0-10 V control for eurolite 2700 strobe

[Gava18]

Hello to all, I'm so glad I found this forum. I have a huge problem. I own an Eurolite 2700 strobe with a XOP15 lamp, it has 1500 w and it does not have a DMX control but, instead it has a 0-10 V analog control. Could you give please an idea or a drawing on how to build such a controller unit? I plan to be able to vary only the frequency not also the intensity of the strobe beam. Please help me because I am desperate. Thank you very much.


Best wishes,
Catalin.

[icewolf08]

Doug Fleenor, the DMX guru makes a converter box from DMX to Analog 0-10v. You can get one that has 24 analog outs or you can get the GPI interface with 2 analog outs. They work great, I use one to control the house lights at my theatre. The GPI board runs $220 plus the cost of connectors. Simple and effective. Check them out here: www.dfd.com

[Gava18]

I do not want to buy one, I simply want to build one, so anybody, if you would be so kind to give ma an idea or some clue on how to build it.

[icewolf08]

Well, chances are you are going to have to buy something, but if you want it to be cheaper than Doug's board, you could go to your local electrical supplier or Home Depot or Lowes and pick up some low voltage dimmers. They do exist, I know that Lutron makes some. Then pick up or cannibalize some 10v DC transformer bricks (from things like a DiscMan) and wire it up through the dimmer to your strobe.

Make sure you read the manual on your fixture so that you get the polarity right or it will never work again. I don't know anything about the strobe you have, but it isn't hard to make the 0-10v dimmer.

If you read through our forums though, you will find that we try to advocate doing things the right way as opposed to klooging things together. When you take shortcuts and do it yourself you run a great risk of damaging your equipment and possibly yourself, especially if you don't know how to do what you want to do. With relatively expensive and useful gear like strobes, it is better to get the part you need from the manufacturer, or from someone who makes what you need. It just makes it less likely that things will go wrong. Plus if you spend the money on good piece of equipment, it will last much longer than something you make yourself.

[Grog12]

If you read through our forums though, you will find that we try to advocate doing things the right way as opposed to klooging things together.

Wait does that mean I have to stop duct taping bare wire into circuits?

[icewolf08]

Wait does that mean I have to stop duct taping bare wire into circuits?

Let me direct you to the thread on what you have been electrocuted by... You may eventually be able to claim the title of first to really be electrocuted (though you may find it hard to tell us about it then...).

[avkid]

Wait does that mean I have to stop duct taping bare wire into circuits?

You might want to look into electrical tape:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_tape

[SHARYNF]

are you just trying to control it using the 10 volt analog or are you trying to use dmx to analog conversion?

Sharyn

[Gava18]

I am trying to conmtrol it over the 0-10 v, with a analog controller, not using a DMX controller. And I do not know how to build an analogical controller.

Catalin.

[SHARYNF]

the absolute simplest is a wall wart and a pot. but if you want to get a bit more sophisticated here is a replacement for the pot

http://www.edn.com/archives/1997/102397/22di_04.htm

Here is a dimmer from boats that use 12 volts

http://www.sailorsams.com/mall/dimmer_d1201.asp

here is another option
http://www.platinumlightinginc.com/DIMMER/dimmer.html

Sharyn

[JD]

Simple way: Two 9 volt batteries in series. Attach a 8k resistor to the + and the other end to a 10k pot (radio shack on both parts, about $3 so far.) The bottom end of the pot goes to the - on the batteries. your output will be the center taper (center tab) on the pot and your common is the - on the batteries. Note, you can vary the values quite a bit and it will work fine. all you are doing is dividing the 18 volts from the two batteries with an 8 and 10 k divider. Pot output would be 0 to +10 volts. You could use a 4k resistor and a 5k pot and it will work as well. For some reason, resistors are often stocked odd values. you can get pretty sloppy with the values and it will still work. (ex- 7.9k or 8.2k would work fine.) good luck!

[SHARYNF]

you can also substitute a wall wart for the batteries
Sharyn

[Charc]

I haven't read through every post in this thread, but I just want to verify that all these techniques used to attain 0-10V DC can be used to attain 0-12V DC?

[JD]

Yea, in the case of my sample, change the resistor to about 5k, and the pot stays at 10k. That would give you a 0 to +12 output. (18 volts divided by 15k = 1.2 volts drop per k, or about 12 volts on the 10k pot)