New in the Fleet: Chauvet WELL POD 2

Uplighting a ballroom usually starts with a question that has nothing to do with light: where is the nearest power?

The answer is often a floor box on the far side of the room, which turns twenty-four uplights into a morning of running cable, taping mats, and routing around doorways. It also turns “can these move six feet” into a real conversation instead of a shrug.

The Chauvet WELL POD 2 removes the question entirely.

Place it and leave it

Nothing runs to this fixture, for power or for data. Power comes from an internal lithium ion battery. Control is CRMX, or the RF remote that ships in the case, or the ConnectFX app through a WELL CONNECT box.

That opens up positions we would normally talk a client out of. The base of a column in the middle of a room. Behind a drape leg. Under a bar or a buffet. Out in a courtyard for a cocktail hour, where a cable would mean a mat, a permit conversation, and somebody watching it all night.

Each unit weighs 7.2 pounds and measures about five and a half inches square once the split yoke comes off, so on the floor it reads as decor rather than production gear. Yoke back on and it hangs from truss like anything else, with a safety cable point built into the housing.

The beam is tight: 11.5 degrees, with a 21.6 degree field. That is a defined shaft of color up a column or a drape seam rather than a broad wash. Seven RGBWW emitters cover 2800K to 6500K, so the warm whites hold up next to tungsten practicals and the ambers do not go orange on you.

Matching runtime to the day

The spec sheet leads with 18 hours of battery life. That is accurate, and it is also a menu rather than a headline. Runtime and output come from the same battery, so the setting you choose sets how bright the fixture runs:

• 5 hours: 834 lumens
• 8 hours: 528 lumens
• 12 hours: 335 lumens
• 18 hours: 214 lumens

Plugged into AC, the same fixture makes 1,797 lumens.

For most of what we light, five and eight hours are the settings that matter. A gala runs five or six hours from doors to load-out. A corporate day with a general session and an evening reception fits inside eight. The longer runtimes are there for multi-day activations where the fixtures are decor and nobody is going to touch them until strike.

And when there is power at a position, use it. The built-in charger lets the fixture run while it charges, which gets you full output and turns the battery into a backup instead of the plan.

The specs that matter

• Light source: seven RGBWW LEDs, 2800K to 6500K
• Output: 1,797 lm on AC; 834 / 528 / 335 / 214 lm at the 5, 8, 12, and 18 hour battery settings
• Beam angle: 11.5°, field angle 21.6°
• Control: DMX over IP65 5-pin XLR, CRMX, RDM, RF remote (included), app control via WELL CONNECT and ConnectFX
• Channel modes: 5, 8, or 12
• PWM: selectable, up to 25 kHz
• Power: Seetronic PowerKon IP65 in and out, 43 W per fixture at 120 V
• Battery: lithium ion, 25.9 V / 2.5 Ah, eight hours to a full charge
• Rating: IP65 for temporary outdoor and wet use, ambient -4°F to 113°F
• Fixture: 7.2 lb, 5.43 x 5.43 x 5.67 in with the yoke removed
• Case: 32.7 x 19.3 x 15.4 in, six fixtures per case, charges all six with the lid open

We carry 102 units, available now, shipped six to a road case.

Why it’s in the fleet

Almost every room we light now ends up on a sensor, either streamed live or cut into a recap video a week later. The WELL POD 2 has selectable PWM up to 25 kHz, so it can be tuned off a camera’s shutter and stay clean in the frame. A battery uplight that bands on video is a battery uplight that comes out of the design.

The rest is logistics, and logistics is most of what makes a room happen on time. Six fixtures to a case, eight hours from empty to full. A Friday gala goes back out Saturday.

If you are laying out a room and want to talk through placement before the plot is locked, give us a call.