Weatherproofing? Outside use?

[chuckd]

There's a lot of talk on here about using moving head fixtures (Chauvet, etc.). But from what I've seen, NONE of these work at anywhere near the temperatures we need them to. They also don't like rain, snow, etc. Heck, even here in Oklahoma we got down to 11 degrees over this display season. I can imagine what people further north saw.

So the question is: what are you guys doing to use them outdoors?

I'd love to implement some of these in my display, but my house is quite long, and I need some very, very high power fixtures to create much of an effect.

[jstein]

I will try and find a couple of links to help you out. I too will be building some enclosures and using dmx next year and there are so many questions about making the enclosure due to temperature and weather.



http://forums.planetchristmas.com/showthread.php?t=28793



So far that is the only link, but i I find any others I will post them here for you.

[jstein]

Found it! I knew there was another good one that I wasn't seeing!



http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/forum75/14577.html

[Ponddude]

I'm going to be making these as well. I am most concerned about the cold, not so much the heat. It got pretty cold here in NJ this year, although that is very unseasonable. I am looking into a thermostat that will be housed within the box and be hooked up to some sort of heater. Currently, I am thinking of perhaps a heating pad wrapped on one side of the box.

Marshall, who is the guy that built the ones from the PC link, said that the cold didn't effect his this season and that the heaters he did install were accidently unplugged for most of the season and he didn't even know it. The ones I am looking out, which are the Min Spots from Chauvet, are LED's, so they are not going to get hot, which is why I am thinking about the heater route.

[beeiilll]

You could use something like this:

http://www.ogdenmfg.com/proc8ax.htm

or

http://www.omega.com/pptst/SRFE.html

or

http://www.genesisautomationonline.com/heaters.php

[bhays]

I have four Elation Focus Spot 250's with the MSD250 discharge lamps. They hung on my truss the entire season this year with a simple pvc frame and tarp cover. We had several nights in single digit temperatures and they were just fine.



Now the lasers, that's a different story. Most dpss laser diodes (particularly colors other than green, blue being the worst) lose substantial output at temperatures below 60 degrees. I made boxes with styrofoam insulation and used enclosure heaters in them similar to the ones in the links just posted. The green lasers on each side did just fine. The RGB unit (center) didn't stay warm enough and I really couldn't use it this year. I have to build a new enclosure for it; or find a way for it to be inside the house next season.