Pimp My Rig! Lighting Accessories You Must Own

Getting started with lighting

Posted by Bop DJ 6/11/18

To go alongside our ever growing list of lighting and smoke machines, we’ve gone about researching and listing the most useful and popular accessories related to lighting. There are many, many ways to configure a lighting set up, and hundreds of confusing ways to mount your fixtures, so we thought we’d give you a run-down of some of our favourites.

CLAMPS and SAFETY CABLES

Rigging lighting is perhaps one of the less glamorous facets of being a mobile jock. In times gone by, It involved holding often very heavy fixtures with one hand whilst faffing around with fiddly wingnuts and washers trying to attach them to a t-bar or truss. And once they’re up, they’d better stay up, because if they fall, it’s very bad news! In a best-case scenario; your light is now broken. Worst case; injury or death to those on the dancefloor. Bad vibes!

So… Clamps! Clamps are designed to make lights much quicker or easier to rig, or allow rigging in places that wouldn’t be feasible with the standard equipment you get with a fixture.

The ADJ Dura Clamp

Makes rigging heavy lights to truss really quick. Just hook on and screw in. It can support up to 20lb of weight, that’s like 2 heavy babies! (Or 9kg if you’d prefer).

The ADJ O Slim 2

O-Clamps like this one allow lights to be rigged to vertical or horizontal poles. DJs like these because you can rig them to speaker poles underneath speakers, saving space and set-up time. There are different sized ones for different applications, I’ve listed the 2 most popular sizes.

The Equinox Quick Clamp

These things are epic. Attach one part to your light, the other to your stand of choice and BANG! Simply clip the 2 together and tighten with the knob. By far the quickest and easiest rigging solution out there. Buy one of these with each light, or hey, buy two! You’ll thank yourself later.

So that takes part of the rigging, now what about safety?

The Equinox Safety Cable

By looping through fixtures and around stands, these cables offer a safety net in the event of clamp failure. Avoid the judgemental stares and incessant tutting of your peers by owning 1 of these for every fixture you have. They’re a must have for any DJ who takes the safety of themselves and others seriously.

DMX CABLES

 

DMX cables are what’s needed to control lights, or link 2 lights together to synchronise their shows. They most commonly have 3 pins (some fixtures require a 5 pin DMX cables) and look exactly like XLR microphone cables, but they’re not. Due to differences in the way DMX cable is shielded, standard XLR cables will provide unreliable, sub-par control. DMX is the only way to go for the true professional. Get one of these for every pair of lights you buy, link the two together and you’ve got yourself an instant synchronised lightshow. Lovely!

BAGS

 

Lights are a business investment, and they’re also delicate. Bags are a no brainer! ACCU-CASE come in all shapes and sizes, and they are really reasonably priced. Don’t sleep on protecting your purchases from drops, scrapes and bumps. Your clients deserve the best, most well presented gear! The most popular sizes and shapes are available to browse on our website, but if you need something a little more niche, give our sales team a call for a choice from the full range from American DJ.