Control/Dimming - Controlling DMX fixtures with SmartFade 1248

[atb3185]

Hi there, I am relatively new to lighting design. I am a student lighting designer for my high school. The school I am at is quite limited when it comes to dimmers/fixtures. We currently have 24 dimmers and the same number of fixtures. We're looking to rent some fixtures for a play coming up and using twofers to double up. Our console is the ETC SmartFade 1248. TOTALLY entry level. I just downloaded SmartSoft for this console, and it will be a huge help.

That's where I am coming from.

My question is this: Can the SmartFade 1248 be used to control things like gobo rotators or color scrollers? If it can, what would the wiring look like to get DMX signal from the console to the devices? I should mention that my only DMX out of the board is going to our Legacy Unison DR Series Dimming Rack.

Thanks!

Andrew

[Esoteric]

Originally Posted by atb3185

Hi there, I am relatively new to lighting design. I am a student lighting designer for my high school. The school I am at is quite limited when it comes to dimmers/fixtures. We currently have 24 dimmers and the same number of fixtures. We're looking to rent some fixtures for a play coming up and using twofers to double up. Our console is the ETC SmartFade 1248. TOTALLY entry level. I just downloaded SmartSoft for this console, and it will be a huge help.

That's where I am coming from.

My question is this: Can the SmartFade 1248 be used to control things like gobo rotators or color scrollers? If it can, what would the wiring look like to get DMX signal from the console to the devices? I should mention that my only DMX out of the board is going to our Legacy Unison DR Series Dimming Rack.

Thanks!

Andrew

Yes it can if it has enough channels. You would need a DMX Opti-Splitter. DMX out on the console goes into the splitter then one line out goes to the dimmers and the other line goes to the rotator/color scroller power supply.

Mike

[lieperjp]

You would need a DMX splitter like this: Elation 1x4 DMX Branch. I've used this one both at my High School and here at my college, they work great. As Mike said, you just need to run your DMX out to the IN on this splitter, then use port one to send DMX to your dimmers and then port two to send DMX to your scrollers. You should then be able to daisy chain between special effects equipment. You also will want to check into DMX termination to help prevent errors on your rotators/scrollers, just do a search on CB as there have been multiple threads about this, including links to sites that will tell you how to build your own.

Just to check - are you doubling up on dimmers because you have run out of dimmers or channels on the board? If you've run out of channels on the board you might want to look into getting a bigger board before getting into scrollers/rotators.

[atb3185]

Thank you both for the input. I think that I will be testing out some dmx controllable fixtures (Color Commands because I have cheap access to four of them) with our musical in March. Unfortunately, like many high schools, our budget is tiny, so we are stuck with the SmartFade.

Since we only have 24 dimmers, and the SmartFade 1248 has 48 channels, I have enough extra channels to do a little bit with.

Thanks again

[Esoteric]

I have a question is the Smartfade locked into the 48 channels? Or can you access more via the keyboard (like the Express)?

Mike

[soundlight]

Originally Posted by Esoteric

I have a question is the Smartfade locked into the 48 channels? Or can you access more via the keyboard (like the Express)?

Mike

There isn't a keypad.

[Esoteric]

Originally Posted by soundlight

There isn't a keypad.

Another reason to hate the Smartfade.

Mike

[lieperjp]

Originally Posted by Esoteric

Another reason to hate the Smartfade.

Mike

Don't hate... It's not that hard! I mean, it's not like it's a rig of fifty movers...

[waynehoskins]

Originally Posted by lieperjp

Don't hate... It's not that hard! I mean, it's not like it's a rig of fifty movers...

Extreme dislike instead, how's that?

[Esoteric]

Originally Posted by waynehoskins

Extreme dislike instead, how's that?

How about revulsion?

Mike