Fixture Tester App for iOS Devices Available in iTunes App Store

iOS app developer Bart van Stiphout has been a busy cat lately!  First he releases the FocusRemote app and now the Fixture Tester App.  The Fixture Tester iPhone OS is an application to test all the fixtures on the network in 4 steps:

1 Patch – Make a patch (or import a patch from ELC’s dmXLAN) and select all the fixtures you need to test, one type of fixture at a time.

2 Macro – Run a macro (For instance Lamp Strike)

3 Address Test – Press start. All the selected fixtures will go to their home position, one by one. In this way you easily can detect faulty dmx addresses. The correct address and universe is displayed for the current fixture and there are buttons present for pausing and stopping the test, as well as next and previous (when Paused).

4 Parameter Test – All selected fixtures go to their home position. When the test is started, all parameters will be run one by one to their maximum and back. The speed is adjustable. There are options to skip, adjust and repeat a parameter. The window shows the current tested parameter and its value. Again there is the possibility to pause or stop the test. An option “limit” can be set in de library to limit the maximum value for a parameter (Martin uses a combined shutter / control channel and you don’t want your fixture to reset while testing etc.).

Features:

• Unlimited number of fixtures
• Fixture Groups
• Shake to deselect all fixtures
• Warning if you are not connected to a WiFi network
• Includes an extended fixture library
• Available for iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad
• With the FileUploader App, dmXLAN patchfiles and custom fixture libraries can be downloaded in the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad
• Testing is almost automatic

The Fixture Tester App is designed to work on both the iPhone/iPod Touch and the iPad natively.  You can pick up a copy of the app through the iTunes App Store for $24.99 USD.

Elation Introduces LED Dummy

“Lights out: is supposed to mean just that lights out. Unfortunately, as anyone who’s ever worked with dimmer packs and LED fixtures knows, there can be an afterglow that keeps radiating small amounts of light even after the dimmer has been turned off.

Well, now “out” can really mean out and “off” can really mean off, thanks to the new Elation LED Dummy, a simple, but effective load device that makes afterglows go away! The Elation LED Dummy plugs into a dimmer pack and completely absorbs its load, so the LEDs aren’t fed the traces of power to keep the faint glow of light alive.

Designed for triac control circuits, the LED Dummy uses a standard Edison socket and plug. The device consumes very little power and measures only 50.5 by 36 by 38 mm.

FEATURES

• High performance load device designed for LED fixtures
• Designed for triac control circuits
• Plugs inline to the output of power and dimmer packs
• Standards Edison socket and plug for power transmission
• Low power consumption

Learn more about the Elation LED Dummy by visiting their website at www.elationlighting.com.

iSquint Holiday Gift Guide for the Theatre Geek

Can you feel that?  It’s the gift giving season! There are always great gift giving guides for loved ones, kids, add all kinds of other people in our lives.  But what about the techie in all of us?

There are a bunch of cool tools and toys out there for the techie and designer in all of us.  Most of these gadgets help us do our jobs quicker and easier.  Then there are some that are just way to cool not to own and play with.

The iSquint Holiday gift Guide is just a sampleing of some ideas on what to get.  Where can you pick up these great gift ideas?  Try your local theatrical dealer. If you can’t find it there, you can certainly find it online some where.  But as today is December 7, you better hurry, you want to make sure to get your gifts in well before the celebration begins!

I have broken down the guide into three list.  One list for each type of theatre professional.  While of course there are many MANY other types of theatre professions, I am just focusing on these at the moment.  If you feel that I am missing a great gift to add to the guide, let me know if the comments section of this article.

Happy Hunting!

Techie

• The Ratcheting & Original Ultimate Focus Tool
• Focus Glass
• C-wrench
• Pin Splitter
• iPhone Lighting  apps
• Setwear Gloves
• Backstage handbook
• FireSword Flashlight
• MagLight
• Spyderco Knife
• iTunes Gift Card

Lighting Desingers

• Lux meter
• Seachanger Color Bug Meter
• Lightwright 5
• Vectorworks
• WYSIWYG

Programmers

• Enttect Programming Wings
• DMX Coffee Machine
• Swisson DMX tester

Again, these are just a sampling of gifts to get the theatre professional in your life. Am I missing something to the list? Let me know in the comments section of this post.

FireSword-IV, When is a Flash Light to Bright?

You have to ask yourself sometimes, when is a flash light to bright?  My response, Brighter the Better Baby!

One of iSquint’s readers, Tobin Neis sent me a link this morning about something he read in Wired Magazine, the FireSword-IV from Elektrolumens. First things first, this thing puts out over 3,000 lumens. Talk about CRAZY bright! The FireSword is powered by four – 18650 Lithium-Ion Rechargable Batteries. It uses four – Cree MCE LED’s with custom 20mm reflectors. The LEDs have a life expectancy of 50,000 lamp hours which equals 5 years of continuous use.

The FireSword measures in at little over 1 foot long and just under 3 inches at the head. Elektrolumens does not mention what the FireSword is made from, but I would assume Aluminum, but weighs in at 3 lbs.

To learn more about the FireSword-IV, visit Elektrolumens website at www.elektrolumens.com.  You can also purchase your very own FireSword from their online shopping cart for $399.99.  But you might have to wait a bit on delivery, each of the Fireswords are custom built!

The Piranha By PocketToolX.com

Tools tools tools, we can never have enough tools.  But what about tools that do more then one job?  How about The Piranha from PocketToolX.com?

The PIRANHA is a single-piece, multi-purpose pocket tool that is constructed from heat-treated and corrosion-resistant S30V Stainless Steel with a built-in neoprene double-ended driver bit holder.

Keep this slim tool in your pocket and you’ll always be able to tighten screws, loosen bolts, pry things open and pop the tops on your favorite beverages.

Once I read that the Piranha opens my favorite beverage, I was SOLD! Here are some more features of The Piranha:

Video: StageJunk’s Ratchet Ultimate Focus Tool

While down in Orlando, StageJunk announced the release of their latest Ultimate Tool, the Ratchet Ultimate Focus Tool.The new tool looks and feels just like the previous tool, the Ultimate Focus Tool, with one exception, the Ratchet.

StageJunk has taken the all aluminum tool and re-engineered the wrench portion of the tool to incorporate a fully ratcheting wrench. The tool still has the great features that we know and have come to love, such as the pin splitter, the continuity checker and of course, the ability to open a bottle of beverage.

Rob Junk, the owner and name sake of StageJunk took time out of quite busy booth at LDI to give me a quick run through of his latest tool, the Ratchet Ultimate Focus Tool.

Ocean Optics Jaz Light Meter

While doing some research on the internet, we came across an interesting tool from Ocean Optics, the parent company for the SeaChanger color engine, called the Jaz Light Meter.

What is neat about the Jaz that is that is a small light weight meter with a lot of features built in. Such as the ability to radiometric analysis all sorts of light emitting devices from LEDs, flat panel displays and lamps.

This pre-configured, pre-calibrated spectrometer suite is the ideal tool for quality control, lab and field measurements of LED chips, assemblies and other luminaires. With the Jaz Light Meter, and its onboard processor, you can measure spectral characteristics and calculate key parameters like Lux, Lumen, PAR and Watt values. The battery module enables you to measure for up to 8 full hours, without recharging, and Jaz’s SD card slot gives you a convenient way to store spectral data. You can also download Jaz’s data into SpectraSuite for post-processing and determining CIE color coordinates, color rendering indexes and color temperature.

The Jaz meter comes with the SpectraSuite software to analysis a source of light and calculate a multitude of characteristics of a light such as Lumens, Lux, PAR and watts. All of this information is stored on to an SD card in the Jaz meter and then downloaded into a computer running the SpectraSuite Software.

Where does this have use in the entertainment industry?  Rental shops and manufacturers of lighting fixtures can analyze a fixture very easily either in a lab or out on the road to make sure fixtures are up to snuff and producing the correct levels you desire.

For more information on the Jaz Light Meter, visit Ocean Optics website at www.oceanoptics.com. The retail price of the Jaz Meter in a rugged Pelican case is only $5,972.

“Playing” With Moving Lights via a Wii Joystick

Most lighting consoles these days are big computers based on some for of operating system such as Windows Embedded and have the ability to add USB devices such as a mouse or track ball.  Users have the ability to control moving lights either by the attached mouse or track ball to control the pan and tilt of the fixtures.

Some genius out there has gone a step further and taken the joystick potion of a Wii control and made it into a “USB Mouse”.  What is so special about a Wii Joystick being turned into a USB device?  The theory is that it can be attached to a lighting console to control moving lights pan and tilt functions.

Now, we have not seen any reliable source information on this.  All we have heard is word of mouth.  We have heard that 2 years ago at the National USITT Conference, the USB Wii Joystick made an appearance of some sort. Other then that, information on the cool idea is scares.  If you have any additional info, we would love to hear about it in the comment section.

Win the Ultimate Focus Tool

A couple of months ago, we did a review and write up on the Ultimate Focus Tool from StageJunk.com. iSquint.net and StageJunk have banded together to bring you the next contest.  This contest is for the flagship tool from StageJunk, the Ultimate Focus Tool.  The UFT has a dizzying amount to features packed into one small tool.  Rules and how to play are simple, We are looking for the most creative and new use of the Ultimate Focus Tool.

To learn more about the contest, visit the UFT contest page and leave your creative use there.

*Comments have been turned off on this page to eliminate any confusion on where to leave your creative use.

Electri-Calc Pro and Lite

The Electrical calculator is nothing new to the electrical contractor world or even the entertainment lighting world.  The Electri-Calc is designed for Electrical Contractors, Designers, Electricians and Lighting Specialists to solve tough electrical calculations in seconds and deliver those solutions in conformance with the latest NEC. The Electri-Calc Pro has the 2002/2005 NEC built-in and is updateable for future code revisions. Complete wire sizing, integrated voltage drops solutions and conduit sizing solutions: finds motor full-loads, horsepower, computes fuse and breaker sizes and size overload protection.

Features:

• Wire Sizes
• Integrated Voltage Drop
• Conduit Sizing
• Motor Full-Load Amps
• Fuse and Breaker Sizes
  NEC Table Number displayed when performing Wire Size calculations
• Service and Equipment Grounding Conductor Sizes
• Enter BTU to find Kilowatts per Hour
• Enter Kilowatts per Hour to find BTU
  Parallel Resistance
• Ohm’s Law Calculations, enter any two values to solve for the third
• Circular MILS wire sizes

Additional Features:

• Works as Standard Math Calculator with +, -, x, ÷, +/-, %, Π, 1/x, X2, and √.
• Auto Shut-Off extends battery Life, Memory
• Update to future code revisions with easy-to-install kit.

While most of these features are built in to both the Pro and Lite version of the Electri-Calc’s.  There are some things that the Pro is able to do that the lite does not.

Features ONLY to Pro model:

• Armadillo Gear protective case
• Overload Protection Sizes
• Conduit Sizes
• Moto Full-Load AmpsNEMA Starter Sizes
• Updatable for NEC changes

You can purchase both the Pro and Lite versions of the Electri-Calc from Baxter Controls, the makers of the Pocket DMX.  Both Eletri-Calc can also be found at your local electrical supply house or online. The Electri-Calc Pro retails for $99.99 and the Electri-Calc Lite retails for $49.99.

Goddard Design Starts Shipping DMXter4 RDM

Goddard Design, the makers of the Lil’DMXter and the Lil’DMXter2 have released and started to ship the newest addition to their DMX testing devices, the DMXter4 RDM.

The DMXter4 is simple to use. Eight buttons run its menu-driven software.  The DMXter4 uses a backlit 40-character display. Some functions can drive a PC using the USB port. Software updates done via the USB port.  The unit comes in a rugged water-resistant case, tough enough to ride in your tool kit or cable hamper. It is the only DMX tester that includes a built-in AC charger for its internal rechargeable battery. Slot levels and most other displays available in three display formats – percent, decimal or hexadecimal. The DMXter4 should be easily used by anyone who has used a Lil’DMXter; however you will see and feel many subtle improvements.

The DMXter4 RDM has many of the same features found on the older units but improved for easy of use as well as new functions added. Listed below are some of the functions that the DMXter4 RDM is capable of.

Transmit: The DMXter4 supports nine different user controlled transmit modes. The major  transmit parameters, or flavors, can be set over a wide range to allow simulation of almost all DMX controller  timings. The DMXter4 supports all START Codes. The DMXter4 will support a growing set of Remote Device Management (E1.20 RDM) routines. See our RDM data sheet for details.

Receive: The DMXter4 continues and expands our industry leading receive and  analysis routines for DMX512. It measures more parameters to a higher precision than earlier DMXters. Slot levels are now displayed in either a numeric or graphic display format. The graphic interface allows 32 slots to be viewed at once. RDM analysis programs are under development.

Cable Tester: Testing a cable for electrical continuity is not the same as testing it for data transmission continuity. The DMXter4 tests cables using actual data. DMXter4 provides two different ways to check DMX cables. One mode allows you to test cables when both ends are not available in the same place.

Flicker Finder: Goddard Design pioneered Flicker Finder to verify system stability. If your lighting system is haunted, this is the routine that you need!

Multichannel Mode: Test multichannel devices with the Multichannel mode. Particularly helpful when working with multichannel devices (like moving lights), Multichannel mode lets you define a number of similar fixtures in a contiguous block.

Receive Scope Trigger: All DMXters provide an output that may be used to sync an oscilloscope to the DMXter.  Optionally you can use our hardware kit to sync an oscilloscope to any DMX12 data stream.

New Power Supply Design: The DMXter4 is still the only tester to operate or charge from the AC mains without an external supply. The DMXter4 has a new computer controlled charger and battery management system. This allows faster charging and better battery protection. The DMXter4 can operate from AC  immediately, even with a discharged battery.

USB Port: The DMXter4 supports USB connection to personal computers. This is used for software updates which can be installed in the field. It will be used to support  more detailed data views than can easily be viewed on a 20 by 2 line display. It will also allow full alpha numeric entry when appropriate. The most up to date  information on using the USB port is posted on our web site.

For more information on the DMXter4 RDM visit Goddard Designs website at www.goddarddesign.com.  You can purchase the DMXter4 RDM online at Goddards website or contact your local dealer for pricing.  The DMXter4 RDM retails for $975.00.

BRIGHT LED Flashlight UC3.400

Every good lighting Tech needs a reliable and BRIGHT flash light. While maglites are the good old stand bys and have been in use for YEARS in the industry. With LED technology improving by leaps and bounds ever year with brighter LEDs and much improved battery performance, it is a natural fit to use LED flash lights.

While the entertainment industry has a huge demand for a sturdy and reliable flash light, the law enforcement industry has a higher degree of standards in their flash lights. So it is a natural fit to use what the law enforcement industry has been perfecting, or at least trying to, when it comes to having light in your pocket.

5.11 Tactical has recently released a new product to their growing LED flashlight line up, the UC3.400. What truely makes this light unique in the flash light industry is that it can fully re-charge it’s battery in only 90 seconds from a dead flat charge. That is 160 times faster then any other manufacturer out there.

Features include:

• Made of durable polymer
• Impact, abrasion and water resistant
• Battery recharge in 90- seconds
• 3 LEDs rated for more than 50,000 hours

The retail price for the UC3.400 is $169.99 from 5.11 Tactical. While that is just a little more then a maglte, you never have to worry about replacing a lamp or battery for about 24 years with using the light for 40 hours a week. This light can be a large investment up front for a single flash light, but will provide light for years and years to come.

To find out more or to purchase the UC3.400, visit 5.11 Tacticals website, www.511tactical.com. Added bonus from 5.11 Tactical, at the time of print, they are offering FREE SHIPPING on orders of $35 or more.