ludicrous" Mode with 512 Channels per fixture 😀

[@metrotechguru5863]

Thanks for this video, Cory. I used to work in theatre and it's amazing to see how much lighting tech has changed. Cheers mate.

[@corymac]

My pleasure!

[@TheErador]

There's room for both incandescents and led intelligent fixtures imho, and the cost of maintenance for an incandescent is so much lower, dead fixture probably just a lamp, lamps are cheap(ish). Dead intel fixture means you need a whole spare fixture (several hundred to many thousands of £/fixture) or to wait for a replacement, which is no good during a production run.

[@jackstevens7379]

A new world Cory. It's my everyday life in theatre. I work as a Theatre and event technician. Feel free to ask any questions about DMX protocol. It alot of fun when you get your head around it

[@Chillielectrical]

Isn't it! 😃

[@JC-jv5xw]

Did you not also check the continuity resistance of Line and Neutral to the sockets? - these are the ones carrying the current. What if there is a loose connection in one of the socket neutrals?

[@imark7777777]

Traditional DMX lighting could work in a different manner where there's a dimmer pack up by the light operating 1 or 4 channels/lights and then daisychaining to the next dimmer. the only downside to this is if you need to do anything with those dimmers it involves a ladder which you'd probably be using anyway to adjust with the lights pointed. But we all know the next thing to get banned is ladders in the UK health and safety after all.

[@johankorten2797]

DMX is actually also an 'ancient' but still great protocol (looked it up: 1990, wow!). I guess those initial lights must also be at least 25 years old or so. I don't think it was really used in the 'industry' other than theaters, and a lot in the hobby light show scene (I even have an Elektor book on it from decades ago).

[@simonduvall9783]

…,and every concert / festival / tv studio / nightclub / live music venue :-)

[@johankorten2797]

@@simonduvall9783 yup I forgot those ;) long time ago.

[@johankorten2797]

@@nicksimmons7234 I'm not surprised: there are many other 'ancient' protocols that still are used quite a lot in specific domains and have received their modern era updates (e.g. Modbus).

[@mfx1]

Yes it is ancient but more basic than it needed to be and certainly isn't "great" meaning all sorts of clunky workarounds are needed to make it work well today. There was really no reason for it to be as basic as it is. It seems to have been designed to make decoding by discrete logic easy yet microprocessors were a thing in the 90's. MIDI was a better designed protocol and it was designed ten years before DMX although the choice of RS485 rather than current loop was a better choice for DMX.

[@ppdan]

@@mfx1 Using MIDI for this would be a mess and too slow. MIDI has a much lower transfer rate and the protocol also has a lots of overhead compared to DMX. The speed of MIDI is 31.250bps while DMX is 250.000bps, now take the overhead in the MIDI protocol compared to the nearly non existent overhead of DMX and you get that DMX is well over 10 times faster). One VERY important thing, which is probably the most important part, DMX GARANTEES that all 512 channels are refreshed with every frame and you can send up to 44 frames of 512 channels every second. In other words DMX guarantees that you can talk to each device 44 times per second while a MIDI bus can be overloaded if trying to send too much at once. It would take MIDI more than 250ms (4Hz refresh rate) to update all 512 channels while DMX is CONSTANTLY updating ALL 512 channels every 25ms (40Hz refresh rate). In other words, the human eye would be able to see 3-4 times that a light was cut/updated late using MIDI while with DMX the state might have changed 2-3 times without noticing. Another problem is the maximum cable length. 15m for MIDI and 300m for DMX (with infinite extension possibilities). Old is not bad ... a good example is the ethernet protocol which is 50 years old.

[@pauljohnson4590]

As somebody who spent time this year at the PLASA exhibition, on the 'vintage' lighting stand - it's presented a bit weirdly. Schools, often, but the wrong things for what they need. It's important to note that dimmers are STILL being installed. LED and cleverness is absolutely the way it's going, but many theatres would consider 20 year old equipment still perfectly useful. What is driving the change os often lamps - some are difficult, some now impossible to get. Traditional theatre is NOT linked to 5Amp supplies - after all that's 1Kw, and lots of lighting has pairs of lights - so that's why those packsa re rated at 10A, 60A total for 6 channels. A big issue we've been managing for years is dimmer power, vs hard power for the moving and clever lights. Plugging one into a dimmer is often terminal. We solved it with 15A for dimmer circuits and 16A for hard power - easy to not get wrong. DMX is still the usual form of control to individual fixtures. However, it's increasingly common for the controls to spit out their output via cat5 and then use nodes all over the place to generate the DMX - DMX is usually thought of as universes - with each universe having 512 individual channels - which sounds a lot, but a moving light can use up 25 or more! Common faults with DMX cables make all kinds of weird things happen - random lights might flash or move or change colour, yet the fault is nowhere near them. New theatre installs will have DMX, Artnet (and other network protocols) 15A 16A, 75Ohm SDI cabling and 3 and 5 pin XLR sockets for audio and comms. Schools buy the same gear, but just simplified versions. This has left many teachers way behind - but there is usually a keen student who knows it all. My own theatre has brand new clever LED, yet also uses some lights first designed in the 50s and 60s - because they still do the job better (and don't have noisy fans) Many school installs forget that it's really useful to be able to kill the power to each bar - at the end of the day. Having the mcbs in locked rooms the teachers can't get into, is sadly common and they stay on for weeks, suck in the dust, and overheat! PS - power and DMX at floor level is vital for dance - lights on the floor to waist level come in amazingly handy - and safe for the kids to do, as no ladders needed.

[@ELRMushroom]

The classic gear stand was the highlight of the show for me this year, well done to all involved. I spent ages learning about the artisan. I'm also from a venue using a mix of kit from 1950's to very new, it was a bit sobering seeing things sat on display that we use regularly.

[@Chillielectrical]

I also really enjoyed looking at that stand at PLASA! Interesting for me, having not been in the industry long enough to see some of those lights.

[@pauljohnson4590]

It was nice to see an electrician video on Theatre elects, that is just ancient and wierd, and does common sense backwards! Keep it going guys.

[@D4nB0161]

Corey your content is unreal mate. Your subs show it in such a small space of time. Keep it up dude top work. Your videos are like a long awaited new episode.

[@corymac]

Thanks Danny, that means a lot!

[@davidsimcox6597]

Nice video but I have a couple of comments - 1 Couldn't see any safety harnesses being used by the aerial platform crew; 2 As the lights will come with a pre-fitted 13 Amp plug why not change the sockets on the lighting bars? 3 shouldn't the circuits to the sockets have earth fault protection?

[@corymac]

1 - you shouldn’t wear a safety harness on a scissor lift as falling will pull it down on you, it’s in most risk assessments associated with them 2 - better to have no fuse in the plug 3 - They’re out of reach and bonded

[@GeraldStAUT]

Hey Cory, i'm an automations engineer in Austria, i do industrial PLC/HMI programming and in the last few years i started doing KNX. for domestic i would say the DALI light standard makes more sense. love the videos! greetings from austria

[@Chillielectrical]

That sounds very cool! Watch this space for KNX and DALI!

[@sergiofernandez3725]

I saw the thumbnail. I saw DMX and thought Cory had joined a boy band. Lol

[@corymac]

Or joined the dyslexic trick biking community

[@projectartichoke]

This makes me feel old. I remember running lights for my school and it was a panel full of giant rheostats with handles that went up and down. You could assign them to specific lights with patch cords.

[@brandontan4876]

I wouldn't recommend hanging fixtures of circuit tubing. I'm also suprised your dimmer rack can't be changed into a power distro. Should invest in some LSC APS - allows you to set individual circuits to either Hot Power or dimmer power

[@HYUKLDER1]

Considering the difficulty you had in isolating the theatre lighting power, would it be a good idea to install an isolation switch on the incoming power supply to the stage's switch room?

[@corymac]

Turns out there was a little isolator under the stairs 🫣😂 - now it’s labelled more clearly!

[@KimboFPV]

DMX is a great tech/protocol to control various Lights and SFX, i highly recomend learning it .........( i used DMX to control LED uplights/Parcans, Moving Head Lights and Fog Machines for Festivals, Social Events and parties)

[@edc1569]

The biggest issue with DMX is its lack of error detection, this can cause all sorts of glitchyness at the worst moments, make sure you terminate DMX properly. RDM I believe has helped this a bit, but not every install/desk/light supports it.

[@Low-Static]

yeah, the splitter they installed is 3 pin dmx so no RDM for them :(

[@GeorgeBratley]

RDM unfortunately doesn't really help with DMX 'glitchy' errors - In simple terms, RDM is DMX but with extra data packets squeezed in between the normal DMX packets so it behaves pretty much the same as normal DMX. It's a misconception that RDM needs all 5 pins too - it uses the same three as DMX, and the other two are 'spare' or for a second universe in the DMX/RDM spec. Most DMX glitchyness is usually caused by a dropped data pin. In short runs, DMX will work with just the hot or cold data pin, but it will quickly become very unstable. People will tell you that you need to terminate the end of the line (and the DMX spec says that you must) - for an extremely long run this can be important but in practice in the real world, people rarely do. It's always a good idea to have a couple of terminators in your tool kit just in case. If you plug in a terminator and the problem gets worse then it's almost definitley a cable with a dropped data pin. It's also best to use 110ohm DMX cable and not microphone XLR cable wherever possible - although mic cable will work fine on shorter runs and can save you in a pinch. What's actually most important in this regard is not to switch between mic cable and DMX cable many times within the same chain. This causes reflections at the impedance mismatch and the more mismatches you have the more problems you'll get where the data essentially interferes with itself and corrupts the data.

[@TandSylvester]

One can always the blank spaces for sound equipment like Wireless mics and Amplifiers etc. There is also stage boxes that are like a mixer on stage. Worth a look into or hit me up

[@mfx1]

For fixed installs Cat5 is perfectly within spec. and acceptable for DMX, you can even run a different universe on each pair and split them out in junction boxes with IDC punchdown terminals to reduce the number of cable runs. MUCH cheaper than "DMX" cable. You can also buy panel mount XLR's with IDC punchdown connectors to use on the patch panel etc. so no soldering.

[@Chillielectrical]

I did not know that type of XLR connector was available! Are they neutrik?

[@mfx1]

@@Chillielectrical Yes.

[@mattlee3044]

Was I asleep? Where was the short on circuit 5 at 30:36? Did you solve it by isolating all the sockets? Matt

[@loganturner4717]

I am a LX Technician and I love the video I am just wondering why you didn’t just swap out the dimmer racks with some newer dimmer/distro racks

[@Chillielectrical]

Cost was the only factor in that really.

[@Lighting_Desk]

This is my Industry. Some lovely vintage kit there.

[@corymac]

Awesome!

[@tgls-lx]

1000% Agree with the choice of Prolight Concepts LTD fixtures. Like the Fusion 200 Zoom Spot, etc. Very good lights for the money. Brill choice!!

[@Chillielectrical]

Good to know! Was also really impressed with them.

[@robbievermillion5101]

great explanation on how DMX works, however most lights do not talk back to the DMX controller. this is only in a 5 pin/wire DMX cable and the fixtures support RDM (remote Device Monitoring)

[@corymac]

Thankyou!

[@backacheache]

Basic Dmx has no way of detecting if the signal is getting is corrupted nor does in have a way to define how a fixture should react if completely looses signal so in an architectural/residential situation cannot be relied on so should just be used for "specials" a more robust protocol should be used for lights you need to rely on.

[@Chillielectrical]

Good point!

[@mfx1]

Originally the DMX designers clearly didn't foresee things like LED lighting, older lights had thermal and mechanical inertial, the DMX framerate was so fast that any bad data just got filtered out by the inertia of the lamp so error checking wasn't seen as necessary. But now LED's can respond so fast that errors can show up as glitches. However for many lights designers COULD build in artificial inertia in firmware so you would get a basic form of error correction a simple error would just get filtered out. Maybe some companies actually do this, I have done it on personal stuff I've made but there's no easy way of knowing with commercial stuff.

[@backacheache]

@@mfx1 on systems for architectural use there have been a few options for specialist protocols (DALI and dynalite for example) but at the end of the day something carried over a computer network (ethernet) will win out and in fact a lot of modern DMX use ethernet as part of thier design.

[@raineylights]

I can say at least schools are finally upgrading their systems. Both my schools had the standard old dimmer racks and even college had a more advance dimmer system. Would have loved a system like this in school

[@jonpav6224]

DMX is a version of RS485 (RS422 ?) / uni directional serial data, with it's own definition / standard. I'd say it's one of the slowest (oldest?) digital protocols used in the production industry these days, goes back to the late 80's with some early 90's updates. Despite all the advances in technology and complexity of systems it's held on (at least for the last hop) for a range of reasons. Safe and reliable power and signal distribuiton is still really important, as with safe rigging. We've all seen old / dodgy sytems.

[@corymac]

That’s cool!

[@DJNeilos]

DMX also is in the mobile DJ world I have only. Just broken the surface of it potential. But would love to get into more of the production side.

[@Matt-td9wx]

Looking forward to this Cory ! Hope you’re well 👌

[@corymac]

Thanks! You too!

[@lunchpailgoblin1518]

i do pro audio installs at this caliber, we did a gym sound system so i was hangin 90lb speakers 35 feet up in the air on a scissor lift, and had to remove a 350 lb dual 18" subwoofer enclosure from the ceiling. that was the most scared ive been in awhile >_< the lift was beeping and freakin out cuz there was too much weight

[@polhemic]

In next weeks episode, Cory sits the James Eade BS7909 course and starts working the festival gigs!

[@AlecSpence]

Surely crying out to remove all those individual power feeds to each socket, and just replace with a radial running through each bar? Maybe a bit more work, but removes that rat's nest, albeit very neatly implemented and labelled, of mains cabling.

[@Rhys_Official]

I do lights for festivals, concerts and other various events, the way we run data and power are a tonne different compared to theatre, as we generally use multiple 400 amp systems, load more universes, nodes, splitters, artnet and so on. It'd be cool to show you how we do it some day

[@Chillielectrical]

I prefer lighting for events too. We'd be well up for joining you sometime!

[@Rhys_Official]

@@Chillielectrical I be all for it mate!

[@sergiofernandez3725]

Enjoyed watching that. I found it interesting.

[@corymac]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@sergiofernandez3725]

@@corymac Could the bad reading on the sockets be due to a SPD or something?

[@corymac]

More likely a connected load hidden away somewhere!

[@sergiofernandez3725]

@CoryMacElectrical what have I won?

[@IT9GameLog]

10A is enough for each row of lights? That blows my mind.

[@ppdan]

24:19 DMX (actually called DMX512) is a simplex protocol which means that data is unidirectional (one is sending the others are just listening). This means that the console (master) is the ONLY one sending data and all devices (slaves) are just listening. Data is actually send in a very simple way. DMX is a serial communication protocol based on RS485 that sends frames of data. Between each frame you have a "break" (output signal is held low for a minimum specified time) and a frame start with a MAB (mark after break). Inside the frame you have a series of 512 channels (send in order from 1-512) and slaves are "reading" all channels waiting for their specific data. So for example a simple device with 3 channels that has been given the address 50 will serially receive all 512 channels and ignore the 49 first channels, take the data from the next 3 channels and ignore the rest. When using a splitter like you did in this setup you will actually only have a single universe and all ouputs of that splitter will just repeat the same thing (same 512 channels -> same universe). Splitters are necessary to cope with longer cable and/or higher number of devices (those limits a purely to insure that the signal is not degrading too much). If I remember the speed of DMX is 250kbit/s. This is fast enough to send well over 25 frames per second (maximum is somewhere arround 40 frames/second) which means that each device can be updated more than 25 times per second.

[@corymac]

Thank you!

[@ppdan]

​@@corymac I found traces of an old website I build last millenium ... was my first website ever but the information should still be mostly valid for DMX512. web.archive.org/web/20120318161615/www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/myway/454/intro.html

[@tommih597]

Interesting that they didn't choose to maintain patching capability. Like for those wall points

[@ryandenney8839]

I work in film and tv and DMX is used on a daily basis, more recently wireless DMX which uses receivers and transmitters on our lamps. If you want to get into the industry as a spark, this would be my best bit of advice - learn DMX and programming fixtures!

[@corymac]

That’s cool 😎

[@Chillielectrical]

Which is your wireless DMX of choice? I like the look of the City Theatrical Multiverse stuff!

[@Etacovda63]

@@Chillielectrical lumenRadio - they do wireless dali, modbus, bacnet...

[@elliswatkins8271]

It’s sad to see this old equipment go it’s an art and a skill on the old halogen equipment. I still do prefer halogen over LED but LED has its advantages over halogen

[@eliotmansfield]

dmx is fairly easy to understand, it’s doing the creative programming that takes a bit more flair. I use qlc+ free windows software to dmx control my dj lights, strobes and smoke machine

[@e-bikerbulgaria]

Remember that termination resistor. Forget the impedance but do recall in large temporary install the random disco lights effect from corrupt data solved in an instant insertion correct termination resistor.

[@eliotmansfield]

@@e-bikerbulgaria 120 ohms

[@anotherant6167]

I deal with all this daily, the equipment is truly amazing

[@ElliottVeares]

What's your opinion on using non-compliant (by the DMX standards) 3 pin XLR for DMX vs the compliant 5 pin XLR for DMX?

[@lucidlx]

It depends on what most of your fixtures are. Professional fixtures will be 5pin. The most important thing is to use cable with 110ohm impedance. Problem is most basic 3pin XLR mic cable will be designed for analogue audio and not 110ohm for digital signals.

[@Chillielectrical]

Tried to avoid 3-pin everywhere, except the Showtec DMX splitter which unfortunately was a budget unit, only having 3-pin configuration, so we used 3-pin to 5-pin patch leads.

[@wolvolad25]

Loved this ❤

[@timprice5]

Got to say, why on earth is staying later an issue here - 4pm seems very early given i'm sure this was planned with the venue beforehand. Surely they must run shows etc. in the evenings?

[@corymac]

It was just a little school theatre! 😅

[@timprice5]

@@corymac yeah appreciate that but having worked in schools for almost 10 years, we would have ensured the site team were aware and compensated, assuming it was a pre-arranged visit

[@CameronB1412]

Won’t lie, you can leave the dimmer packs in normally, theres a few buttons on the dimmer pack that sets the outputs to permanantly on which would have saved you quite a bit of work. But obviously leaves an extra point of failure in the future

[@corymac]

Good to know, thanks!

[@brennanclarke7438]

I personally wouldn't use the override switches on the dimming packs as it on the controll side and still is ultimately running though the triac making it a messy choped up sine wave witch over time damages the power supplies in the fixtures also motor loads such as mirror ball rotators the only time I would put leds on dimming racks is on zero 88 chilli racks with a triac bypass switch. I hope that made sense

[@Chillielectrical]

That is a good point. I think in this environment I'm happier knowing that no one can accidentally change the mode on the dimmer packs, but would definitely consider it for a temporary solution.

[@richardcrook3427]

Why solder to the XLR. Are there crimp versions?

[@jonelectronics510]

Those Betapacks are the workhorse of most small and medium theatres. Internally Wired Bars (IWBS) are not that common in the West End due to the lack of flexibilty over the fly rig. Most of the stuff you see on stage in large theatres will use Socapex and tails to run onto fly bars and back to the dimmers. Every fly bar dmx run should be on an dmx isolated splitter so you don’t get data corruption spreading across bars. In theory you should split universes across moving lights and convention dimmers. That way you will never lose much of the rig if you lose a universe. So you might have stage movers on one universe, then stage conventional on another, then bridge movers on a other, and bridge conventional on another etc. In large rigs you would split further. Labelling is conventionally starts from the proscenium and runs bar 1 etc forwards (from stage) into the auditorium and then bar 1 on stage numbered higher running backwards (upstage).

[@lucidlx]

Why no RCDs? Surely some RCBO's instead of MCB's would be more appropriate. Especially in a school.

[@MrTyler0]

As a theatre lx Oliver explained dmx very well, great video!

[@Jay0903]

Hey. I’ve had that same tester for a while now. Can’t kill the leads. I have to calculate with the showing resistance everytime. Can you please put a short video out how to null leads in kt66dl Been watching you since artisan. Love the videos Thanks much

[@marymadigan9707]

Very cool video Cory great content nice work 🇨🇮😎

[@corymac]

Thanks 👍

[@ChrisSibley.]

Bebo?! That takes me back to my youth. Your definitely in Oliver's top 5 friends list Cory 😂 Another cracking video bud 👍

[@MattyByTheSea]

Those old dimmer packs were the worst. I used to be an an AV Tech at a school and for almost my entire 5 years working there I begged for an upgrade like this. Looks like an amazing install!

[@Chillielectrical]

The drama teacher at the school had also been waiting years for this upgrade 😄

[@e-bikerbulgaria]

The original versions were great if were a repair tech. Once upgraded the triacs and a few resistors, siliconed the cable at the panel mounted sockets they was bullet proof racks. Obviously no comparison quality of Avolites.

[@dcallan812]

I have DMX running all my Christmas lights, and a few that are left up year round. Much better then Philips hue. Great video 2x👍

[@lawrencejob]

The easy way to explain the old vs new is “the old ones are just bulbs and need an external dimmer, the new ones have the dimmer built in; DMX is a low voltage signal to tell them what to do”

[@beeautomation]

Love the whiteboard!

[@tautvydassutkus7978]

Cory what time is your very very early? Is it 7am?

[@Recessio]

I didn't realise theatre lights still use old BS546 round-pin plugs! Or is this just a *really* old installation?

[@nicholabrichieri-colombi8471]

Nope -thats completely standard. often just called a 'theatre plug'

[@simonduvall9783]

Welcome to my world….good to see you here :-)

[@imark7777777]

DMX 512 is a very old protocol and yet very stable and expandable. It's also a rabbit hole to go down on the Internet.

[@nathanjp96]

Really enjoyed this! Always been interested in sound and lighting, fantastic!

[@corymac]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jonosadler]

Nice upgrade, but I was a bit disappointed that you butchered the mains patch panel - the typical way that we've done upgrades to intelligent fittings in theatre venues in our part of the world is to replace the dimmers with power distribution units that still have plug sockets, these would typically include one MCB per socket, so a fault in a fitting would only trip the individual fitting during your show and the rest of the lights would keep running. Also means it is more versatile in case you need some special requirements for a particular show etc.

[@corymac]

That would mean 34 MCB’s and a very large distribution board, working on a public school budget. I think Orko designed it well for the budget.

[@jonosadler]

@@corymac agreed if you re-wired as a conventional db this would be a significant amount of work and cost. I'm not sure what is available in the UK market with UK sockets etc but over here we have plenty of 19inch drop in replacement units that are designed for this task - they're the same size as the old dimmers and you'd just take the dimmers out and replace with a PDU - we generally find its quite cost effective due to the labour savings. None the less, good video by the way, and good to see the efficiencies that that school is making with their move to LED.... pity you couldn't bribe the caretaker :) NB: I initially posted this comment with a link to an example distro, but the youtube comment bot removed by comment, so here this is again minus the link!

[@jenton93]

DMx isn’t 2 pair it’s single pair plus ground. The second pair was designed for future expansion but never utilised. Also DMX is a 1 way signal but some light also have rdm which means you can have 2 way communication. Next 15amp sockets are coming towards end of life and fitting 16a, powercon or truecon would be better. I also would of grouped sockets together or removed the patch panel as this removes to option for supplementing with hired equipment for larger shows. As now you are limited to 10amps per circuit and multiple sockets to a circuit.