For a time, however, it seemed this ambitious project wouldn't see the light of day. Budgetary, technical and regulatory issues forced the W Hotel to put a hold on its grand lighting plan - until Phoenix design/installation company Burning Retina Lighting & Transport LLC was called to the rescue.
"There were a number of problems - from technical ones like being unable to route DMX data around or through existing structure, to political adversity from city officials unfamiliar with the technology," said Ken Kirkaldy of Burning Retina. "We came in where several lighting companies left off and completely took control of the technology." Using existing and new products from Acclaim Lighting and Elation Professional, Burning Retina was able to come up with solutions to even the most challenging issues, Kirkaldy said.
One of the most seemingly insurmountable problems was the LED elevator wall project. Prior to Burning Retina's coming on board, 60 Acclaim X-Puzzle RGB panels had been fabricated but not installed due to regulatory red tape. Power was to be supplied to the panels by nine Acclaim X-PD-150s per car, which were scheduled to be mounted inside the elevator overhead. However, the city inspector nixed the project, saying the power supply units could not be positioned inside the cars because their weight and proposed location overhead posed a safety threat to elevator passengers.
"The hotel already had $120,000 tied up in this project and they weren't about to lose that money, so they said, 'How can you make this work?'". The solution, Kirkaldy revealed, was to move the power supplies to the elevator control room on the hotel's seventh floor and mount them remotely. "We took the X-PD-150s apart and removed the PSUs from them. We installed 6' AV rack with 12 shelves and mounted the 27 PSUs on the shelves to power the X-Puzzles, along with one Acclaim X-Net 8 Art Net unit and one X-Trigger 8 per elevator car to drive them.
"Signal and power are pushed through to the panels via traveller cables running down the elevator shaft," Kirkaldy continued. Depending on the car, the traveller cables range in length from 130' to 170'. "I don't know if anybody's ever used that much cable between their PSU and LED fixture. It's a heck of a long way."
Kirkaldy also found a way to make existing products work in the hotel's outdoor pool area, where LED sticks used to light the Grand Lanterns -- giant arched posts weighing upwards of four tons each -- were not receiving DMX data pumped through underground Cat5 cables. Initially, he considered trying to repair the cables, but they kept failing beneath the slab. There was also the problem of transmitting data to other outdoor areas where LEDs were being used, such as the aquarium and cabanas.
The solution: Elation's EWDMX wireless DMX system. "The original DMX cable that was being used for the Grand Lanterns was underneath the concrete and inaccessible," said Kirkaldy. "Plus, because we had come in after construction and were dealing primarily with concrete and steel, there was no way we were going to externally wire to transmit data to other areas lit by LEDs like the cabanas and aquarium, without considerable expense. So I suggested this military grade wireless solution that Elation offers. They liked the idea, and $900 later they're in business."
EWDMX wireless receivers are now bein
