Prodigy Balance is a revolutionary approach to traditional counterweight rigging. ETC has improved century-old technology through innovative engineering to encourage safer backstage environments. ETC is making rigging easier for staff and making it possible
for students to learn the theory behind, and practice of, manual counterweight rigging.
ETC is bringing the art back to manual counterweight rigging.
With a maximum travel of 50 feet and a lifting capacity of 1200 pounds, Prodigy Balance is a perfect complement to ETC’s line of automated hoists that are designed for lifting heavier loads.
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Stay Grounded. Stay Safe. Stay Balanced.
Safety Features
The self-contained weight stack allows for weight balancing at stage level using a series of pins that engage and disengage weight to match what is on the pipe. No more climbing narrow staircases. No more leaning over railing multiple stories in the air.
No more loading or unloading heavy bricks. With Balance, your feet never leave the ground.
Innovative detachable clew
Load arbor weight and batten at the same time with Prodigy Balance!
- Lock the provided drill onto the bolt.
- Run the drill to detach the top clew from the bottom arbor. This disconnects the weight from the batten.
- As the clew rises, the batten lowers.
- Select the number of bricks that equal the weight of the equipment on the batten.
- Run the drill to return the clew to the lowered position, reattaching it to the brick stack.
- If there is more weight on the batten than brick weight, the brick stack will start to rise as the weight of the batten pulls down. Run clew back out and adjust bricks as needed.
Weights and pins
Unlike traditional arbors that are constructed with a top and bottom plate connected by rails, the Prodigy Balance arbor uses a set of bayonets to hold the weighted bricks. Each brick is designed to nest on top of another to create a stable stack
and features a machined slot holding a laser-cut pin that engages with the arbor.
Rope lock and brake
There is a position sensor built into the rope lock system, so if the rope ever moves faster than the preset speed, the brake automatically engages to control the travel and reduce the impact of the arbor. While we’ve made it nearly impossible
to have an unbalanced load, you can rest assured that if it does happen, our integrated safety features minimize the damage.
Unlock the full potential of Prodigy Balance
The intensity and color of the integrated LEDs can be controlled using a QuickTouch Preset or Foundation controller – something
you might already have if your rigging system includes any of our automated hoists. These lights can be used as work lights, or rail lights during a show so you won’t have to install additional backstage lighting.
Your controller also runs line set positioning reports so you can track usage remotely, and gives you the ability to lock line sets, preventing unauthorized users from running your Balance system while you’re away.
Install in a fraction of the time
The modular guide wall and self-contained weight stack mean Prodigy Balance is installed in a fraction of the time as a traditional counterweight system. And because all weight is balanced at stage level, there’s no longer a need for a loading
bridge. A Prodigy Balance system cuts down on install time and budget!
If you are retrofitting an existing space, you might consider using compression tube to get the additional features of ETC’s automated Prodigy hoists. With compression tube, you don’t need to worry about lateral loads on your building structure
or relying on structural beam location for loft block placement.
Balance integrates with ETC SiteLink for full cloud-based system monitoring!
