Need lots of help!

[cscitx]

Hello,

Ok so we have 4 banks of fluorescent lights, 2 banks containing 5 lights, and 2 banks containing 6 lights.

We want to go to the theatre-style recessed lighting but don't know what to start this and I have questions...

1. Ok first off, what dimming system would be used?
2. Approximately how many can lights will we need? We have PAR 46's for our stage. Our church dimensions is about 200' long x 75' wide.
3. Is there a preset board possible for operation?
4. We have a $4000 budget... is it possible with this amount of money?

Thanks,
Trey

[D.R.HADDOCK]

Please define theatre style recessed lighting!
Are you talking about using say par cans for house lights?
After much experimenting I ended up using theatre style T25 lamps,
in a commercal high bay style fitting/reflector.
The benefits of this is
1-high light output.
2-Reliable lamps.
3-Cost of lamps is reasonable.
4-High bay style housings are cheap.
5-Easily dimmed.
6-Long life from lamps.
But you can also easily use par cans, if you wish,
But the beam spread might not be correct.
You can also use recessed down lights,
I use 150w par 38 lamps in mine.
Which dimmers you choose depends on what load you will want.
I use 12channel theatre style dimmer racks,
But they need to be instaled by an electricain as the load is usually large.
I currently run 50a per phase at 240v to my dimmers.
If you paste this into your browser you can see the house lights.
http://www.freshwatercc.qld.edu.au/g...YyMWYyNTdkNGVh

[cscitx]

Yes I see, and I like the design.
I posted a picture of our church camp auditorium. Our church wants house lights like these...

I don't really know what they're called, but maybe someone will?
They're pretty common in schools auditoriums, too i think...

[[Director] drew ryan]

Those are recessed can lights. Any electrical engineer should be able to design a lighting system for you that can go into a theatrical/architectural dimmer system. One thing that most EEs have trouble doing though is making sure that the lighting is even in the space at 6' above finished floor unless you tell them that. They also tend to not think about how the lights will wash the walls.

[D.R.HADDOCK]

In Australia those lights are called downlights,
In the picture Judging by the color temp they appear to be compact floros,
If they are then they cannot be dimmed,whilst some floros can be dimmed
there are many problems.
But you can use incandesant lamps if you want to dim.
In some areas of my church we use recessed downlights with 150w par 38 lamps, but almost any lamp will fit in if you wish.
So they are very flexable.

Originally Posted by cscitx

Yes I see, and I like the design.
I posted a picture of our church camp auditorium. Our church wants house lights like these...

I don't really know what they're called, but maybe someone will?
They're pretty comdownlight.jpgmon in schools auditoriums, too i think...