Dimmer Pack

[rapscaLLion]

I have a small question for those knowlegable with the workings of a dimmer pack. Our school generall permits students to do most everything in the aud themselves, except climbing ladders and the catwalk for liability reasons. The only other thing they forbid is students in the electric cage. It's basically a cage to the side of the stage that houses the dimmer pack and amps for the main speakers, snake, etc. Now we generally go in anyway, but as such we have not recieved any proper education on the workings of a dimmer pack. I'm fairly sure that ours is a strand CD-80, I know for sure it's from Strand though. The problem is, the custodians must be the ones to turn it on, as they are basically the only ones covered under insurance for that kind of stuff. Now, most of them are, unfortunately very hostile towards the students. The proper way to turn on our dimmer pack is to flip the large switch on the breaker box to the side of it. However, half the time these idiots flip that switch, then notice the on/off button at the pack's control panel. They press the "On" button and all the lights come on, so they assume they did the right thing and leave. Unfortunately the on/off button is the panic switch, and once on is pressed ALL the lights come on at 100% and any commands from the strand control board are ignored. Basically I have all these lights running at full, putting wear on the bulbs, dimmers and gels, and I can't control them. I either have to ask a custodian to fix it (most don't understand what I'm talking about) or reach into the cage with a stick and turn the breaker off and on again.


We sometimes rent our aud to community groups for whatever they need to do, and they must provide all their own equipment. I think the custodians simply turn the panic on for these functions, because they don't know how to work the board.


My question is, will the panic being constantly on (or flashed lol) do damage or accelerate wear and tear on our dimmer pack? (ie-should I complain about this?)


Wow that was REALLY long winded... sorry!

[propmonkey]

if they are a CD-80 rack. i have seen that you can change the preset panic botton to only turn lights that you have programed to turn on when pushed. i will look tomorrow on how to do that. i have been meaning to see what ours is set as and to change it to only house lights and scoops to come on.

[bdesmond]

Originally Posted by propmonkey

if they are a CD-80 rack. i have seen that you can change the preset panic botton to only turn lights that you have programed to turn on when pushed. i will look tomorrow on how to do that. i have been meaning to see what ours is set as and to change it to only house lights and scoops to come on.

CD-80 (and/or CD-80SV, I forget) rack there is a set of jumpers on the supervisor board to select which circuits are panic'ed on when the panic switch is engaged on the rack or remotely. This involves powering down the rack, removing the supervisor module, and setting the jumpers. Check the manual as I know this is documented. It has certainly been a while since I looked at this type of thing.

[propmonkey]

is it a rack or pack?

how many dimmers?

http://www.strandlight.com/PDF/Data%...v%20Rack.q.pdf <-- thats the rack manual
http://www.strandlight.com/PDF/US/20...r%20packs..pdf <-- pack manual

[Mayhem]

One option would be to have stickers made up that rename the switch to "panic" or "emergency over ride" or similar. The next would be to place a laminated card or sheet of paper that states the sequence for powering up the dimmers and powering down the dimmers (perhaps even lable the breaker that powers them).

Might be an easy solution.

[propmonkey]

doesnt the dimmers turn on with the board? ive never had to manual turn on the power.

[Radman]

I agree with mayhem. A little note on the button that says "do not push" or "emergency use only" should avoid any mistakes at power-up.

[rapscaLLion]

If the custodians paid attention or even spoke much english I would be inclined to agree.
And it is a CD-80 supervisor rack, not a pack. That's definately the manuel for it, I'll take a look at it.

[Mayhem]

Originally Posted by rapscaLLion

If the custodians paid attention or even spoke much english I would be inclined to agree.
And it is a CD-80 supervisor rack, not a pack. That's definately the manuel for it, I'll take a look at it.

Then maybe a bid red "X" or a skull and crossbones!

[rapscaLLion]

lol
I don't know about that...