Wireless DMX link for stage lights?

[lemmywinks]

At the moment we run a simple pair of T bar stage lights on a preset program for most of our gigs. We've been trying to cut down on long cable runs to make setting up and packing down faster and getting rid of the XLR cable between our lights seems like it would be a good investment.

 

Is there a cheapish rechargeable wireless kit we can just plug into the DMX in/out on the lights to link them instead of using a cable? The ones on Thomann work out at around £90 which seems a lot for a relatively simple bit of kit.

Edited January 4, 2020 by lemmywinks

[EBS_freak]

Thats about how much they are. Reliable wireless comes at a cost I'm afraid.

[lemmywinks]

Nice one thanks, is the Donner brand any good?

[mike257]

On 04/01/2020 at 21:58, lemmywinks said:

Nice one thanks, is the Donner brand any good?

Popular with the mobile DJ crowd, never seen them on a pro gig. They'll be functional but don't know how reliable they'd be in the long term. 

I usually use wireless DMX kit to go from a control position to a lighting rig without having to pull a line right across a venue, but stay wired between the fixtures themselves. If you're literally just replacing one cable across the width of the stage, having to deal with a transmitter, receiver, mains supplies or batteries/chargers doesn't seem like it's less hassle really! 

[lemmywinks]

44 minutes ago, mike257 said:

Popular with the mobile DJ crowd, never seen them on a pro gig. They'll be functional but don't know how reliable they'd be in the long term. 

I usually use wireless DMX kit to go from a control position to a lighting rig without having to pull a line right across a venue, but stay wired between the fixtures themselves. If you're literally just replacing one cable across the width of the stage, having to deal with a transmitter, receiver, mains supplies or batteries/chargers doesn't seem like it's less hassle really! 

I think you're seriously underestimating my dislike for long cable runs! There's a few venues we play where we put one set of lights a bit further from the stage, one is in an empty DJ box and the cable run has to go over a door so wireless would be handy for us.

 

Was looking at IEC to 5v USB adapters with a passthrough so we could power them from the same plug as the lights but haven't found anything suitable yet, seen the clover leaf style IEC but not the bulkier one we need. Just one of those cable tied to each bar would be fine for us - plug a USB cable in and it's ready to go.

 

 

[whizzzy]

I've been using four of these for the past 3 - 4 years and to be quite honest they have been absolutely spot-on.

Link

The nice thing about them is that any device can be set to transmit or receive. You can configure one as a TX and then have any number of receivers, one for each lighting station. The downside is the dreaded wall-wart power adaptor but this is easy enough to get round. 

Best shop around on eBay as well because prices vary considerably for the same device.

[lemmywinks]

We're looking for something smaller as for pub gigs we just use two bars with LEDs on each side and want them to communicate with each other, anything bigger and we hire someone to do all that for us. Just checked tonight and our lights seem to have an IEC passthrough built in so a USB converter box should sort it, ideally we want something we can leave rigged up and just plug a small transmitter/receiver in.

 

Just looking for ways to make setup and pack down even more streamlined really, we're already pretty efficient and have slowly been eliminating backline and monitors.