Right then. I have goalposts which is part of a DJ booth, a bit like the ultimax stand.
I hang my lights from the T bar above and was wondering if there are any ways of making the leads tidyer, easyer to set up and more pleasing to the eye than a great big extention lead running across the T bar.

I had wondered if I could use a box I saw with on/off switches that bassically lets me select what light is on and what light is off.

But I am more concerned about the aperance of the leads than anything else.

Any advise welcome

Cheers

DM

Double sided Velcro is cheap as chips (Help!, I'm turning into an antiques dealer ) at about £1 a metre, which you can cut down into about 6~8 strips, and this makes great re-usable cable ties.

I've gone for white velcro, as I'm using it on silver/grey bars/poles, and the black velcro would stand out too much against silver/grey - besides, the muckier the white velcro gets, the closer to silver/grey it becomes


I use a switch box like the one you describe - it has a box of 8 IEC sockets which mounts up on the overhead rig, which has one power lead and one data lead going to it. Down on the ground, theres a control box which allows me to switch on/off any of the 8 IEC sockets above. I can also set the left 4 switchs, and the right for switches on "Timer", which is adjustable from 16secs to 15 minutes. The unit flip-flops between the left 4, and the right 4 switches according to the timer settings for each side of the unit. You have full on/off control of any/all 8 switches regardless of what the timers are doing.

When I bought the unit, it was made by Lytequest/Gemini. The designs are now used by Chauvet in their product range (re-badged, and a slightly better featured control panel).

Great unit.

I guess there are lots of different options here.

1. use tubing or ducting to run all the wires together and
hide them. I find this can be a bit of a mess unless you
prewire the bar and leave them attached between gigs.

2. use velcro or similar ties on the T-bar to make them run together
without the tubing.

3. use a lighting controller - I've seen several units being
powered by a single controller attached to the stand that you
can then use a remote control (some wired, some using
infrared) to select which lights to power. I'd be nervous of
using a wireless remote (anybody else used one?).

I use one of the simpler switch devices similar to the ones Chris has on
sale with the IEC plugs - these are great for individual light
units and the IEC plus are much less of a pain than normal
UK ones.

4. I'm sure I'm missing other suggestions.

All the best, Chris

All my effects are dmx, so all i run is the mains and a dmx lead up a tripod. But when i run my trussing i have 2x power leads up each tripod, and then dmx as well! Depending on how much power your rig uses, depends how many leads you will need..

If all your effects can run off of 1 mains plug, then you can run 1 big lead up to a distribution box from there you can split the power to where you need it. The other option is to get a 4 way extension lead or a 5 way IEC extension board and rewire it so that you can then run the 7/8 core cable to each channel and then have a bulgin plug on the other end for you light controller - not a chaser.

There are various different stand tidy leads available... but a pre-wired T bar is nice and easy, but there not that cheap.

I'm sure Chris could sort you out with something like that... If not PM me and i can send you the wiring diagrams and some photos of what i use...