Replacing Tungsten With LED in a School or Village Hall: What to Swap First

A practical upgrade path for halls with old tungsten parcans, fresnels and profiles on a dimmer rack: the two facts that decide the order, a phased plan you can budget for one term or one grant at a time, and real power figures from the manufacturers.

~10 min read · Updated October 2026 · By the Stage Supply team

In this guide: The short answer · Power: the dimmer problem · Control: DMX and the desk · A sensible order · Power draw compared · Running a mixed rig · Example kit by phase · Popular picks · FAQ

The short answer

Swap the front light first, then the colour washes, then the specials. Before you buy a single fixture, though, sort out two things that tungsten never needed: constant power at the lighting positions, and a DMX desk that can control LED fixtures properly.

Those two points decide the order more than budget does. An LED fixture cannot simply go into the socket where the old lantern was, because in most halls that socket is fed from a dimmer. Get the power and control right once, and every LED fixture you add afterwards just plugs in.

This guide is about the upgrade path. For the bigger picture of a school hall’s sound, lighting and video, see our school AV guide; for building a rig from nothing, see your first lighting rig.

Power: why LED cannot go on the old dimmer

A tungsten lantern has no electronics in it. The dimmer rack varies its brightness by chopping the mains supply, and the filament simply glows less. An LED fixture is different: it contains a power supply, a processor and a DMX receiver, and it dims itself internally. It needs constant, undimmed mains, with brightness sent to it as data over a DMX cable.

Manufacturers say not to do it: the Elumen8 Virtuoso 600 Profile WW manual, for example, states “Do not connect this equipment to a dimmer pack.” On a dimmer channel an LED fixture can flicker, buzz, reboot or damage its power supply. The full explanation, including what a relay or switch pack does, is in dimmers, relay packs and why LED fixtures do not dim on a dimmer channel.

Two practical consequences. First, get a quote for the power work early so it can be budgeted alongside the first batch of fixtures. Second, the switch to LED usually reduces the electrical load considerably (see the figures below), which is worth telling the electrician at the start.

If you want LED fixtures to switch off from the desk at the end of an event, or to bring on a non-dimmable item such as a hazer with a cue, a DMX switch pack does that without chopping the waveform. The Elumen8 Cygnus RSP4 is one example: Elumen8 describes it as a DMX recorder and switch pack with four 5-pin DMX outputs and four Power Twist TR1 outputs, each with its own current monitor, and with scenes, chases and switching that can be triggered by daily or weekly timers or by DMX. Connecting it to the building supply is, again, for a competent person.

Control: DMX and a desk that understands LED

A tungsten lantern uses one dimmer channel. An LED fixture uses several DMX channels of its own, and the number depends on the mode you pick. Chauvet lists 1, 2 or 5 channels for its warm white Ovation F-145WW-2 fresnel, and modes from 6 up to 14 channels for the full-colour COLORdash Par H12X IP. One DMX universe carries 512 channels, which is plenty for a typical hall rig, but it changes what kind of desk is comfortable to use.

An old two-preset manual desk gives you one fader per channel. That is fine for twelve tungsten dimmers and awkward for twelve LED pars that each need red, green, blue, amber, white and intensity. A desk with a fixture library lets you pick the fixture, choose a colour, and record a cue, which is what volunteers and students need.

The ChamSys QuickQ range is built for that. ChamSys says QuickQ is aimed at the novice user, with a smartphone-like touchscreen interface. The QuickQ 10 outputs one universe from one DMX port and has 20 fixture faders; the QuickQ 20 outputs two universes from two DMX ports. Our ChamSys MagicQ range explained guide compares the whole family, and lighting desk basics covers patching, cues and playbacks.

DMX runs from the desk to the first fixture, then daisy-chains fixture to fixture, with a terminator in the last one. Use proper DMX cable such as the Elumen8 10m 5-pin DMX cable or LEDJ 2m 5-pin DMX cable for the links between fixtures on a bar, not microphone cable, and finish the line with a 5-pin DMX terminator. Addressing and universes are explained in DMX explained, and terminators and 3-pin/5-pin adaptors in DMX adaptors and terminators.

If your existing dimmer rack takes a DMX input, the new desk can run the remaining tungsten channels as well as the LED fixtures during the changeover. Check the rack’s own manual for its control input before you plan on that.

A sensible order: front light, washes, then specials

This is guidance, not a rule. No regulation dictates the order; it is simply the sequence that gives the biggest improvement for each pound spent in most halls. Adjust it to what your hall actually uses the stage for.

Phase 1: power, desk, cable and front light

Front light is what lets an audience see faces, and it is used at every assembly, concert, play and prize-giving. It is usually also the largest group of tungsten lanterns, so swapping it gives the largest drop in heat and power. Why each angle matters is in lighting a stage: front, back and side.

Choose between warm white and full colour. Warm white fixtures, such as the ADJ Encore Profile 1000 WW, the Elumen8 Virtuoso 600 Profile WW and the Ovation F-145WW-2 fresnel, behave most like the tungsten they replace and keep the desk simple. Full-colour fixtures, such as the Chauvet Ovation E-2 FC profile and the Ovation F-415FC-2 fresnel, can also do the colour and colour-temperature work that gels used to. Profiles throw a hard-edged, shapeable beam from the back of the hall; fresnels give a soft-edged wash on the stage bars. See stage lighting fixture types for how the two differ, and ADJ Encore range explained for the rest of the Encore family.

Phase 2: colour washes

Gelled parcans are the next target. Tungsten parcans burn through gel and draw a great deal of power for the coloured light they produce, and one LED wash fixture replaces a whole set of differently gelled lanterns because it mixes its own colour. LED pars such as the Elumen8 Alu HEX Par 64, the COLORdash Par H12X IP or the theatre-grade Chauvet Ovation P-56FC-2 suit back and top light. For an even wash across a cyclorama or back wall, look at a batten such as the Chauvet COLORado Batten Q15 or a dedicated cyc light such as the Ovation CYC 3 FC. Battens, pars and uplighters are compared in stage wash lighting.

Phase 3: specials and the rest

Specials are the lanterns used for one moment: a spot on a lectern, a gobo, a pool of light for a soloist. They see less use, so they can wait. A full-colour profile such as the Elumen8 Virtuoso 600 Profile HEX covers gobo and specials work, and larger fresnels such as the Elumen8 Virtuoso 1500 Fresnel HEX or Virtuoso 2500 Fresnel HEX fill in bigger stages. This is also the point at which to decide whether the dimmer rack has anything left to do.

Power draw compared, using manufacturer figures

The figures below are the maximum power each manufacturer states for the fixture, at 230V where the manufacturer gives a 230V figure. The tungsten reference is the lamp, not a fixture: Osram rates its CP62 PAR64 lamp (64739) at 1000W at 240V. Check the wattage printed on the lamps in your own cans.

As a worked example, a bar of eight parcans with CP62 lamps is 8,000W of lamp load. Eight Elumen8 Alu HEX Par 64s at Elumen8’s stated 150W each is 1,200W at full output.

Running a mixed rig during the changeover

Most halls will run tungsten and LED side by side for a term or two. That is fine as long as nobody can confuse the two kinds of outlet.

• Keep the dimmer for the tungsten that remains, and never plug an LED fixture into a dimmed outlet, even with the channel at full.
• Have the electrician label dimmed and constant outlets at the bar and at the rack, and mark them on the rig plan.
• Patch the remaining dimmer channels into the new desk alongside the LED fixtures, if the rack takes DMX, so one operator runs everything.
• When the last tungsten lantern goes, decide with the electrician what happens to the rack. A dimmer left in place with nothing to dim is a trap for whoever comes next.

Any change to how lighting bars are hung, or to what is hung on them, is outside this guide. Bars, suspension and loading are for a competent person to assess.

Example kit by phase

Popular picks from the shop

Frequently asked questions

Can I plug LED pars into my old dimmer packs?

No. LED fixtures need constant, undimmed power and take their brightness from DMX. On a dimmer channel they tend to flicker, buzz, reboot or fail. Use constant-power outlets, and get a competent electrician to provide and label them where the bars are currently all dimmed.

What should we replace first when moving from tungsten to LED?

Sort out constant power and a DMX desk first, then replace the front light, which is used at every event. Colour washes come next and specials last. That order is guidance rather than a rule.

How much power does an LED par use compared with a 1000W parcan?

A CP62 PAR64 lamp is rated at 1000W by Osram. LED pars we stock are rated by their manufacturers at a fraction of that, for example 150W for the Elumen8 Alu HEX Par 64 and 123W at 230V for the Chauvet COLORdash Par H12X IP. That compares electrical load, not brightness.

Do we need a new lighting desk for LED?

Usually, yes. A manual one-fader-per-channel desk struggles with fixtures that use several channels each. A fixture-aware desk such as the ChamSys QuickQ 10 lets you choose fixtures from a library and pick colours directly.

Can we keep some tungsten lights alongside LED?

Yes. Keep the dimmer for the tungsten, make sure dimmed and constant outlets are clearly labelled, and if the dimmer rack takes DMX, control both from the same desk.

Warm white or full colour LED for front light?

Warm white is closest to tungsten and simpler to operate. Full colour can also replace your gels. Many halls go warm white for the front and full colour for the washes.