Moving head lights are fantastic lighting devices which rotate, move and swing in nearly any direction, spreading coloured lights all over the ceiling, walls, floors, the stage and the spectators of the light show. Moving head fixtures are typical things in quite a few bars, restaurants, disco clubs and nightclubs. As a light source, the moving heads use either arc lamps or the up to date LED (light emitting diodes) technology. Utilizing the most current LED lighting has its benefits, but there also are a few drawbacks.
When referring to positive aspects of LED technology, its low energy usage is the initial thing that have to be started with. It is so small, simply because LED devices need much less electricity compared to a regular light bulb, which, in the end, means that quite a few units may be installed and use the power of a standard energy supply. This is amazing for disco and DJ parties. So aside from being quite practical to work with, heads could save some cash from the electricity bill.
One more positive aspect of LED moving head light is the low warmth emission. Compared to standard stage lighting lamps, moving head fixtures with LED technology do not get really hot, that means that the light show may be run with no interruptions, due to equipment malfunction. And also, LED lights are longer lasting – the usual life of the LED is somewhere around 50 000 working hours, which helps make the maintenance of the devices much easier and cheaper.
LED moving head spots benefit also from their colour effects. The three standard colours – Red, Green and Blue (RGB) – blended together, guarantees millions of combos and colour choices. The mix of colours is easily managed with the help of a DMX software installed on a normal computer.
Moving heads DMX are also small, compact and portable. Because of their small dimensions and lightweight materials, it is quite simple to set them up and point them at any spot in the disco or bar.
Unfortunately, LED moving heads have also some disadvantages. They are coming primarily from restrictions of the LED technology. LED beams cannot get a directed spotlight, simply because there are quite a few sources of light. It is also difficult to get a “good” white colour. In fact, some colours are almost unattainable to produce, even with the endless possibilities of colour mixing. One more difficulty of the LED moving heads is the fact that their depth drops off quite quick in big ranges – a possible reason for this is the the absence of lens. The consequence is that the light breaks and it cannot be great concentrated into a solitary beam. It also takes a little bit more time to set up the DMX moving heads (setting DMX addresses, light patterns programming, and so on.)
Even having in mind their limitations, LED moving heads controlled by a DMX software are critical for the advancement of the stage and nightclub lighting technology. They are quite versatile due to the big number of DMX channels being used, which makes them today inseparable element of any light show.