Moving Heads and Scanners

[DownTown]

Typically, a moving head fixture or a scanner is made for indoor use and is not rated for outdoor displays. Yeah yeah yeah... but we're known for pushing the envelope, right? So, has anyone set up their moving heads or scanners outside in the cold for their Christmas display?

It's time for me to ratchet my display up a notch (or two), and I have 4 scanners that I'm itching to use.

Any experiences? Has anyone built an enclosure for a scanner/moving head to keep them out of the weather? How has the cold affected them? Do the motors get sluggish in the freezing cold?

Thanks in advance.

D.T.

[heystew]

I punted on trying to build some enclosures and ended up buying some used from usedlighting.com. It's the High End EcoDome. Pricey, but they did the job. http://www.usedlighting.com/8327/high-end-cyberlight-ecodome

This is my first year using them and they did well. I am using American DJ Accuspot 250's. I haven't pulled the lights out yet to see how they survived, but they did well the entire show season (1 1/2 months in Northern Virginia). Temps were fairly cold for us this year with many days never getting above 30 degrees F. They never seemed sluggish and the domes never fogged up as I was afraid they might. I did have to replace the 240vac fans on the ones i got with 120vac versions. I don't have any pics of how i used them, but will try to get some in the future.

A quick video is here:

The blue tape was there to make sure I didn't annoy the neighbors too much.

[DownTown]

Great! Thanks for the response. Maybe I shoud get them out on the front porch for at least a few days this month to take advantave of hte cold weather for testing the Martin SC500 scanners. I think I can mount them under my porch roof and keep them dry... as long as blowing snow doesn't get in there, I should be golden.

D.T.