I charge $25-$35 per fixture.



12-30 depending on the venue.



Most companies in my area don't charge extra. The money saved from labor charges makes up for the additional cost of the lights.



None stolen yet but have friends who've had some wander away. Wired ones have gone missing as well. Ive been debating about using a safety cable attached to a 5lb weight under the fixture for ones that are not in direct eye contact. This could be hidden by an uplight cover.

Same as Rebelguy... Chicago area up-lights go for $20-$35 a fixture. I usually charge a flat rate for the job, but you take your chances on that. Some gigs require more lights than others and more complicated sets. (I did an outdoor gig once under some trees. Took longer than I thought and weather was crappy.)

Wireless is the way to go for sure if you are DMX linking them. I usually do not. Clients get either solid colors or slow scrolling. (My flat rate covers that option very clearly!) Battery operated is good, but most wedding venues will have sufficient outlets and each fixture should have power linking. Check out Monoprice for some cheap 15' IEC cables to boot.

Even the largest venues in my area can be covered sufficiently with 10-15 lights. Any more is overkill in my opinion.

I invested in up-lights about 2 years ago and have since been making good profits on them.

We do flat rate, use as many as needed to make the venue look good, and use a combination of wired/wireless.

Wireless can be a pain in the ass, but I haven't tried any that have the wireless built in.

I'd say it's a pretty sound investment. You can make your money back pretty quickly.

30 lights should be more than enough to start. You'll learn the venues quick, and how to accent them with the least amount of lights. With that many you can light under tables and do more accenting on entrances etc.

We havne't had any stolen, and that's with many of the events we use them for centered around drunk entitled college assholes.

Depending on the size of the room I think NO LESS than 12 is a minimum to even call it uplighting. 24+ is probably the magic number if it's a decent size room.

I posted on a another thread my first experience with chinese non branded wireless uplights. Battery powered and wireless DMX. They weren't mine but belong to the guys I work with so I took some time a while back to get them all synced up to my show xpress so that I could use them when needed. We had 18 for the room and had all 18 working wirelessly prior to the event starting. The room wasn't that big (about 100 person party) so I placed them around the room. Literally within 5 minutes they were starting to lose their signal. I would have to go to them and "reset" the wirless to connect again. They would connect quickly but lose connection VERY often. By the end of the night if we had 6 uplights still connected it was probably a lot. The rest turned to static mode of blue. SUPER frustrating as the room looks incredible when everything is synced up.

I am not sure if the issue was with the fact they were no brand china uplights or that they have been beaten around a little. Stupid me, I didn't think to test during the night shutting wireless off of one that would frequently lose signal and plug in one of my wirless DMX sticks that I never had problems with. That would have been a really good test.

I was thinking of buying some uplights myself but nervous about the connectivity issues of wireless. Not sure if there is a way you can really test it out prior to purchasing.

These are the ones I had my eye on
www.alibaba.com

these are the ones I used that had the issues:
www.alibaba.com

I'm no lighting expert. I hear plenty of times that people have "no problems" running wireless dmx. I've had plenty of clunker times with it not running perfectly synced, and varying degrees up to about 98 percent good. Any of the times I've had a problem, I've NEVER changed the frequency, so that might have something to do with it.

I'm really all for static colors, and maybe having a few tied to DMX, but even with running DMX cable and not running power is nice By far the best for sure though is just plopping a light down and moving on the the next one etc.

Sorry for the delay, thanks for all the info.

Im thinking of starting small with 10+2 (12) of these Watchwww.youtube.com and potentially adding 8 more for a total of 20 if things work out as far as client interest and demand.

$20 per, peep the seller gaff put me on to www.ebay.com

Im getting approx $1800 for 10 lights + charging case + ir remote.

from the same seller? not bad, cheapest price he gave me was $150 per light if i buy in 4's no case included, i guess the extra $300 is for the case

Pdidy. Keep in mind those are the ones I posted earlier that had issues. Read that and feel free to pm me to chat more in detail if you like.

what issues have you had? I've never used them, gaffle had showed them to me

i figured a usa seller that excepts returns and seems to have good customer service

never mind i just noticed the issues you had

They're not the same. All of the China lights "generally" look the same but some come from different factories or regions. Your Alibaba unit www.alibaba.com does not have the plastic edge corner protective pieces that this one www.ebay.com has. Some units have antenna mounts that are on the back "edge" of the housing. Those units are prone to antenna damage because they protrude so far out from the unit, whereas the MagmaTruss unit's antenna sit more inward and are less apt to be kicked and damaged. The MagmaTruss guy is out of Tennessee and warranties his lights for 1yr. He'll either replace or repair a failed unit. I believe he's only dealt with the same China vendor for all his lighting and trusts their reliability. Not saying none ever have problems but the glitchy scenario you described doesn't seem like a problem his units are known to have. They can all be somewhat of a crap shoot but it's nice to know you have some recourse with a USA seller.

I have been following this buyers experience for some time ourdjtalk.com

Noted..good point. The ones we used did have that plastic housing protector on the corners as well, but to your point it could have been a different factory all together.
Thanks for posting that link, certainly worth looking into to have a US partner to talk with if any issues.

I wonder if I reach out to him if he can get this type?
www.alibaba.com

Simply because of the small footprint and the way it charges (not having to plug in each light) makes this the best "style" for uplighting in my opinion.


Good link Pdidy on DJtalk. Read through that and certainly very interesting. As much as I want to buy a set of 12 or 18, I just cant justify the spend. Depending on how the year goes if I have to spend some money later on that's really the only thing I would need to add as I just bought the ground dry ice fogger.... which I would rent out to any local guys that need! lol

not having to plug in each light ? not sure i understand.....

If you click on that link I sent and scroll down a few pictures to see the bottom of the light there is a circle in the middle. That is actually the "charging" plug. On the bottom of the road case there is a nub or point that the circle from the fixtre clicks into. Plug in the case and your fixtures are charging. Unlike the other lights where you have to plug a cord into the fixture then plug another into the middle of the case.
So kind of like a "wireless" charging but not really.

www.alibaba.com
These have it too...if you look closely you can see the piece in the road case

Watchwww.youtube.com
Here is a video of it

OK ,OK thats a pretty cool idea.

Yea..pretty sick and a complete no brainer! Why more aren't adopting something like this is beyond me!

It is pretty slick, but has some limitations in the case design. They're great for strict uprights for sure, but they are very hard to mount on any sort of trussing. Chauvet came out with this concept a few years ago, but they were heavy and bulky.

I love the wireless though!

Yea I agree in that sense. I'm talking purely an uplight solution and nothing else.

So I finally got off the pot and purchased some uplighting (Chinese uplights).

I got 2 cases of 6 uplights (12 total to start) to make for easy mobility but a lil more expensive.

I should get them Tuesday 9/6/16 and will post all photos details about them.

battery powered? how much for each? you can get the chauvet quad 4 for $230 each

"Hello PDIDY , thanks for your order , here is the light shipping pictures and test pictures. I will be sending your tracking number tomorrow."
i26.photobucket.com
i26.photobucket.com
i26.photobucket.com
i26.photobucket.com
i26.photobucket.com

They build the lights to order, Test for 2 days then ship.


I will post invoice today with all details.

nice!

i believe those are the ones that give the least amount of issues, you do, do your research...lol


they are under $200 each correct?

hope so but we will see.....

yes

Details on company/ price etc. only reason I don't like those is the size. Would rather have smaller fixtures but that's just preference.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and results with them!

Specs please, colors, watts, battery life, etc...

INVOICE- i26.photobucket.com
Uplight model # - MQ G117 www.google.com
Company - www.makystagelight.com
Specs - makylighting.en.alibaba.com

Verify:

1... battery life (especially at lower power levels insuring they don't flicker when battery is low)
2... antennae placement (is it sturdy... it seems like a good placement on these)
3... are all the colors the same exact hue?

From the specs on their website, that 3.5-4 hours of battery life seems concerning. A typical wedding reception runs 4 hours and regular gigs even longer. From the looks of it, you seem to have found a nice vendor and light. These are a new design compared to units several months ago and the price looks very decent too.

Well that was my original intention and the reason I found this company starting from this vid Watchwww.youtube.com. These lights are smaller like the very popular and expensive CUBEecho www.eternallighting.com but can be had for less than 1/3 the price @ $104 ea.

My lights are $124 ea so I said f*ckit and splurged a lil. But im sure the smaller $104 version would have been more than enough for my needs.

Got it...will do.
"Once fully charged, the battery supports continuous talk time up to 3.5-4hours with AUTO mode combination of colors; about 8-9hours if single color."

INVOICE- www.dropbox.com the previous pic mite be unreadable if you zoom in

My uplights arrived safely today......
i26.photobucket.com
i26.photobucket.com

The look and build quality of the lights are excellent, I could not find and cheap or loose parts.
The cases are stack-able and the build quality is quite good also, I could not find any flaws.

I will do some detailed testing when I get home from work.

Nice!!!

Awesome!! Looking forward to hearing your feedback!

Verified, all the colors the same exact hue. (Master/slave mode using remote only)
vimeo.com

Being that I know nothing about uplights and the user manual is pretty much worthless, it took me about 3 hours to figure out how to sync them into master slave mode. Its actually easy if you already know what you're doing but im learning as I go.

Next step, figure out what controller I should use. I came across this battery powered wireless brand on youtube.
Watchwww.youtube.com. Any recommendations from experienced users ?

Disclaimer: This thread is NOT a recommendation for my lights or the company that manufactures them. This is ONLY to document my experience from beginning to end, good and bad with Chinese lighting. Purchasing Chinese lighting is very risky so its important to be well informed as there are no guaranteed Warranties or easy returns. This is why its most important to find a good supplier with a verifiable good product and customer support.
So you are welcome to use this information and documentation at your own risk.

Got a quote on the smaller "cube" version......
12pcs MQ-G119 is 6x18w led par .unit price is $103/per .DHL shipping cost is $247 .12pcs Total cost is $1483. (No charging Case)

The lowest price of my lights are
12pcs MQ-G117 is 9x18w led uplight . unit price is $123/per .DHL shipping cost is $338 .So 12pcs total cost is $1814 (without charging case)

pdidy - I'm not sure if it's proprietary to Chauvet, but their FlareCon app is good. You can control the lights with a smart phone or tablet. A buddy of mine uses it and simply makes adjustments to his lights while walking around the room swiping his phone!
Be advised, he does have Chauvet lights with FlareCon built in, but I do believe that it can be used as a DMX transmitter as well. Might be worth looking into...

I rent my up lights at 19$ a pop then charge the customer about 22$ a light I don't really make profit since I rent but I can at least offer what the full time wedding guys offer and at a few bucks cheaper so I end up getting the gig cause I saved the client a 150$ which isn't hurting the game for full time guys in the wedding industry. Be competitive don't charge shit rates

Is that your rental price for wireless up lights?

These look solid. Good find!

Luminair 3

synthe-fx.com

It will require some additional hardware but it will allow you to setup color scenes from you ipad or iphone.

THE EchoMATE Plus bypasses all programing and learning curves and give you the advanced professional lighting look out the box. So if you have no time to program or are DMX programing retarded like me then this might be for you ;)
Watchwww.youtube.com



Watchwww.youtube.com



Watchwww.youtube.com

Sounds like that EchoMate might be the best option. Do 'your' lights have accept the signal from the EchoMate?

I've run the eternal DMX box and Entecc box with Luminair. There's a small learning curve for lighting. I've also used Luminair for moving heads. I think sent you vid on another post with the moving heads.

Yes I do have 4 moving heads that I always run sound active but in some events it just looks unprofessional when they are not controlled. This is where Luminair 3 would be the clear winner at controlling both but at the same time im trying to keep it simple.

my new uplights , yes because its standard 2.4gHz Wireless DMX just like the EchoMate.

Side bar - pdidy, your "Chicks" Photo Album is legendary...

Just sayin..

You may continue with your regularly scheduled programming....

No wired but I don't feel it's right to charge a client for wired or wireless lights. I can see charging for dance floor and uplights if you want to do it that way. That seems to be a bit more palatable for the client too.

Yea I've looked all through that mug myself lol

Buying these would be less than you rent them for.

www.ebay.com

But how do they look? I was gonna get 8 before I take the plunge on better (brighter?) Stuff

Many of us on the board have them. They're great for what you pay.

Your right I might pick these up as soon as this next client hits me with the down payment. Im just always a little weary of cheap lights. They actually look cheap in real life.

Understandable for Mobile work but I hate going to a club and seeing all the lights on sound active or built in pattern mode. Such amazing lights available now and almost no one uses them to their potential at all. Seen better light shows in the 80's with a bunch of rain lights, mirror ball, and a UFO.

Hotties for sure but not anything you don't see as a club jock every weekend. I don't snap very many pics though.
Still on the fence for Gaffle's profile pics though, the Turbo and Chaka are about equally as sexy - he should alternate them monthly, LOL.

I'll be cycling my profile pic by month's end :^)

As we know all of these lights look the same from the outside but it's really about what's under the hood. A great looking light on the outside can potentially have low build quality internally. So I made a video displaying the internal build quality of these lights, anyone with expertise in this area is welcome to give their insight good or bad.

Watchwww.youtube.com

they look like a quality piece

Any idea what sized battery these are? Any markings or labels? 12000ma? 13200ma? Thanks.

Agree...don't know too much about components but "looks" well made.
I reached out to them for a quote myself on some of the smaller lights. Price was decent but i've found similar lights for a tad more money (maybe $100) that has a better charging system that I would rather use. Posted links to that above. That's worth the few extra $ in my eyes.

battery capacity:13200MAH lithium battery.

Yes the charging system does seem superior, I would have gotten those but for some reason I don't like the look/design of those lights but it is a popular design that many dj's use.

That battery size seems to be similar to all the ones I've looked at. The charging on the bottom is great when you have your case but I can see how that could be a drawback as well when room for case placement isn't available.

The vShow lights are also from the same town/city, Guangzhou as pdidy's. What are the chances they are all just one? Getting more confused now with Chinese lights. But no guts no glory right? Especially on a budget. Thanks pdidy for your willingness to document. I'm currently on the fence with a few choices: pdidy's lights, ourdjtalk ebay lights from link above, burrightlights.com and lumin lights (tad more expensive but the owner is willing to negotiate). So far I have only gotten my hands on lumin's and burright's. However, pdidy's and ourdjtalk guy's lights have also gotten rave reviews and quite frankly the most affordable so far. Would greatly appreciated any feedback from anyone that has experienced these lights. Thanks!

There's probably hundreds of lighting companies all centralized in that one area. Its like the Chinese lighting district.

True - China's primary manufacturing areas are located around the Guangzhou & Shenzhen districts. Most of the electronic devices we buy from them are made here.

Update:
Watchwww.youtube.com
Watchwww.youtube.com

The uplights are now being controlled with the eternal lighting EchoMATE™ Plus (Includes EchoMATE™ and IR Remote Plus™) $399.00 www.eternallighting.com

I would recommend this controller to anyone who is DMX ignorant with no interest in learning (like me) or wants plug&play programming but doesn't want to waste time doing it or needs ease of use for other users with no DMX controller knowledge.

So if you only need static colors for 5 hours with no movement this is not for you as there are many cheaper option, this is for the user who needs movement in their uplights that looks highend end/professional.

The initial setup took 5 min or less to address the individual lights, after that its just turn on and go totally wireless and battery powered including the controller.

replygif.net

replygif.net

In the 1st vid i turn off the controller to demonstrate that these lights stay on the last color if they were to lose signal. Some people have a preference in this functionality.


No flicker, the lights function a 100% until battery dies (like a smart phone).

Battery life: Ive done 3 events, 5 hours each, multi colors in sound active. Im getting 40-50% battery life left after each event so I would say battery life is great. (Better than I expected)

The IR Remote Plus™ sold separately for the EchoMATE is str8 robbery smh..... but it works well and is a must have because manual is not cool or fast.
www.eternallighting.com

www.facebook.com

Thanks for the performance followups. When I get back to DJ'ing and get my uplights, these will most likely be the route I go with.

Wondering where you been Gaffle. Take care of business homie.

somebody might find this useful Watchwww.youtube.com

Thanks. Checking it out

First thing you need to do is learn to record video from a phone. Step one. Turn phone sideways. Step 2. Record.

________________________________________
Bragging rights for life bitch! 😂😂😂😂😂😂
serato.com

nm

^^^ Im one of those people who corrects people when they record in portrait instead of the proper landscape (pet peeve). But in this particular case there is a wall behind me so im forced to record in portrait in order to fit all the lights together into the frame. It annoys me too so I will definitely record it again but properly.

pdidy...do you have the DMX channels of your fixtures you can share by any chance?
trying to program a light that just may share the same channels and would like a "cheat sheet" if possible!

001, 007, 013, 019, 025, 031, 037, 043, 049, 055

cheat sheet www.eternallighting.com

Ahhhh forgot you use that.

I was thinking more of
Channel 1 - red
Channel 2 - blue
Channel 3 - green
Channel 4 - white
Channel 5 - amber
Channel 6 - uv
Channel 7 - strobe
Channel 8 - dimmer

Etc. should have come with the light fixtures themselves.

cdn.fbsbx.com

Awesome. Thanks bud

So I just ordered one light to test out with. Same one pdidy got. If it passes my tests in terms of brightness,wireless etc. gonna buy another 9'to use for my front board and truss up lighting.

Cool please update us.

Will do. Shipped already so I assume I will have it by mid next week

So I got my light yesterday. I am pretty familiar with non branded China lights as the company I work for uses hundreds of them. These lights met my expectations. A tad bigger than I thought, actually had to remove the little plastic end caps to help fit inside my truss a little better but certainly not a deal breaker by any means. As far as brightness goes they met my expectations and actually are as bright in my opinion the 12 led ones I was comparing them against. Wireless connectivity seems to be great. I was only able to test inside my house so I sat in my dining room with my controller and put the light in my garage which is about 30 or so feet away and it worked flawlessly. These lights already follow the DMX programming I have created so I wanted to make sure they did so I didn't have to make any new programs. I already reached out to get the additional 9 units I want. I won't be getting a charging road case for these as it will be a little too big and heavy so I will be getting the accucase f8 par bag. I think I can fit 4-5 in each one. Hoping to get the 5 to fit.
Next is the Cap 212 which I will try and call in an order tomorrow as I think I'm gonna go with them. The guy that wants to buy my yorks already sent me a message asking me when he can get them! Lol

Just ordered the additional 9 lights I need. Actually only needed 6 more but rounded it out so that I have 10. Tested it out on my event this weekend and it worked great, no issues at all. Battery lasted all night and had a ton of juice left over.
My main setup consists of 4 trusses that will be lit up plus 3 for my front board so I will have 3 extra I can place around the room or by Dias table if needed.
Anything less than that I can use as a small uplighting package. I don't see myself getting any more as the company I work with has hundreds of others that can be used for uplighting in a big room. I just wanted my own set for my trusses and front board so I can keep them programmed the way I want.

Got the rest of my lights in. Going to be using them for my gig next weekend. A few came with some dents in the metal casing. Nothing terrible but noticeable. Doesn't seem to impact the functionality bc everything seemed to be functioning perfectly. Well see this weekend.
Main goal was to use them to light up my truss and front board. Not having to wire power and DMX to thoisw lights will be a huge time saver!

Hey Pdidy, how are your lights holding up?

Excellent, Ive been running them in my residence 2-3 nights a week approx. 5 hours per night for over 3 months. Ive had Zero malfunctions or failures. I controller them wireless with a EchoMATE™ Plus which I believe has given me more distance an Zero connection issues up to about 100ft.

I have no issues with batteries, I get 8-9 hours minimum with heavy use. If I used one color my battery life would increase significantly.

I've pointed my boy to this link so he can get your vendor and price point as a reference. Good stuff.

I would suggest the Eternal Lighting Cube Echo. They are a little pricey but well worth it they are not like the Chinese brand that loose connectivity and have battery issues. They are very bright and have a 16 hour battery life. I purchased 30 of them and they are great.

How would you compare the cube against the Chauvet freedom quad par?

I’ve had experience with both I would say the cube is better because it is brighter and has better wireless dmx connectivity.

I purchased a dozen Rasha Hex Crux lights a while ago. Chinese for sure, but sold out of Florida. I like 'em.

Pro's: Wireless DMX, good battery life, RGBAW+ UV, bright, great customer service, durable, pass-through power, decent price.

Con's: Hard to program (whoever wrote the instructions was probably intoxicated at the time), one light had issues with loose wiring (nothing a soldering iron couldn't fix... but still), wireless DMX only works with Rasha adapter - Chauvet D-FI or ADJ Wi-Fly does not communicate with it.

You purchased 30 of them ? Do you have a Link to your website and event photos ?

Im ready to try out luminair 3, what dmx box do you recommend?

www.sweetwater.com

pdidy - My friend uses Luminair and that same Enttec box... works great with wireless router.

Got it, thanks

I'm starting to learn MagicQ by Chamsys, now bought by/distributed by Chauvet. Cheapest dongle is $15, runs for 5 hrs before requiring a reset. No limit dongle is around $100.

just to throw something else out there pdiddy. There is another app called Vibrio DMX that lets you run different scenes on the app. One of the biggest limitations for Luminiair for me is that if i'm running moving heads and uplighting, i have to program it all lights within the scene.

Having the ability to run different scenes at once is more powerful and gives you more control. Luminair is more mature and there are 'How To's' and help though. just some food for thought.

Vibrio DMX will work on the same hardware right ?

Correct. It will work on the same hardware. I know Vibrio DMX has a demo with limited DMX channels. I don't remember if Luminair has a demo account.

got it thanks

I think you may need to configure the the ethernet/DMX box. Check the documentation. You're techie enough. let me know if you run into any problems.

I just ran across these for those looking for uplights. I'm not sure of their track record as the one guy that purchased from them hasn't had any log enough to get a track record. The plus side is you won't have to ship from China as they keep them in stock in the states (I believe). I heard support for their lights is pretty good too: www.rainbowlightsus.com

One can get a 10-count of lights w/ recharging case for a little under $2100 dollars right now with their 10% discount.

^^^ Oops... no 10% discounts on the sets so about $2350 delivered.