Are you looking to replace your incandescent stage lighting with LED stage lighting?  Over the long-term, you can save quite a lot of money by upgrading to an LED system.  LED lighting systems have lower operational costs as they do not generate much heat (which lowers the use of the facility's HVAC system) and also do not need frequent and expensive lamp replacement since LED fixtures can run for 50,000 hours.  This will save you the cost of the replacement lamps and the labor to change the lamps (which some times requires an expensive scaffolding rental or even the relocation of pews or auditorium seats).  Many LED lighting fixtures also have improved functionality as compared to their older, incandescent cousins. 

We work with lots of schools, churches, theatres, auditoriums, and performing arts spaces that are looking to transition out of incandescent lighting fixtures and upgrade to LED lighting fixtures.  When thinking about upgrading your incandescent stage lighting system, you may need to make upgrades to several portions of the system to make everything work beautifully:

1. Replace the incandescent stage lighting fixtures with LED stage lighting fixtures.
2. Replace dimmer(s) in the dimming rack with constant modules to provide constant power for the LED stage lighting fixtures.
3. Replace the lighting console to one that will control LED stage lighting fixtures.
4. Replace the incandescent house lighting fixtures to LED which can be accomplished by adding in an LED based lamp or LED based lighting engine into the house lights.

Please note that typically we are able to perform a "partial" retrofit of the existing lighting control system and lighting fixtures.  A partial retrofit may re-use portions of the existing dimming/relay lighting control system and may re-use the existing cabling/wiring from the incandescent lighting fixtures.  We may also be able to re-use portions of the existing incandescent house lighting system.

Advantages of a partial retrofit of an existing lighting system:

• No major construction required. This translates to almost no system down time.
• The retrofit can/will take place while the existing lighting system is fully operational.
• Electrical contractor is not necessarily required. The constant power required by modern LED-based lighting fixtures is provided by simply replacing the existing dimmer module with a constant module and/or relay module.
• By using the wireless DMX transmitter/receiver relays, RDM/DMX is placed anywhere the site requires it.
• Using the majority of the lighting upgrade budget on new lighting fixtures, new lighting console, rather than to construction costs.
• If the site has already changed out the houselights to LED based lamps, and the existing system works well, there is no need to change it out.  If the site has not changed out the houselights to LED based lamps, there actually are lot of direct replacement LED-lamps that will play nice in existing dimming rack. 

Here is the example of a lighting control system and incandescent stage lighting fixtures that we find installed in many older systems:

• Colortran ENR 96 dimming rack with DMX snapshot stations (wall stations) and ETC Element 2 console.  Note:  The ETC Element 2 console is capable of controlling LED stage lighting.
• Front of House (FOH) catwalk has (16) Colortran 5/50 ellipsoidal lighting fixtures. (16 separate circuits, FEL lamp)
• 1^st electric over stage has 4-color strip lights (plugged in with stage-pin connectors) covering the width of stage. (16 circuits – (4) circuits per color) using par38, 100w lamps).
• 2^nd electric 4-color strip lights (plugged in with stage-pin connectors) covering the width of stage. (16 circuits – (4) cicuits per color).
• 3^rd electric has (4) 2-cell far cycs (8 circuits, 1000w lamp)
• Existing houselights are using q500mc lamps (40 total lamps), using total of 10 circuits (4 lamps per circuit)

With the existing system (found above), we would typically recommend an upgrade to these LED lighting fixtures:

• Front of House (FOH): (18) ETC ColorSource Spot ellipsoidal fixtures, (2) ETC ColorSource Relay Multiverse Wireless Receivers, (1) ENR constant module
• 1^st electric: (18) ETC ColorSourcePar fixtures, (2) ETC Colorsource Relay Multiverse Wireless receivers , (1) ENR constant module
• 2^nd electric: (18) ETC ColorSourcePar fixtures, (2) ETC Colorsource Relay Multiverse Wireless receivers, (1) ENR constant module
• 3^rd electric: (15) ETC ColorSource Cyc fixtures, (2) ETC Colorsource Relay Multiverse Wireless receivers, (1) ENR constant module.
• ETC CSR-D ColorSource Relay DMX wireless transmitter.
• Houselights: (40) CantoLED Retro-Passive 500 replacement LED engine with E11 stem.
• There are other parts and pieces, such as safety cables, powercon cables, DMX cables and powercon to stage-pin (twist lock) adapter cable to feed the ETC Colorsource Relay Multiverse Wireless receivers.
• Please note this is just meant to provide general guidance on the conversion from an incandescent to LED lighting control and stage lighting fixtures.  This is not meant to be a full recommendation regarding what would work best in your specific facility.  We would be happy to work with you to provide a comprehensive estimate for your lighting system.

Beyond the equipment, you will also need to consider who will be doing the installation work on the various components of this system.  When we look back at the 4 major components of transitioning from an incandescent to an LED stage lighting system this is what we typically find with respect to the installation labor:

1. Replace the incandescent stage lighting fixtures with LED stage lighting fixtures.  We usually find that there is a person on staff at the site who is capable of removing the old incandescent stage lighting fixtures and installing the new LED based lighting fixtures.  This individual would also aim each of the lighting fixtures.
2. Replace dimmer(s) in the dimming rack with constant modules to provide constant power for the LED stage lighting fixtures.  We would recommend that this work is performed by a factory-certified technician who has a lot of experience working with your old dimming system as well as the retrofit being performed on the dimming system.
3. Replace the lighting console if you need new control for LED stage lighting. We would recommend that a factory certified technician provides the installation and training on the new lighting console.  Furthermore, you will need to remember that the new lighting fixtures will need to be programmed into the new lighting console.  You could ask for pricing to include the lighting fixture programming into the lighting console during the quote process.  Often times, you can just ask for training on the new lighting console and then the facility's staff could program the lighting fixtures into the new console.
4. Replace the incandescent house lighting fixtures to LED which can be accomplished by adding in an LED based lamp or LED based lighting engine into the house lights.  Work on the house lighting system should be performed by a certified electrical contractor.

If you are interested in an estimate to replace your incandescent stage lighting to LED stage lighting, then please contact Knight Sound & Lighting at 1-866-457-5937 or info@goknight.com