Alternative to Renting Light Towers

[sms]

If we got 90AH batteries they would actually be about 50AH at the discharge rate we're doing. So that'd be about 600WH so we could do 300 watts (4 lamps) for two hours.

We'd run one cable for every two lamps, so 12.5 amps per cable.

Two lamps would be on each tower, and each battery would power two towers. However we might decide to use smaller batteries and have one per tower.

We need to be able bring them out to the practice field as well, which is a long way from the band room, so we'd need to put them into one of our golf carts (one battery powered one gasoline powered).

We'd like to avoid gasoline or diesel powered generators. Batteries we can charge for "free."

The school district is too cheap to pay for permanent lights.

They can't practice in the daytime.

We also have the option of buying some generators and getting AC powered lights. This may be a better option just because there is no need to have someone maintaining all the batteries.

[DerbyDad03]

Duct tape one of these to each kid's head. That ought to be enough light.

[The Daring Dufas]

The old spotlights for the theaters were arc lights as were movie projectors. The LED's are bright enough for theater spotlights now but I wonder if some projectors are using LED's as a light source. I seem to recall movie theaters getting movies in digital format now so I wonder what those projectors are like? Oh well, a backpack for the power supply and an arc light tied to each kid's head might work. ^_^

TDD

[DerbyDad03]

I went to a high-school football game a few weeks ago and I'm thinking they had an LED scoreboard. I'd never seen a scoreboard that bright before.

As it got darker, it got to a point where the lights were so bright that it was hard to see the permanent writing on the scoreboard (Quarter, Down, Guest, etc.) The lights were so bright that they drowned out the white writing.

[chaniarts]

newer billboards are all led.

[chaniarts]

come to think of it, there's a few merchant signs that i've seen around that are illuminated with led strips. a single strip about 6' long throws out an incredible amount of light, that can be seen for 1/2 mile or so and downcasts a large area of light. it uses multicolor leds (red/green/blue) each of which can be turned on/off to cast different colors, and white-ish when all are on. it has to need less power requirements.

quick google searches

[krw]

Use that money to rent a lit practice field?

[RBM]

There are always several on Ebay

[krw]

Digital theater projectors use the TI DLP technology. Basically, they shine a light at an array of micro-machines mirrors which direct the light either to the screen or somewhere it can be absorbed.

I don't believe LEDs aren't bright enough for theaters, though LED sources are used for smaller projection monitors. I imagine theaters use some sort of HID light sources.

[The Daring Dufas]

Yea, I remember when the TI DLP tech was used in a lot of TV's and was a lot more preferable to the plasma sets because the bulb could be replaced in the DLP set if it burned out but if a plasma set goes bad, you're screwed. Now we have an LED-LCD set at the house replacing a wonderful old 57" Sony rear projection TV set that had an expensive failure. The repair to the Sony would cost more than what we paid for the new 55" LCD-LED set and I can pick up the new set by myself. ^_^

TDD

[krw]

But plasma TVs kick both their asses. ;-)

[The Daring Dufas]

The old spotlights for the theaters were arc lights as were movie

I don't believe LEDs aren't bright enough for theaters, though LED

It's my understanding that the plasma TV sets had a superior picture to the earlier LCD sets but if the plasma tube died, it would be more expensive to replace it than the price of the same model TV which would invariably fall to on a clearance sale as the newer models arrived. At least the florescent light can be replaced in an LCD set if it goes dark. I remember replacing dozens of 25" color CRT's with a rebuilt picture tube back in the good old days and there was even a local company rebuilding the darn things and a friend of mine ran a shop that rebuilt mechanical TV tuners. It's hard to find a TV shop these days as the sets have become less expensive which cracks me up since I ran a TV shop back in the 1970's where we were selling a Sanyo 19" color CRT mechanical tuner set for $300.00 and people were buying us out on a regular basis. ^_^

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

CY: Yes, that's workable.

CY: Also workable.

CY: Or back of someone's pickup truck?

CY: Please research charging of trolling batteries. IIRC, takes a different charger, different than vehicle starting batteries. And if the detail minded adult doesn't hook up the charger every night after practice, the second night, the battery goes below 50% charge, and damages the battery. Seems risky, to me.

CY: Budgets are tough every where.

CY: Sounds like you're already using generator and 120 VAC lights, but they are rented. Sounds like you're trying to decide if you want to buy and maintain your own equipment. I think in the long run, the "own the equipment" can be cheaper.

[krw]

Oh, hell no. They're all about the same cost to replace.

Nobody fixes these things (out of warranty) anymore. Upgrade to the latest model.

[Moe DeLoughan]

I would call your local professional/wholesale electrical supply company and have a chat with them. Their sales force may come up with helpful ideas.

BTW, have you contacted the local electric utility to find out what it would cost to run power to the field? Is that something you could do, if the billing went to the band association and not to the school district? Or would the district be willing to foot future electric bills if your group paid for the installation?

[DerbyDad03]

...snip....

That reminds me of the power situation with the scoreboard for our Varsity Softball field.

I was in charge of using some state grant money to purchase a scoreboard for our district's Varsity Softball field. Since my 9th grade daughter would be on the varsity team the following year, I was thrilled to be able to purchase a scoreboard for the team. The scoreboard arrived and I started talking to the Buildings and Grounds department about running power to the field and getting the scoreboard installed.

Well, it turns out that a major capital project was in the planning stages and they weren't sure that they wanted to run the power in case the softball field got moved. "Let's wait until next year when the plans will be complete."

Next year comes and I find out that not only will they be moving the field, but the new field won't be complete for another 2 years - the year after my daughter graduates.

To add insult to injury, the new pool building was going to be built right where the existing field was and that construction was starting right away. So, not only didn't my daughter and I get to enjoy the scoreboard that I bought, she didn't even get to use the Varsity field for her last 2 years of high school. They had travel to the middle school for practices and "home games". No dugouts, no bleachers, etc. Very disappointing.

In the end, the scoreboard was installed at the new field and has been in service for a couple of years now.

[Moe DeLoughan]

Oof, that's a great story with a highly annoying outcome.

I was thinking of a situation in my hometown many years ago. Back in the 70s when tennis became all the rage, the township reluctantly built a few tennis courts to meet demand. It took no time at all for them to become occupied from dawn to dusk, so then people asked for lighting. But with the limited parks budget, the council was reluctant to invest much more in the tennis courts. They finally installed coin-operated light towers. It was hilarious. You'd be working on a killer set when...blink, blink - the lights would flicker, a five-minute warning that you needed to feed in a couple more quarters.

[chaniarts]

'no good deed goes unpunished' comes to mind

[DerbyDad03]

That is hilarious!

I don't know where your hometown is, but where I grew up it would have cost the parks department more to fix/replace the vandalized coin boxes than they would ever had made on them.

[Stormin Mormon]

It just got worser, and worser. You have my compassion.

. Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

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