Review: BrickBlaster Pro RGBW LED Fixture

I mentioned the BrickBlaster Pro LED fixture a couple of weeks after LDI this past year in Vegas.  My late writing about the BrickBlaster Pro is a prime example of how large industry trade shows can be.  I totally missed seeing The Black Tank company on the show floor.  Lucky for me, a friend emailed me about the company and their brand new BrickBlaster Pro LED fixture.

The Black Tank company was kind enough to send me a demo kit of the brand new fixtures in order to provide you a review of the BrickBlaster RGBW LED fixture.  Lets start by taking a look at what the BrickBlaster is.  It is a small, I mean really small. It’s an LED fixture housed in a 4″ cube with Red, Green, Blue and White LEDs.  The Black Tank company is using 16 Luxam Rebel, 3 watt LEDs to produce 1200 lumens of max output with all the colors. That would be four LEDs per color. Each LED has a life expectancy of 50,000 hours. Pretty impressive for the size, number of LEDs and the output.

In addition to the RGBW BrickBlaster, The Black Tank company also produces a Variable Color Temperature BrickBlaster that can produce a white light from 2700 kelvin to 6500 kelvin.  Although the Variable Color Temperature, (VCT) fixture wasn’t available for my review, It would be safe to say that the VCT fixture has to have a higher output of lumens compared to the RGBW fixture.  Information on those numbers haven’t been made available yet, but should be ready soon.

Lens System

Taking a closer look at the RGBW version of the BrickBlaster Pro, there is a lot happening in this small cube. First has to be the lens system.  Like many LED manufacturers out there, to offer different beam spread with the fixture, there are lens over lays to widened and narrow the beam. The BrickBlaster Pro uses this same sort system and offers a 20, 40 and 60 degree lens option. What is unique about the lens system is how they attach.  Rather than a slide clip, the lens have four holes in the corners that line up with the thumb screws on the fixture which will certainly keep the lens in place.  A downside of this type of lens holding system is the small thumb screws.  Not that anything is wrong with the thumb screws, but the fact that they are small pieces. I think it is some unwritten law of the universe that at some point a small piece or part will go missing or lost.  Just something to be mindful of when changing out lenses.

Speaking of changing things out, the BrickBlaster Pro has an interesting design when it comes to how the fixture is designed inside.  While I would love to show you what I am talking about, it is something The Black Tank company wants to keep under wraps for the moment.  It has to deal with the exchanging of the entire LED board. Lets say and LED or two are failing on your fixture.  Rather then swapping out or having to carry extra fixtures around, bring some spare LED boards with you.  Just a couple screws, the board comes out and disconnect it, re connect the new one and put back the screws and done.  The brains of the BrickBlaster Pro, which stays with the housing, knows which type of LED board you placed in, whether it be the RGBW, Variable White or a custom LED array that you had built.

The Menu System

Controlling and configuring the BrickBlaster Pro is fairly straight forward.  The menu system on the back is easily readable and provides helpful information such as the current temperature of the fixture.  Now I am one of those people that like to jump right in and start playing… manual, who needs a manual?!  The BrickBlaster Pro was easy to get started and up and running and spitting out lumen goodness.

Within the onboard menu system, you have three different modes that the fixture can run in, DMX, Color Wash and Manual Mode.  The DMX mode is pretty easy to understand, set the DMX address and either 8-bit or 16-bit mode and away you go.  The other two modes are for control at the fixture.  With Manual Mode, you can set any of the four colors to a specific DMX value from 0 to 255 and leave it, no DMX console or control required.  The last mode, Color Wash has all kinds of control and function for a set-it-and-forget-it running.  You have the ability to control the speed and colors of a wash that will keep scrolling until you turn the fixture off.

In addition to the menu system on the back, you’ll find a 5 pin DMX in and Out to daisy chain fixtures together.  You’ll also find a Neutrik Powercon connector for powering up the fixture.  I personally would have like to seen a powercon pass through connector for powering up multiple fixtures at once.  But with the 4″ cube size of the fixture, that might not be possible.

Built into this small package is a fan that help keep the LEDs cool.  The fan is fairly quite, I really only noticed the fan running when I was adjusting settings on the menu and a breeze from the fan was coming out the air vent on the back of the fixture.  As with any LED fixture, the LEDs must be cooled in order to prolong their life.  The on board thermal management helps keep the temperature in check and assures they keep pushing lumens out for their life expectancy.

Conclusion

Over all I was highly impressed with the output of the fixture.  Would would have guessed that four LEDs per color would be able to produce so much output in such a small package.  While the distance that I was throwing the LEDs was less then 20 feet, the area that I was hitting was well covered and super saturated. The RGB white was like many LED mixing towards white, not the typical “white” that we preserve as white, but more of a pinkish hue.  Thus the addition of the white LEDs.  Adding those in softened the white and made some paler and pastel colors which make me giddy with joy.

The BrickBlaster Pro holds up fairly well and packs a punch for such a small package.  The fixture can find use in a wide variety of venues and situations where color, small form factor are essential.  Since the fixture is not sealed from the elements, dry locations are a must. The BrickBlaster Pro would fit into almost any type event for uplighting and washing where control is not necessary, but maybe simple color changing to static colors are.

I enjoyed my time with the BrickBlaster Pro.  Thank you to The Black Tank company for allowing me time to experience the fixtures.  Again, sorry I missed you at LDI. Next time, that will not happen! Look for some enhancements and up grades to the fixture as well as new LED fixtures from The Black Tank Company. To learn more about the BrickBlaster Pro, be sure to visit The Black Tank’s website at www.theblacktank.com.

Your Thoughts

Have you seen the BrickBlaster Pro in person?  What did you think?  I would love to hear your thoughts about the fixture in the comments section of the review.  While you’re writing something, what did you think of this review? Did it help, did you feel it was informative? I always love to hear what you think!

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The Black Tank Introduces the BrickBlaster PRO LED Fixture

This is a perfect example of how big tradeshows are and how much I miss due to that fact.  A month after LDI, I have been turned on to a new LED fixture that was introduced at the show, the BrickBlaster Pro from The Black Tank.

There are two versions of the BrickBlaster Pro, the RGBW and the Warm/Cool White fixture.  The first thing that stuck me about the fixtures is the ability to transfer the LED boards between fixtures!  Say you need more RGBW fixtures, change out the Warm/Cool White LED board on a fixture, and change it to an RGBW LED board. How cool is that?!

One BrickBlaster is 4″ cubed and draws just 50 watts of power, put puts out 1200 lumens per “brick”. Using latest Rebel LED technology and an innovative, patent pending, management system, it is capable of outputting 1200 Lumens cool while doing it.

The BRICKBLASTER PRO can be controlled using two universes of full speed 8 or 16 bit DMX512 or by selecting internal preprogrammed effects using the rear mounted LCD panel. A fixture set in Manual or Color Wash mode will output DMX allowing for multi-light synchronization. These options make the BRICKBLASTER PRO ideal for users with or without an external control source. Additional features include, automatic thermal shut down, flicker-free operation, low noise fan, 120VAC Neutrik Powercon Input, 5-Pin DMX connections, LCD control panel with intuitive user interface, three user selectable tungsten dimming curves and many more.

This BRICKBLASTER PRO is designed to allow for field replacement of key components including the LED module, power supply, control board and fan. The fixture is sold individually or in custom ruggedized, watertight road cases in two or eight pack bundles. To fit all applications, the BRICKBLASTER PRO also comes standard with three different holographic light shaping diffusing films: 20, 40 and 60 degree are included with each light.

I highly recommend jumping over to The Black Tank’s website, www.theblacktank.com, and checking out the 2 minute video about the BrickBlaster fixtures.  While there, learn more about the fixtures and how to pick one up.