Phased Upgrades Save Money

By: Tim Adams

Many churches this year either needed to upgrade

their streaming systems or as they were re-opening,

needed to make upgrades to their installed systems.

This won’t be a typical Tech Spotlight as we are

going to highlight a selection of Timato System’s projects from

this year, rather than one project in its entirety. The reason for

this is because smaller churches often read articles that show

huge upgrades costing tens of thousands of dollars (or more!) and

develop a belief that a tech upgrade is hugely expensive when it

doesn’t have to be.

East Woods Presbyterian Church

While I have worked with East Woods Presbyterian on many

upgrades over the last several years, the one we did this year

was unique – they needed better lighting in their foyer. With a

church as tightly knit as East Woods, the foyer is THE place for

connection and socializing. It also serves as something of a multipurpose

space for some of the church groups that meet in the

foyer, so having good lighting would make a huge difference.

The original lighting consisted of pendant halogen lights that

were rather spotty, so the church quickly swapped those out for

CFL bulbs. Of course, the main issues with CFLs are they take a

few minutes to reach maximum brightness and they often lack the

power necessary to cover a larger space. When you factor in the

hazardous nature of a broken CFL bulb, they become a less than

desirable option. However, finding an LED solution had proved

difficult as well, because the readily available LED bulb options at

the local hardware store tended to be too spotty when they needed

a good amount of coverage.

After running a few options by the church, including a

commercial high-bay LED fixture that proved a little TOO bright,

we opted to go with replacing the pendant lights with barn light

fixtures from a local home improvement store that included a

white “reflector” that would help spread the light out. You can see

the differences for yourself in light output between the old and

new.

This project was a perfect illustration of how working through

a problem by taking time to look at different options before

making a decision is both wise and extremely helpful. Not only

was the fix implemented extremely cost-effective, but it also

provided a solution that will be long-lasting, with readily available

replacement bulbs and an aesthetic that is pleasing and functional.

Joy Community Church

Next, we will look at a consulting-only project Timato did

with Joy Community Church. They needed a projection solution

for their newly renovated space and while they had done a fair

amount of research already, they just needed that extra little bit of

checks and balances to make sure they were on the right track.

After several emails back and forth, with pictures and links and

the rise of a “projection expert” amidst their own membership,

the church was able to finalize what they wanted. The screen size

and type changed from 150” motorized to 110” fixed frame, the

projector changed from a medium throw to a short throw, and

we had to work through the mounting solution as there wasn’t

an available beam to hang from so one had to be created. The

Epson 805F 6000 lumen laser projector Joy Community chose to

install produces an astonishing image that the church has been

extremely pleased with. The mount had to be customized since

they were mounting to a piece of Kindorf, which I had never heard

of. A competing product to Unistrut, Kindorf also has a slew of

mounting accessories and methods and I had to dig deep into

their catalog to find what was going to work with the projector

and the Chief RPMAU universal mount. The basic connection was

the Chief mount which holds the projector and screws onto a 1.5”

threaded pipe, which then screws into the Kindorf attachment

mount. The Kindorf rail holds it all from the I-Beams.

This one was an interesting challenge, as I was piecing together

a mounting solution with a system I’d never even heard of, but

which resembled Unistrut, which I have worked with plenty.

Calculating whether the projector would be bright enough was

simple with the right formula (lumens / screen square footage x

screen gain = foot-Lamberts), along with calculating how large

the screen needed to be based on the distance to the back of the

room from the screen. While this wasn’t a large project, it was an

important one for the client and that is what matters.

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church provided one of the more

challenging projects. The church had been badly impacted by the

COVID lockdowns, as they did not have a streaming system in

place. They had limped by with equipment sourced from members

and using smartphones and tablets to stream directly to YouTube

but wanted to upgrade the experience that was being delivered.

The scope of work they required also included improving their

in-person projection to better prepare for re-opening. The church

had long used an off-axis projector that was under-powered and

produced a less-than-pleasing image. Their audio mixer and

wireless microphones were also out-dated and experiencing issues.

Finally, to better facilitate their streaming connection, we also

upgraded their Wi-Fi system for better reliability and more even

coverage.

What made this project so satisfying is that Timato was

solving a variety of real issues, rather than one main issue, as well

as providing a variety of affordable equipment to make those

solutions a reality.

For the projector, we went with an Optoma ZH403 4000 lumen

laser projector, painting a couple of project panels for their screen,

as there were cost and space considerations that dictated an

extremely low-cost screen solution.

A Soundcraft EPM8 analog audio mixer replaced their ancient

mixer; again, budget and their specific use case precluded even

offering a digital mixer solution. We opted for Shure SLX-series

body pack and handheld microphones to replace their “illegal”

older systems, and also replaced their omni-directional room

mic with an Audix M1255B cardioid microphone to provide

ambient sound for the live stream. To get audio to the streaming

system in the balcony, we chose an Alto Stealth 2-channel wireless

transmission system.

Their new streaming system consists of a Panasonic Lumix GH4

micro 4/3 camera with an Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8

lens, providing a massive upgrade to image quality and shot size

selection.

Finally, to upgrade the Wi-Fi system, we installed 7 TP-Link

Deco Mesh “pucks” around the facility that immediately improved

overall Wi-Fi in the building. Regardless of where you stand in the

facility, you get full signal.

All in all, a comprehensive upgrade for the church and the

impact of these upgrades has been both immediate and full. St.

Barnabas has been very appreciative of the difference and can now

move on to more mission-focused work and programs, knowing

that their technical systems are taken care of.

Emerald City Seventh-day Adventist Church

Lastly, we will look at Phase 3 in a 4-phase upgrade for Emerald

City Seventh-day Adventist Church. This had been an upgrade I

had been particularly looking forward to, as the former lighting

system had long outlived its utility and reliability.

We knew we would be moving to LED and we also knew the

church wanted “zones” of lighting for use in special programs and

to provide more localized control. Finally, Emerald City wanted

to try and move away from their reliance on overhead fluorescent

lighting, if possible.

We ended up installing nine Springtree 200-watt warm white

LED ellipsoidal spotlights, 10 ADJ 18P RGBAW+UV Hex par

lights, 11 ADJ COB Cannon Wash ST RGBA house lights, and

eight ADJ UB 12H RGBAW+UV Hex linear lights to uplight the

upstage wall, along with a Springtree wall panel for basic lighting

control via pre-programmed presets, a Chauvet Data Stream 4-way

DMX splitter and an ETC ColorSource20 lighting controller.

The wall plate is an awesome product because it has DMX loop

through which detects when there is DMX signal coming from the

controller and makes the wall plate inoperable. This means you’re

not fighting for control between the controller in the booth and

the wall plate.

This was a challenging project because virtually every pew had

to be moved to accommodate the lift we had to bring in. We had to

get a large group of volunteers together to move the lift on and off

the platform, and we also had scaffolding on the platform to install

electrical outlets and the four 18P Hex pars we used to backlight

the upstage area.

Overall, the church has been very happy with the results and

the wall plate has revolutionized how the lighting system is used.

Prior to this, the fluorescent lighting had to be turned on upstairs,

with the control behind a locked door. For obvious reasons, the

wall plate has been a blessing in many ways: the ability to control

individual groups of lights with presets, rather than trying to

remember which fader controlled which lighting fixture, has

contributed to the smooth flow of services and programs at

Emerald City.

As these smaller projects illustrate, small churches don’t

have to do a massive upgrade to achieve a noticeable difference

in capabilities and impact. Breaking an upgrade into phases is

extremely beneficial in a variety of ways, but you must start with

a master plan so you know what the end goals are. If you don’t,

you’re just spending money on upgrades you may or may not need

in the hopes that your tech team will still be able to support the

vision and mission of the church in ten years. That is just poor

stewardship.

Working with churches in other parts of the country and

around the world is an amazing experience, and providing that

extra bit of assurance that the path they are on is the right one

delivers much-needed stress relief and peace-of-mind that it

always brings a smile to my face.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Tim Adams spent over 20 years volunteering in church technical ministry

and now, through his company Timato Systems, focuses on helping small

churches achieve technical excellence through equipment upgrades, training,

sharing best practices and teaching leadership how to cast God-sized vision.

GEAR LISTS:

East Woods Presbyterian

6 Globe Electric Matte White 1-light Barn Light

6 TCP 17-watt BR40 4100K LED bulb

Joy Community Church

1 Epson 805F 6000 lumen laser projector

1 Chief RPMAU universal projector mount

Various Kindorf rail and mounts

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

1 Optoma ZH403 4000 lumen laser projector

1 Soundcraft EPM8 analog audio mixer

1 Shure SLXD14/153T (J52) wireless microphone system

1 Shure SLXD24/B87A (J52) wireless microphone system

1 Audix M1255B cardioid microphone

1 Alto Stealth wireless audio transmission system

1 Panasonic Lumix G4 micro 4/3 camera

1 Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150m f/2.8 telephoto lens

3 TP-Link Deco Mesh Wi-Fi system

Emerald City Community Adventist Church

9 Springtree 200-watt warm white LED ellipsoidal spotlights

10 ADJ 18P RGBAW+UV Hex par lights

11 ADJ COB Cannon Wash ST RGBA house lights

8 ADJ UB 12H RGBAW+UV Hex linear light

1 Springtree wall panel

1 Chauvet Data Stream 4-way DMX splitter

1 ETC ColorSource20 lighting controller