Photo ©David French. Used with permission.

AND THE ANSWER IS… IT CAN BE DONE! HOW MUCH MONEY YA GOT ? FROM WHICH BUDGET?

THE PROGRESS OF LED TECHNOLOGY HAS MADE THIS A VALID QUESTION IMPROVED LIGHT OUTPUT RGBAW AND MORE HOMOGENIZED BEAM REDUCED MATERIAL COST FOCUS ON LUMINAIRE DESIGN FINDING THE HOLY GRAIL

WHY LED IN THEATRE? REDUCING POWER DENSITY IS NOT THE DRIVING FORCE AS IN ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING; DUTY CYCLE IS GENERALLY NOT THERE - STAGE LIGHTING IS NORMALLY EXEMPTED BY ENERGY CODES OPERATIONAL ADVANTAGES OF LED ARE THE DRIVING FORCE FOR ADOPTION IN ENTERTAINMENT LIGHTING AS MUCH AS PAYBACK ISSUES, MAYBE MORE SO

OPERATIONAL ADVANTAGES No re-lamping means greater reliability, key halogen lamps in a theatre are still 300 hours life!! No expendable color media hassle, gels burn out Unlimited color selection, cue by cue Fewer lighting sources required Can use home made gobos Cooler, therefore safer fixtures Much more flexibility from a fixed repertory light plot than a similar plot using conventional instruments Fixture by fixture control, regardless of circuiting

The major traditional theatrical lighting instrument types now have LED counterparts

WASH LUMINAIRES USED FOR COLOR WASHES TRADITIONALLY PARS OR FRESNELS ONE OF THE FIRST TYPES TO HAVE A VIABLE LED EQUAL RGB IS ACCEPTABLE HERE

Border Lights STILL USED FOR COLOR TONING AND SOMETIMES FOR LIGHTING BACK DROPS TRADITIONAL SOURCES ARE HUGE WATTAGE HOGS TRADITIONAL FIXTURES HAVE PAR-LIKE DISTRIBUTION - EASY FOR LED SATURATED COLORS PREFERRED - EASY FOR LED

CYC LIGHTS TRADITIONAL EVOLUTION FROM BORDER LIGHTS, THINK WALL WASH FIXTURE, ASYMETRICAL REFLECTOR TRADITIONAL SOURCES ARE HUGE WATTAGE HOGS AND REQUIRE MANY CIRCUITS SATURATED COLORS PREFERRED - EASY FOR LED

AUTOMATED LIGHTING MANY TYPES EXIST, BUT THE WASH LUMINAIRES NOW HAVE VIABLE LED EQUALS TRADITIONAL SOURCES ARE HID - VERY HIGH LAMP COSTS, MAINTENANCE ISSUES SATURATED COLORS PREFERRED - EASY FOR LED

PROFILE SPOTS (ERS) THE HOLY GRAIL, JUST NOW COMING ON THE MARKET FROM MANY MANUFACTURERS HARD EDGE SOURCE WITH INTERNAL FOCAL POINT, TRADITIONALLY ACHIEVED WITH ELLIPSOIDAL REFLECTOR USED FOR FRONT LIGHTING, LONGER THROWS AND PATTERN PROJECTION THE WORK HORSE IN EVERY THEATRE ACHIEVING THE REQUIRED BEAM CHARACTERISTICS HAS BEEN A CHALLENGE USED TO LIGHT ACTING AREAS - PASTELS AND FLESH TONES ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN SATURATED COLORS - THIS REQUIRES RGBA OR RGBAW

HOUSE LIGHTS FULL RANGE DIMMING REQUIREMENTS HAVE DICTATED HALOGEN SOURCES HOUSE LIGHTS ARE TYPICALLY VERY DIFFICULT TO SERVICE HALOGEN SOURCES DRIVE THE NEED FOR DIMMER CABINETS THAT OTHER-WISE MIGHT NOT BE NECESSARY THERE ARE NOW LED SOURCES AVAILABLE FOR HIGH CEILING APPLICATIONS THAT ALSO INCORPORATE FULL RANGE DMX DIMMING 0-10 VOLT OR ELV DIMMING MAY BE ACCEPTABLE IN CAFETORIUMS OR OTHER VENUES WHERE FULL DIMMING IS NOT AN EXPECTATION SOME FIXTURES TAKE ADVANGE OF RGBW TECHNOLOGY TO ALLOW HOUSE LIGHT COLOR- MIXING DMX CONTROL ALLOWS FLEXIBILITY IN CONTROL ZONES MUCH THE SAME WAY DALI AND ADDRESSABLE BALLASTS ALLOW IT IN ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING

HOW DOES LED AFFECT SYSTEM DESIGN? THIS IS NOT YOUR DADDYS STAGE LIGHTING SYSTEM WE ARE ON THE EDGE, OR MAYBE PAST, A SEISMIC SHIFT IN SYSTEM DESIGN IS YOUR PROJECT A CANDIDATE TO MAKE THE LEAP?

TRADITIONAL SYSTEMS CENTRALIZED DIMMER RACK FEEDING DISCREET CIRCUITS CIRCUITS ARE DISTRIBUTED BASED ON THE NEED FOR CONTROL FLEXIBILITY AS MUCH AS LOAD REQUIREMENTS QUANTITY OF CIRCUITS OFTEN DROVE FEEDERS TO LARGER SIZES OUT OF LINE WITH ACTUAL LOADS

WHAT IS DIFFERENT WITH LED? SMALLER FEEDS REDUCED NEED FOR CONVENTIONAL DIMMING NEED TO TURN POWER SUPPLIES OFF - PHANTOM POWER ISSUES WHERE DIMMING IS REQUIRED IT CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED USING DISTRIBUTED DIMMING DEVICES NO NEED FOR K-RATED TRANSFORMERS REDUCES LOAD ON AIR- CONDITIONING SYSTEMS

CONTROL IS KEY EACH FIXTURE AND ITS ATTRIBUTES ARE CONTROLLED DISCREETLY VIA DIGITAL SIGNALS, TYPICALLY DMX DMX DATA NEEDS TO BE DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT THE SPACE THROUGH THE USE OF SPLITTERS OR ETHERNET EACH FIXTURE CAN TAKE MORE THAN A DOZEN CHANNELS OF CONTROL CONTROL CONSOLES EXIST TO MAKE CONTROLLING ALL OF THIS EASIER

WHAT ABOUT THE DOLLARS? SEVERAL FACTORS TO CONSIDER LUMINAIRE COST REDUCTION OF DIMMING EQUIPMENT INSTALLATION SAVINGS OPERATIONAL COST SAVINGS

LUMINAIRE COST 20 – 30 % FEWER LUMINAIRES REQUIRED WASH FIXTURES: CONVENTIONAL: $100 - $300 LED $500 - $1,500 BORDER LIGHTS (not specified much now) 6 R40 - $ LED - $2,500 - $4,500 Yes, really CYC LIGHTS CONVENTIONAL 1000w FOUR CELL UNIT- $1,400 LED - SINGLE CELL - $1,200 - $1,800

LUMINAIRE COST AUTOMATED LIGHTING WASH FIXTURES CONVENTIONAL $1,500 - $10,000 LED $2,000 - $10,000 PROFILE CONVENTIONAL watt degree - $350 LED $1,000 - $3,500 Yes, really HOUSE LIGHTS CONVENTIONAL 500W T4 $300 - $ LED $1,000 – 1,500.00

REDUCTION OF DIMMING AND RELATED EQUIPMENT 96 CIRCUIT DIMMER RACK - $20,000 K-RATED TRANSFORMERS NOT REQUIRED ELIMINATION OF DIMMER ROOM DISTRIBUTED DIMMING AND RELAYS SMALLER FOOTPRINT LESS LOAD ON AIR-CONDITIONING EQUIPMENT

INSTALLATION SAVINGS REDUCED LOADS MEAN SMALLER FEEDERS FEWER CIRCUITS REQUIRED CAN USE COMMON NEUTRALS IN SOME CASES NEED TO DISTRIBUTE DATA, BUT WE ARE ALREADY DOING THAT MAY REDUCE THE NEED FOR ACCESS TO EQUIPMENT

COMPARISONS Used 200 days per year, 6 hours per day, 60% diversity,.15/kW hour Consumables such as lamps based on published hours TYPICAL HIGH SCHOOL - CONVENTIONAL EQUIPMENT COST - $139, INSTALLATION AND YEAR ONE COST - $88,116 TOTAL - $227,116 ANNUAL OPERATING COSTS - $15,516

COMPARISONS Used 200 days per year, 6 hours per day, 60% diversity,.15/kW hour Replacement lamps are not an issue TYPICAL HIGH SCHOOL - LED EQUIPMENT COST - $197,482 INSTALLATION AND YEAR ONE COST - $37,954 TOTAL - $235,436 ANNUAL OPERATING COSTS - $2,104

SERVICE LIFE - LED Assume an L70 of 50,000 hours Assume usage at 6 hours per day, 200 days per year Life expectancy would be over 40 years!! Things break before that - LED equipment is more expensive to replace which must be considered Annual Operating Savings pays for brand new equipment in about 15 years at todays dollars

CONCLUSIONS Very significant operational advantages to an LED theatre lighting system If you have the budget you can do an all LED theatre Even if you have a conventional budget you can incorporate LED to an extent that is significant enough to drive your system design Provide for the future use of LED in your system design Distribute Data Provide Capacity in the Control System Provide the ability to turn power supplies off

AN ALL LED THEATRE QUESTIONS DISCUSSION THANK YOU