Robin Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Today I spent about thirty minutes on the phone with the sales manager of www.cheaplights.com I had some questions concerning the use of nonDMX lighting. I want to say this guy was very helpful and answered all of my questions. Here are some of the things I found out.I asked if the non DMX lights had a delay when turned on. He said no that it was instant.How loud would the music have to be if you used the microphone on the non DMX lights. He said that they were pretty sensitive but that if they were close to the speakers they should work fine.My next question was would a single LOR channel turn them off and on i.e. enough power? I explained they could handle up to 8 amps on an individual channel and up to 20 amps per side. I also explained that the individual channels puts out around 100 volts. He did not seem to think there would be a problem powering the lights provide you worked within the guidlines.Now for specific products and their effect.Lazers need some type of fogging agent. If not most of the time all you will see is where the spot hits. This made sense to me.Next I asked him about wall washes he told me about this item http://www.cheaplights.com/eshop/product.php?productid=8609&cat=1&page=1They purchase all of these lights and explained that they can operate on DMX or without. They are pricey but if you notice you are getting two for the regular price of one. He further explained that each one of these lights can wash a wall 30' X 30'!! The drawback for me was the price of the replacement bulbs $100 each! However, they are rated at 2,000 hours.He also suggested simple par lamps. Then he explained that they have fishermen who use par lamps on their boats and weather did not seem to be an issue. In fact they have made a fisherman pack of two par lamps and stands for them to mount on their boats.Next I asked him about Derby lights. I really wanted to know how far they would project out from my house. He said that they were good for at least 30' and they did not need DMX to operate. You can find these on their site.Next I asked about mushrooms and he said they would not be good for what I wanted to do. End of discussion.We discussed color wash bars. You know they have 8-12 lights and will chase and are non DMX. He told me since they only have a 50 watt bulb they would not project far but could be used on houses and such. Mainly they are used overhead on short distances.Finally we talked about mirror balls. He told me the spots needed to be about 3' from the ball and best results are when you use two spots. Something interesting is that they have colored mirror balls. He thought these would be a great use with two spots. I never asked him if the colors would fade since they were outside.We discussed the weatherproof issues with these lights. Of course none of them are weather proof. However, we both noted large concerts where lights are going while it is raining like cats and dogs. That is when the fishermen story came up.Once again I found this information helpful and hope others will too. I think I may buy something just to see how it works and then maybe give a report once I do.One more thing. He did tell me they ship the next business day after an order on all stock items. However, if they do not have it in stock they would do a factory direct ship if possible.Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randallr Posted January 12, 2008 Share Posted January 12, 2008 After a post a couple of weeks ago that mentioned cheaplights.com, I've had three orders from them.. Very dependable.. Had one order that had some COlorsplash Jr's that wasn't in stock that apparently drop shipped.. Didn't let me know that- I emailed after order arrived without them.. They promptly answered my email with an apology and the info on shipping from somewhere else... They arrived a few days later...Before I've ordered from ProGearWarehouse.com, and on ebay, including CenterStageLighting... Occasionly you will find a bargain, but I think cheaplights.com will be the consistent choice...BTW, I put a Chauvet MinWash and 2 ColorSplash196's back on ebay last night. I decided to go with the Intimidator 2.0 Moving Yoke, and the ColorSplash200b's instead.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted January 12, 2008 Share Posted January 12, 2008 Can you post the auction link?-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randallr Posted January 12, 2008 Share Posted January 12, 2008 Here's the links:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190189766722&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190189767793&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123The moving yoke Min series are great very small, no heat LED.. Perfect if you are wanting to put in enclosure... I decided that I'd mount them under eve on porch and that I wanted a 'spot' instead to give a more pronouced beam.The ColorSplash 196 has an excellent output, even without the diffuser- however, it's got the LED's devided up on the DMX channels, 3 for Red, 2 for Green and 2 for Blue- making it more complicated for keeping up with in LOR. Although I haven't explored the sequence in a channel feature... Guess you could have a sequence with all red on called 'red_on", then select that for a channel instead of a LOR controller.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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