Light lifts

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Oakey

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
I will be doing an Aladdin 200 light lift soon, the fixture is 55 lbs. I have read all the specs and the attics pretty accessible and the ceiling is 18ft high. I already have a 16 ft step.
I have estimated 1.5 days to do this myself. Do you guys have any pointers for this type of install and maybe how long it took you to do it ?
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All help is appreciated!
 

frogneck77

Senior Member
Location
Shelton,CT
I have installed many of the Alladin light lifts, and it usually takes me and a helper anywhere from 4- 8 hrs, depending on the key switch location and whether or not the lift is located directly above the fixture or in a remote location. If multiple pulleys are involved, running the wire romk the winch thru the pulleys may be difficult. One tip-turn the light switch off before raising and lowering the light- I have had fuses blow in the motor housing when I didnt turn the light switch off, and I dont carry those little buss fuses on my truck. Any questions in regard to installation methods feel free to ask
Bill
 

stickboy1375

Senior Member
Location
Litchfield, CT
Hopefully you have a pretty simple setup, I recommend selling them the electronic wall switch, holding the key switch is a PITA, I've had very good luck installing them and i've only gotten to install 1 unit at the rough in stage of the job...
 

quogueelectric

Senior Member
Location
new york
aladdin lift

aladdin lift

Three plus two tips first find out if they want a medalion arround the chandelier as the finish must be flush and a large medalion could add 2 inches of buildup to the finish. Secondly make sure that the keyswitch is within eyesight of the fixture Do not back down from this as you are liable if someone gets hurt. Thirdly and this may seem silly is make absolutely sure you are winding the cable in the propper direction on the capstan as the motor doesnt know if it raising or lowering and the limits only work right when the cable is wound in the right direction. Fourthly make sure your pulleys are rated to handle the apropriate load. Fifthly make sure someone is near a service disconect on initial test in case your partner wires the controls wrong OOPS!!
 
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quogueelectric

Senior Member
Location
new york
6th

6th

When the meatead who you work with insists putting the keyswitch out of sight of the chandelier in the 52 foot high monitor tower then tapes the keyswitch on because he is in too much of a hurry to stand there while it lowers. When he forgets it is still running and it travels the entire length of the cable then starts winding backwards on the capstan the controls only work for lower and when it winds all the way back up 52 ft and hits the limit switch the lift still thinks it is lowering and gets stuck 52 ft in the 8x8 to 7x7 to 6x6 foot wide tower so you will have to rent a custom scaffold to go up 50 ft in a 6x6 opening. You can build it around the one man lift which will carry you up the first 30 ft and then you have to find someone as dumb as me to build the custom scaffold the rest of the way up and release the limit switches. I love this stuff!!
 

mattsilkwood

Senior Member
Location
missouri
ive done a few back when i was in residential, theyre not too bad if you have room to get up in the attic space to work, they are a PITA of a ladder. also i like to mount them on a couple pieces of stut and some spring nuts, it makes it easier to get it centered.
 

stickboy1375

Senior Member
Location
Litchfield, CT
mattsilkwood said:
ive done a few back when i was in residential, theyre not too bad if you have room to get up in the attic space to work, they are a PITA of a ladder. also i like to mount them on a couple pieces of stut and some spring nuts, it makes it easier to get it centered.


Alladin lift comes preinstalled with strut....
 

Oakey

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Thx for the tips guys I really appreciate it. The construction in the ceiling is 2"x6", is there something I should do do in this case for mounting the unit ?
 

active1

Senior Member
Location
Las Vegas
You plan on setting up a 16' A frame ladder yourself in a finished house?
A bulky fixture even if it weighs olny 55 lbs would be a PITA to set on the cable IMO. Getting the fixture box in the house even if not too heavy is more of a 2 person job.

2 guys can do it in about 4 or 5 hours if you have reasonable attic access.

You may need some addaptors to convert from the fixture thread to the thread on the lift which tends to be too big for an average fixture.

The keyswitch in a good line of sight as said.

You may need some 2x4's and lond screws to go across the joists to get enough hight for the unit above the drywall. Not nessisary but I like the weight going across more than 2 joists myself.
 

stickboy1375

Senior Member
Location
Litchfield, CT
Oakey said:
Thx for the tips guys I really appreciate it. The construction in the ceiling is 2"x6", is there something I should do do in this case for mounting the unit ?



Not really, the aladdin kit should be able to adjust to most framing.... it's a real simple install... just time consuming if anything...
 

JohnJ0906

Senior Member
Location
Baltimore, MD
I've done several of these, but I think everyone else has hit the high points.

I always keep some 2x4s in case the lift needs to be raise higher above the joists - and I also like to span more than 2 trusses.

Fixture parts- we always take a box of parts to mount the fixture to the lift. It does come with some parts.

USE the thread lock they give you! The lift often turns as it rises and lowers, I like to be sure the fixture won't unscrew itself.

You will need to secure the canopy, so it stays in place.
 

Oakey

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Thx for the tips guys!
Today I looked at the job as I am doing it tmmrw. Get this...as I am looking in the attic today I climb over the ductwork (naturally) and start to lay it out. I hear the homeowners voice in the attic looking for me and I guess he was paying attention more to finding me than where he was walking...Yup THUMP! Right thru the sheetrock ceiling! LOL Took 2 of us to pull him out, lucky my big 18 yr old kid was with me!
 

mthead

Senior Member
Location
Long Beach,NY
Light lifts

I installed quite a few Alladin light lifts .
After the first one I felt like a salesman for the company.
They were one of the most useful pieces of equipment that I have ever come across.
The unit itself ran from 700.00 to 1000.00.
This was not something you looked to make money on[little room for markup] and we would install them at rough--However the pay back in labor savings[you can install 200lb crystall chandelier in 20min at finish using this],damage savings[nothing on that fragile antique chandelier will be broken at install]and customer satisfaction [especially when they have the maid clean that chandelier before Thanksgiving Dinner without spinning it backwards with the extended feather duster so that it lets go over grandma as she enters the grand foyer on thanksgiving day]--well as they say..,"PRICELESS".
After the first one --if you plan ahead it should take you all of 2hrs for the unit install[this excludes rough in time-another 1hr-1 1/2 hrs]
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
mthead said:
The unit itself ran from 700.00 to 1000.00.
This was not something you looked to make money on[little room for markup]

Looks to me exactly like the type of equipment you mark up and make money on. Your cost $700 to $1000 their cost $1,400 to $2,000.
 

mthead

Senior Member
Location
Long Beach,NY
Light lifts

I guess thats why I'm inspector these days and not a contractor--I neglected to say tht the dollar figures I was using were according to work last done in 2002[ prior to my becoming an inspector].
 

quogueelectric

Senior Member
Location
new york
I am not a big fan of aladin

I am not a big fan of aladin

Fixture is allways hanging on cable it never takes the load off the cable. With winch raising and lowering and microswitches controling all of this. Other systems nest the fixture into a cradle taking the weight off the cable. Bottom line wouldnt install it in my house. But with 9 ft ceilings Im not gonna worry about it.
 
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