FRANKLIN, TN – Grace Chapel in the Nashville area is always innovating to reach its followers and create a welcoming experience. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the church partnered with 30 other area churches to create a city-wide drive-in church service, utilizing four large LED video walls provided by the production division of Integrated Production Solutions (IPS), located in Franklin, TN.
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That project launched some new ideas for Grace Chapel’s facility. Working with fellow Grace Chapel member, Steve Spittle — who is also the president of video wall manufacturer SquareV — the integrations division of IPS designed a large 23’ x 18’ 154-panel SquareV LED video wall to replace the church’s main projection screen to create a bigger, more impactful service.
Although visually compelling, video walls come with many considerations that projection systems don’t require. In order to protect the investment, having a robust power control solution suited for video walls is critical. In the AV world, Spittle and the IPS team know a good power control solution when they see it. Years ago, the church installed a LynTec panel to provide simple, effective, and reliable power control to its audio.
“We recommended LynTec because when you’re dealing with a large video wall, you have to think about the power load that involves. Every single LED panel has its own power supply and that’s a lot of power to have sitting on all the time,” said Bryan Levy, IPS’s integration systems designer.
LynTec are experts in understanding and providing power solutions for video walls as well as audio and lighting systems. Reliable power control is essential for video walls because they can build up a lot of heat when left on, which can shorten the life of the system. With simple and easy power control, every display in even the largest installation can be powered down to protect components that heat can cause. Another problem with video walls is that, like computers, they’re built with internal processor that help them to operate. However, if they’re never powered down, they can freeze. The best managed systems have a power control system that efficiently powers on and off displays. A third consideration is that video walls are often left in standby mode. Standby is misleading because although not active, it leaves a display on to consume a substantial amount of power. A facility can spend two to three times more on power for displays in standby mode than when it’s in active use, substantially impacting church’s operating budgets. Finally, LED video walls, much like audio equipment, require proper sequencing due to the large inrush current when powered up. That inrush is known to cause trips and damage sensitive video wall components. Typically, a single 20-amp circuit can’t take the power inrush of more than eight panels. Too much inrush can cause nuisance circuit breaker trips, and in the worst case, it can actually burn out the processors in LED video panels, leaving a blacked-out square in the middle of the wall.
LynTec power control is proven to curb these problems, extending the product life and lowering the maintenance and energy costs. For this project, Levy selected LynTec’s award-winning and affordable RPC Remote Control Breaker Panel, along with the LynTec XPC Xtend Power Control Series to tie the new panel and the existing RPC controller together on the same network without wiring the electricity.
From one convenient motorized RPC control breaker provides affordable, clean power control for each of the 154 squareV LED panels that make up Grace Chapel’s new video wall. It provides proper on/off power sequencing, delivering vital protection from costly in-rush damage. In addition, the system is designed to the extend the life and cut down on energy and maintenance costs. Built on a universally recognized Square D hardware foundation, the RPC panels allow electricians to easily wire the system while providing additional circuit-switching control capabilities in the same enclosure. The RPC panels support 48-, 66-, and 84-circuit breaker positions with no increase in enclosure width. Its flexible architecture also enables organizations to add more circuits in the same horizontal wall space to control a greater number of components, as needed.
Because of this comprehensive package, IPS can easily set up, program, monitor, and control loads on a circuit-specific level. Accessible from any web-enabled device, the solution provides a complete overview and allows Grace Chapel staff to act remotely, resulting in greater installation flexibility, more efficient power control, and direct on/off control that LED video walls require. The panelboards also enabled built-in under- and over-voltage protection, optional customizable sequential circuit level on/off capabilities, and the ability to interface with third-party control systems via contact closure, TCP/IP, DMX, or RS-232.
“Worship facilities, especially ones like Grace Chapel that are primarily volunteer based, consistently forget to turn equipment off,” said Levy. “LynTec complements the equipment and the application. It helps us help them get better longevity out of their investment. We’re making sure that they’re starting from a good point. Plus, because they’re on the same control platform using the XPC controller, we didn’t have to gut the existing panel to put in a whole new panel, helping them with cost savings.”
“This project was incredibly close to my heart and took Grace Chapel to the next level — in brightness, efficiency, and member experience,” said Spittle. “It was great to see our panels up on stage and know that behind the scenes, everything is being properly controlled and protected.”
