SHOWPRO HERCULES LED

BATTERY-POWERED UPLIGHT

The ShowPro Hercules LED is a small battery-powered LED light that’s capable of receiving wireless DMX, meaning that it can be run and controlled without cables. Hercules can change colour through the control panel and via DMX, and be manually tilted and focussed. But its key attribute is that it’s fast, simple and easy to set up.

The Case and Charging Station

The Hercules LED uplight comes with its own charging station on wheels; a road case with a powerCON input that’s capable of charging up to six lights at a time. Hercules LED lights are typically sold in groups of six with a charging case but they can also be purchased individually. The case easily fits in a standard passenger elevator, but up a flight of stairs it’s a genuine two-person lift.

The Light’s Construction

The LED light itself is sturdily built, weighing in at about 5.5kg. It has a handle on top, making it easy to carry, and being a sealed unit that’s IP44-rated, the Hercules houses no internal user-serviceable parts. Maintenance therefore consists only of cleaning the lens and dusting off the light. Though a little bulky and chunky due to its battery size, the Hercules is a very portable and durable unit that can withstand being placed in high-traffic areas like foyers and entry corridors. It sits well on the floor but also has brackets on its underside, allowing for a clamp to be added so it can be hung from a truss.

Optics, Colour, Brightness

The Hercules LED is an RGBW fixture; each light containing 4x10w LED chips. It has a zoom range of about 2:1 and a beam angle from 15° to 30°. While you may not be able to use these lights to wash a stage, you can certainly use them to uplight drapes, banners, act as truss warmers, or function just about anywhere you would otherwise use an LED par.

Wireless Control

With on-board genuine wireless DMX receivers and battery-powered operation, Hercules LED uplights can be run in a completely wireless configuration, saving huge amounts of setup time as well as providing for a far neater finish.

The Hercules can operate in wireless DMX (W‐DMX) mode up to 300m (900ft) from the transmitter, although this can be interrupted or inhibited by liquid masses such as water, snow or people between the transmitter and receiver. For best results, it’s therefore preferable to keep the area between the transmitter and receiver clear of any liquid masses. Wireless DMX isn’t always as reliable as running a cable, of course, but it’s easier, neater, more cost-effective and vastly more convenient.

Battery Life, Charge Time

Running at full intensity, ShowPro claims you can get up to nine hours out of a Hercules LED, which in my experience seems about right, give or take specific usage. The colours you pick can sway battery life somewhat, but this is of no great significance. Full bottom-to-top charge takes about six hours; not bad if you’re doing gigs during the evening. You can charge them during the day while you’re setting up, and drop them out and turn them on right before doors. The same goes for daytime gigs: charge them overnight and you’re ready to go in the morning.

There are a few precautions to keep in mind, however, when using the battery-powered fixtures, but nothing too extreme or unreasonable:

• Recharge the battery within three days from last use
• Recharge the battery to full capacity before storing the product
• For best results, charge the battery in a temperature between zero and 35°C
• When charging the battery, keep the product at no less than one metre from any open flame or hotplate
• When charging the battery inside the road case charger, keep the road case cover open
• When charging ensure there is sufficient airflow in front of the air vent
• Always charge the battery with the product in an upright position
• Do not charge the battery for more than 24 hours
• Perform a full discharge/recharge cycle every three months

You should factor in a battery replacement when the lights are about five years old, even if you follow the above precautions.

Menu Features of the Light

For those of you familiar with ShowPro’s other products, the menu of the Hercules LED reads much like that of the rest of the range. Colour values for R, G, B and W range from zero to 255, giving you a much wider spectrum of colours. While much can be said about the wireless capabilities of the light, you can also power and control Hercules uplights the old-fashioned way; with a powerCON connector and five-pin DMX. They can also be run in 4-channel, 6-channel and 10-channel mode.

Verdict

What ShowPro has produced here is a light that’s very simple to set up and easy to pack away. Its robust construction and simple features make it a very durable light, while the battery-powered and wireless-DMX options make it incredibly versatile. Every venue and production company should have several cases of Hercules LEDs up their sleeve to act as ‘get-out-of-jail-free cards’. They work perfectly as last-minute additions to an event in situations where a client rocks up with a banner or that extra bit of stage depth needs to be created by uplighting a drape. They’re also perfect for high-traffic areas, given that there are no cables to be run, or tripped, over.

Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if ShowPro decides to develop and build on the Hercules concept. Will the company look to make an IP65 version perhaps, or a brighter version, or maybe even one featuring more controls such as pan and tilt? One figures that a top-selling light in the future could be an IP65, wireless DMX-controlled, battery- powered moving head fixture. While that brief sounds expensive, ShowPro has already covered a good portion of this idea with the Hercules LED; a light that weighs 5.5kg and sells at just over $1,000 each when you buy six and a charging case.

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Product Info: www.showtech.com.au

Distributer Australia and New Zealand: www.showtech.com.au

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TECH SPECS

Optics

• LED Specification: CREE WW 2700K 3W LED quantity: 4 PCS
• Field Angle Zoom from 20° to 40° Beam Angle Zoom from 15° to 30°
• Output: 1736 lux/ 3m /15° 625 lux / 3m / 30°

Control

• Control method: WDMX or DMX WDMX Compatibility Wireless Solution DMX Channels: 4, 6, 10, HSV and HSI Dimming Curves: Four Modes Dimming Resolution: 16-bit
• Data Connections: five-pin DMX, Built-in Wireless Solution

Electrical

• Power: Lithium Battery, Neutrik powerCON input
• Battery Specifications: Lithium Battery, 14.8V, 13.2AH
• Working Hours: Nine hours at 100% Charging hours: Six
• Charging flight case and built-in powerCON Charging during use: Yes
• Input Voltage: AC 110V‐240V AC 50/60Hz auto‐ranging
• Power Consumption: 50W Fuse N/A

Physical

• Hercules Weight: 5.5KG
• Hercules Size: 312 x 250 x 108mm Cooling System: Fan‐free
• IP Rating: IP44