Podium uplighting

[Corabar Steve]

Am I the only one who uses mains power & wired DMX for lighting inside moving head podiums?

Having recently upgraded from my old Novopro mk1 podiums (4 straight mic stands bolted to 2 plates) to Novopro PS1XLs, my trusty* ADJ PAR QA5s no longer fit inside my podiums without the cables fouling the scrims on both sides. The best solution has been turning them 45º, but even then there is still a degree of pokey-outieness from the power & signal cables that bugs me. This came to a head last weekend, when a small, but very tidy set up was ruined in my opinion by bulky protuberances at the base of my podium scrims.

So I decided to do something about it. The years of knowing Peter seem to have caused some Yorkshireman to have rubbed off on me, as I decided rather than replacing 4 perfectly good square pars **, I'd solve the problem with angled connectors. Meaning the leads will now exit the fixture from the side (Turn them sideways & they have a T shaped profile, so everything will run nicely along the underside) perpendicular to where they would have. After finding that left-handed, right-angled IEC C13 plugs were rarer than you'd expect, I've ordered some C13 & C14 right-angled plugs to replace the straight ones currently on my power leads.

I'm awaiting a reply to an email I sent to designacable.com for quotes on some custom DMX leads with right-angled XLRs. I discovered Designacable during my quest for some North facing right-angled XLR leads (more on that later in another thread, I think) & can't recommend them highly enough. So all being well, by the next gig I have that they'll be used at, I'll have my solution.

Anyway, the real purpose of this thread is to quell my curiosity. What do you use (podiums & the lights inside them)? Are they wired or wireless? Do they fit (with or without issues like I encountered)? Am I alone in being completely wired?




*OK the batteries are knackered & the wireless was always dodgy at best, hence wired DMX, but they do work.
** They work OK, you just need cables.

[Imagine]

I use wired electricity and DMX for my podiums

I've got the Chinese wireless boards, but haven't had the time to fit them to the podium lights yet, and besides, it's only a couple of additional cables for the XLR. I've also got Donner dongles, but on an all day wedding they have a nasty habit of going flat when you don't want them to.

I run open white truss podiums, each with a Chauvet TriWedge in the base ('cos my podiums are triangular). The wedges are bolted in place and stay in the podium Because of the shape, the flat side of the triangle faces the dance floor and the cables are on the angled backs out of view. I then hardwired XLR and mains up to the top of the podiums for the moving heads.

Don't know how clear it's going to be in this enlarged photo but hopefully it gives an idea



Works for me and the cables pass through a convenient hole in the side panels of the booth to the mains and Soundswitch dongle.

[DJ Jules]

I'm using global truss F24 podiums and a pair of Thomanns best pars that fit neatly in the bottom of the truss sections. I've made up aluminium brackets that fix the pars to the truss and then taken cables from the IEC and DMX outs on the pars, wrapped it in white cable tidy and zipped tied the cables to the outside of the truss. When I get to gigs I plug an IEC into the par and then drop a moving head onto the top of the podium. The moving head has a wireless DMX receiver in it which feeds through the moving head down to the par.

Dead quick and simple.

Julian

[Corabar Steve]

I use wired electricity and DMX for my podiums

I'm using global truss F24 podiums and a pair of Thomanns best pars that fit neatly in the bottom of the truss sections. I've made up aluminium brackets that fix the pars to the truss and then taken cables from the IEC and DMX outs on the pars, wrapped it in white cable tidy and zipped tied the cables to the outside of the truss. When I get to gigs I plug an IEC into the par and then drop a moving head onto the top of the podium. The moving head has a wireless DMX receiver in it which feeds through the moving head down to the par.

Not just me then.

[DJWilson]

A

I'm awaiting a reply to an email I sent to designacable.com for quotes on some custom DMX leads with right-angled XLRs. I discovered Designacable during my quest for some North facing right-angled XLR leads (more on that later in another thread, I think) & can't recommend them highly enough. So all being well, by the next gig I have that they'll be used at, I'll have my solution.

If you have no joy with them, give https://martencables.co.uk/ a go. All our power cables are from them!

[Corabar Steve]

If you have no joy with them, give https://martencables.co.uk/ a go. All our power cables are from them!

They don't appear to stock right-angled XLRs. In any case mine have been paid for this morning & are being made as I type.

[Corabar Steve]

They've arrived.



Next spare day I have will be spent wiring the IECs

[Excalibur]

They've arrived.

Next spare day I have will be spent wiring the IECs

I have some cables with right angle XLR/IEC for use with a couple of fixtures. Really valuable just for that.

[Corabar Steve]

I have some cables with right angle XLR/IEC for use with a couple of fixtures. Really valuable just for that.

Especially if tou can get them pointing in the direction you want.

[Corabar Steve]

No unsightly bulges



(Excuse the rotation problems)