Stage Designs

Glow Grid

Jason Guddat from Crossroads Foursquare Church in Rochester, WA brings us this glowing grid of a stage design idea. (Originally posted March 2014)

They recently expanded their sanctuary and were looking for some new things to do with their stage. One problem they were running into when looking at different ideas is their low ceiling height (10′), and a lot of ideas simply didn’t work.

Jason saw the designs Radiant Squares and Rect Angles here on CSDI and fell in love with them. He then started to come up with a plan to try and use it in their space. Jason made a mock-up panel and showed it to their pastor and worship leader, and they were all for it!

They didn’t really have much of a budget, and wanted to come up with the most cost effective plan. Jason looked into the Coroplast that he had seen used on CSDI a lot, but it wasn’t readily available locally. And for the little amount they would be using, it didn’t pencil out to order it online. So Jason started looking into alternatives, and ended up using white poster board for the back, 1″ j-channel for the frame, and clear ‘prismatic’ lighting panels (the plastic covers you see on fluorescent lights) for the fronts.

He then use the RGB LED strips and cut them to length, and wired them up to DMX controllers. The total cost was right at $1000 for everything. The building of the panels took about 30 minutes per panel, and the installation took about 3 hours. Jason used Command Velcro strips to do the mounting, so they can easily remove and change the design if they decide to.

Materials

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Dripping in LED Christmas Bits

30 responses to “Glow Grid”

  1. Seth says:

    I think it rocks. I think you rock!

  2. Rafael Rojas says:

    can you send more pics of the frame with the led lighting?

  3. Brandon Cook says:

    These are super cool!

  4. Angie says:

    I love how you changed the colors to blue and green for the NFC Championship and Superbowl Sunday – and that the colors can change for other days too! Jason Guddat (and the Seahawks) are both pretty awesome. :)

  5. Joshua says:

    I’m confused by the price. $1,000 for 18 boxes with LED strips?

    Where was the most money spent?

  6. Rafael Rojas says:

    What are dimensions of the frames?

  7. Jason says:

    It all adds up. 6 controllers, 2 power supplies and then all the supplies for the boxes, and the products for hanging and wiring them. And I actually have 24 of them, just haven’t hung the last row yet.

    The boxes are 1.5’x3′

  8. Leigh says:

    This is sensational love it and the design

  9. Josh says:

    How many panels did you connect together per power supply? How many DMX controllers did you get?

  10. Josh says:

    This looks great, and I think it solves an issue with a project design I have coming up. My question is about the DMX channeling. Were you able to hook it up to an actual DMX Lighting Board or did you just use the remote?

  11. Jhonan says:

    Hi I have a question about the dmx controller, how do you connect the led light with the controller, and how do you power up the led light? does the dmx controller is the one who gives power to the light or only to itself… also the regular dmx connector look like xlr mic cables, do I have to cut the cable and connect it to the controller or there are adapters for it?

    • Jason says:

      I used a four-conductor wire normally used for security system installs to run from the Led strip to the DMX controller. The power supply feeds into the DMX controller, and then the DMX controller feeds the power to the led strip. And yes, cut an end off and hard wire the DMX cable in.

      • Jhonan says:

        thanks for replying back, im assuming that this is not compatible with a dmx software right? because I use Marting Light jokey for all the lights that I use in the church..

        • Jason says:

          I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. It’s just a standard DMX signal, you use jumpers on the box to set the address. I am using a DMX control board and it works just fine. It just needs to be plugged into your DMX universe and be addressed correctly

  12. Scott Trafford says:

    Kinda curious as to what lighting program you run the LEDs on?

  13. Scott Trafford says:

    Ok thanks and one more question in relation to the LEDs. How many (if possible) can you chain together? Because I saw you used 6 controllers.

  14. Bill says:

    How did you cut the LED light strips, and then wire it up?

  15. Jason says:

    The strips cut easily with a pair of scissors, and then you can solder on wires to the contacts on the strip

  16. Bill says:

    Ok, so from the led strip I am cutting the connector. Then adding wire to connect the strip to the Dix controller. How do you connect the power supply to the controller ? Ex. Witch wires go where? Also I am running led stage lighting so, I would just need to cut the end off an xlr cable to wire into my light board?

    • Jason says:

      Do you have the controller and power supply? They are marked for what wires go where. Power from the supply to the controller and then from the controller to the strips. Yes, I just cut one end off of an XLR cable to wire the DMX signal in.

  17. Greg says:

    Where did you find the 1″ J Channels and did you buy them with the 45 degree corners pre-cut or did you have to cut the angled corners for the frames.
    Thanks,
    Greg

    • Jason says:

      I got it from home Depot, it came in 8′ long sticks and I cut it to length. I didn’t cut it at 45’s, just straight cuts and they fit together great.

  18. Greg Hintz says:

    First, thank you so much for putting this up! It’s awesome and we are working on implementing a similar stage design at our church. My question… Could you give me a run down of what connects to what? Are you using AC? I have a good grasp on the box and the lights… I am looking from the lights back to the electricity. Also, where did you “hide” the cords? Did you run them through wall? Thank you for your time. I truly appreciate it. GP Hintz

  19. Courtney Edwards says:

    Hi our church is really wanting to do this. We have a tight budget so I was just going to try to get as much information on it as possible. Do you have like a step by step on how you did it or some more pictures?

  20. Anita says:

    Hi, Thank you for this design, I am trying to replicate this for my church and i tried to click on the link to see what it looked like but its not going through. Is there any way you can kindly send a link to see how the design was made from the start.

  21. Matthew Condotti says:

    Hi

    Our church is based in the UK.

    Can we purchase from you?

    Thanks

  22. Tyler Gibbs says:

    How many feet total of LED strips did you have to get?

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