Cutting the cord for rigging

Wireless technology is common in most areas of entertainment, but the rigging world is one that has often lagged behind. Understandably we haven’t achieved wireless 3-phase to power the hoists yet, but there are wireless solutions for control and load measuring that are available to riggers now.

SRS Group Wireless Chain Hoist Controllers

SRS Group began as a rental company in 1992 and later moved into manufacturing with a range of lighting and hoist control products aimed at the entertainment market and built on their production experience.

The AHD range of digital hoist controllers are designed to be flexible, dependable and expandable to cater for any event from the smallest two hoist job up to the largest arena show. With intelligent features like configuration-free linking of multiple controllers to expand your channel count, or Configurable Phase Align to ensure that the controllers automatically adjust the phase rotation of the incoming power to match your hoist standard, the AHD hoist controllers are designed to make your job as a rigger as efficient and safe as possible.

The nature of large rigging events means that having the hoist controllers in a place where the operator can see the hoists that they are moving is not always possible. In the past that meant having spotters on radios watching the hoists, while the operator was often in a position with limited or no view of the lifting operation waiting on verbal cues to stop if there was an issue. To solve this problem, SRS Group produced their range of wireless remote systems, either as an add-on to an existing controller, or as an integrated unit combining hoist control and wireless remote all in one unit.

Utilising the wireless remote allows the operator to move away from the fixed controller location and to be in a position where they can see all the hoists while they are operating. This reduces the need for spotters and allows for much faster reactions to errors or issues while raising or lowering loads.

The WMC-G3-DIGI-AHD wireless remote unit provides for up to 12 channels (24 if linking two wireless remotes) of wireless control that can be linked to your existing SRS hoist controller while the AHD-WLV range of hoist controllers incorporate that remote and charging station into the controller allowing for cost savings on an initial purchase. 

The remote can be linked to a second remote to expand up to a total of 24 channels of wireless control. The system uses standard Motorola batteries which makes field replacement easy, and the integrated charging station ensures that the remote is charged up and ready to go when you need it.

Protos Wireless Load Cells and Wind Speed Monitoring

As rigging projects become more complicated, keeping track of the loads that are on your hoists or rigging points becomes harder and harder to do. Complex truss structures don’t react in predictable ways and it’s very easy to overload your rigging equipment with very small movements. Utilising load cells as part of your rigging system allows the rigger to monitor all the loads remotely and to get fast and accurate warnings if any part of the system is about to be overloaded.

The Protos Aegis Force Measuring System is a range of wireless load cell, wind measurement and monitoring equipment designed to make installing large and complex systems a breeze. The load cells are available in 3.25T and 4.75T bow shackle designs which makes them easy to incorporate into existing rigging equipment and the monitoring software uses simple USB receivers operating in the 2.4GHz which provide up to 800m range. Repeater stations are also available which increase the range of the system allowing for centralised monitoring of large events.

With temporary structures it is important to have wind speed monitoring to provide early warning of weather conditions that may be a risk to the safety of the event. The Protos range includes a remote anemometer which allows the wind to be measured at height and this incorporates into the same monitoring software as the load cells.

For more information contact Design Quintessence or visit the website at

www.dq.com.au