It’s no surprise that the past couple of months have been extremely busy for Oceania Audio & Lighting in New Zealand with the Rugby World Cup and its associated events. And although the final was last weekend, there is no let up for the Oceania crew as many corporate and touring events deferred until after the World Cup are now underway.
“For the past few months my turnover has been up 150% for this time of year,” commented Simon Garrett, Oceania’s General Manager Lighting. “And of course no one would commit 100% to what they wanted – they just assume we can pull something out of a hat!”
Fortunately Simon took measures well in advance to prepare for the onslaught purchasing new Jands HPC12 series dimmers (with contactor bypass) as well as additional Jands power distribution units and HPX dimmers. The HPC12 continues the Jands tradition of building rugged and reliable dimmers and provides an innovative solution for all dimming and power control needs.
“We’re moving over to a system that is more in line with Australian method whereby we build our dimmers and distro racks up for the show,” Simon said. “Remember that in New Zealand we don’t do long runs of shows, in fact now it’s mainly just Auckland and Wellington, so the number of gigs a show does has not been a driver behind highly customised touring rigs. However, we have just purchased another sixty-four moving lights and the HPC dimmers bridge that gap between a dimmer and a distro. It’s a Jekyll and Hyde; a PDS 12R power distribution unit one day and a HPX dimmer another day. So in terms of not having to really customise our racks it gives me a whole lot more distro and / or dimmers at a push of a switch.”
The HPC12 with AirGap™ technology integrates both dimming and high current full-on and full-off contactor type elements on each channel to deliver true, any load performance.
Pictured is the IRB Awards ceremony that took place at the Vector Arena in Auckland on the night after the Rugby World Cup 2011 Final. The event utilised the Jands HPC12 series dimmers, PDS 12R power distribution units and DD8 DMX Opto-Isolators.
“We made up our basic ‘slam racks’ which are 48 way with four DD8s so you have twenty-four DMX outs and forty-eight power or dimmers out,” explained Simon. “It really is a prep saving device so when you’ve got to roll stuff out of the factory real quick it’s a no brainer.”
The Jands PDS 12R power distribution system is designed for fixed or mobile applications where three phase to single phase GPO power distribution is required.
“I quite like the PDS12 R because again they are great for our slam rack scenario – open racks where we put distros, dimmers and possibly a motor control unit, that are them loomed up,” Simon emphasised. “We used the opening ceremony as a catalyst to buy more individual components – such as eight Jands DD8 units – to build custom racks quickly, modular units to mix and match stuff around.”
Simon concludes that as expected with Jands gear, his entire new inventory has been rock solid.
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