Use #4001 for duct tape...

At least the delicate connections and sensitive switches won't get abused during transport. Not to mention it makes a very nice finger warmer, for the poor sound man during those cold club shows.

Larry C

wow, talk about low budget productions

Reminds me of a self-employed (and trained) DJ... he had his own light control box, basically a wooden box with a pile of regular light switches and Schuko receptacles. At least they had covers.

the feed however... he had a spare, unswitched receptacle on the side and used it to backfeed the entire box using a cord with two plugs! (and yes, I mean two male cord caps...)

I just found it on my photobucket account.
The plug on the left hand side runs the entire thing.

Have you ever priced those Pelican boxes? Not exactly "low budget" stuff.

Why would put an abomination like THAT inside one is beyond me, though...

Aw, now, you guys are too rough :<) . Notice how he color-coordinated the switches and receptacles!

It is an unusual combination of "values" - a very nice (pricey) case and a couple of dollars worth of parts thrown together.

Ranger; It's interesting you mentioned the "double male" power cord. A band around here had a similar setup like this, playing in an ancient dance hall one night. A "roadie" tripped on the power cord, unplugged it from the controller, the cord fell onto an aluminum case sitting on the floor beneath. Caused a short circuit that knocked out every light in the joint and started a small fire in the main fuse box. Delightful evening on the fire engine that night...

N.J.; Those cases are wonderful. They're just right for carrying around wireless microphones.

Mike (mamills)

I once came across a disco light box (one of those three-channel bass/mid/treble flashing jobs) which had been built with 3.5mm mono jack sockets for the light outputs. Only the tip of each plug was used as the current-carrying conductor, so there were separate line and neutral jacks for each of the three channels. All at 240V here, of course.

Yeouch! Now that's a bad one!

That case would look at home at a few dive bars around here... (Except the case part, too pricey... maybe a milk crate from behind Circle K...)

I see a book in the making called, "Electrical Engineering for Dummies". BTW, that sounds redundent.

I worked a concert where the sound guy insisted on bringing in his own lighting rig... Had a wooden box built in similar fashion, with metal switches. Used the damn thing for "effects" during a concert; great effect, hearing "click click" in sync with the lights changing.

That's why we generally keep the sqweeks (sound guys) from doing anything other than play with their mics.

As a sound guy you'd think he should know about interference...

I once had a somewhat sub-standard light controler too, but that one had a properly attached cord with plug and strain relief, and it was only used far away from sound equipment (the sound equipment was plugged in on the ground floor of the school and I was sitting up on the 3rd floor with my box controling an 18W fluorescent bulb (in a rice paper ballon suspended above the yard to imitate the moon) and a string of Christmas lights.

The contraption was only used for one rehearsal since the performance didn't happen anyway due to bad weather... you neither want your audience to be rained on nor the performers be fried on a metal balcony together with indoor cords and equipment...

is that some electrical tape holding up the first outlet on the left?

no that's just the fancy design of these outlets - the covers come with exchangeable colored stripes on either side. In htis case they used the black ones. The box was actually built with great care, but feeding it using a cord with two male cord caps is just plain lethal.