I recently (August 2023) wrapped a movie in Bentonville, AR; The Tower. We were fortunate to get a SAG wavier to finish shooting the film.
On our last week, we spent 6 days shooting in a water tank on a stage.
 |
| Here's the tank; 20 feet in diameter and 11 feet high |
Most of the lighting was from above the tank, but the DP wanted some light in the tank to glow the water.
I have little knowledge of submersible lights. After some Internet searching and some phone calls, I found submersible Titan tube housings. These were new to me, but relatively simple to use. The biggest difference for me was using my Exalux One to control them with DMX versus my usual method; the Astera App. The housings worked great.
 |
| I wish I knew what brand these were. Rented, they came with no identifiable information. When looking for submersible Titan tube housings, I found there are at least 2 different manufacturers. |
The Titan tube goes in a water-tight acrylic housing. A water-tight power/DMX cable connects the tube in the housing to an Astera Power Box. That's the power box in the Titan tube case that charges the tube. If connected to DMX, it will send a DMX signal over the same cable. Connected to the power box, the tube now has power and DMX control while underwater. It is a great system.
Not surprisingly, you have to use DMX with the submerged tubes. The wireless Astera app with the Astera box will not work. I generally don't use DMX with Astera lighting otherwise. I like to use the app which give me more control and the ability to do things like save colors and run effects.
I had read and been warned by some people that overheating of the tubes was a possibility. This was never a problem.
I did have problems with tubes become unresponsive to DMX a few times. I would just swap the tube for another one. I believe the problem was water leaking into the connection between cable and the housing. In all cases, there was water inside the connector.
This is my gaffer corner by the tank. To the left you can see the Astera Power box. The rainbow glow is coming from an Exalux receiver plugged into it. Next right is my Exalux One controller operating the tubes in the tank and all the lighting around the outside of the tank. All the way to the right is my iPad. I was using it to control some Titan tubes that were outside the tank.
PS: More Best Practices: All the electric around the tank was on ground fault circuit interrupters; GFCIs. These are a fast-acting circuit breakers designed to shut off electric power in the event of a ground-fault within as little as 1/40 of a second. CFGIs must be used around water to protect people from the possibility of electric shock. Every electrician knows, circuit breakers (like at the box) protect equipment not people. GFCIs protect people. They are essential to prevent electric shock in wet locations.
PPS: IP65 is not submersible. Prepping for The Tower, I had one person say that Titan tubes are waterproof, can't they just go in the water? Of course, the answer is no.
My Astera salesperson, the awesome Greg Hodges at Wireless Filmlights, told me the story of once getting back a large number of non-functioning Titan tubes from a movie rental. They were filled with water! Seems they thought being IP65 meant they could put them in the bottom of a water fountain. You can't. That's a big L&D bill for production.