I'm a complete newbie. I am working on convincing our church to enter the 21st century and update our lighting system. We currently have 8 par 38 on stands that we set up for different productions and one of the guys has set up a system of dimmer switches to control it. Very hokey as well I think dangerous. I am hoping to permanently mount the lights, add some more, use one of your lower end DMX controllers to run things.
Our church has some weird design flaws, including the house light switches are in a different room from our sanctuary. I was hoping to put some of the house lights under dmx control so our sound and light guys can control them during our productions as well as services.
My difficulties of making these changes are my church is in a remote location in Canada so I need to purchase on-line so I don't get to talk to someone in person; we have a couple of electricians in the church but they know nothing of this stuff so I have no one to talk to; we are a small congregation so I have to keep the cost to a minimum and members who think what we got already is more than enough.
So my questions
Are there dimmer packs that can be wired into the house system? If not what would be needed to be done? I am hoping to connect in our non-florescent fixtures.
I saw comments about wireless dimmer packs, but have not seen them on the websites where I would purchase the equipment. What is the difference in price? What is their range? We have a number of wireless mikes, would there be interference problems?
I would like to install the DMX controller beside our sound board, is there interference concerns? I read that I don't want to use audio cable but DMX cables. Do they come in longer lengths?
What would you recommend as a minimum DMX controller to used to maximize bang for the least bucks?
Sorry for the long message but to get this through our Annual General meeting I am going to need every possible answer
Original Post