dimmable florescents

[koncept]

im sure someone will come and say they dont exist, but i've been looking at several. The question no is....the ones i have seen use a 0-10v range to control the dimming. can anyone help me find one that does it over line voltage or a method to use the 0-10v via dmx or someother method on a light board????

edit:
notes & additional quewstiosn:
http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/462971
http://www.goodmart.com/products/36104.htm

"The QUICKTRONIC POWERSENSE T8 dimming ballast is ideal for use in school auditoriums and classrooms, conference rooms and even private offices. For the individual office or conference room, installation can be streamlined by using a 2-wire power-line dimmer; eliminating the need for additional control wires."

does that mean i can wire these straight to the dimmer ciruit or do i need a separate dimmer??

[avkid]

I think it means you can direct wire them, but we better wait for Ship or somebody else who can give their professional opinion.

[AVGuyAndy]

Doug Fleenor and Dove systems have 0-10v analog-DMX interfaces.

[koncept]

Thanks you. That will simplfy things greatly.

[Foxinabox10]

Are you trying to dim them or just operate them through your dimming system? If you're trying to dim them, make sure you get the bulbs changed out for bulbs that support the dimming of them.

[koncept]

IT will be dimming and through the dimming system, tahts why i had started asking about the 0-10v

what i plan to do is:
set however many channels we will be needing (based upon amps) as non-dims and plugging the balasts into that. then setting another non dim for the dmx to 0-10v controler and then patching those channels to the board to control the dim on the florescents.

thanks for the tip about the buld, i would not have thought about that....

[moojoe]

though i havent worked with dimmers much lately, if i remember correctly, florecents work differently then indecent (or however you spell it) lamps. so you will need to set those specific dimmers to work for florecents. i know you can easily do these on all ETC dimmers, not sure about others. just look at your dimmer manual though.

[jumpjet]

indecent

Har! Darn those indecent lamps!

[raar]

Look at this website: http://www.se-ag.ch/
You will find a produkt called VIP90 ( http://www.se-ag.ch/vip90.htm )
The site is in german though.
These are the best option I have seen around. You can use it in standard fluorescent fittings like for 1m20 tubes and use standard tubes nothing fancy needed. They work really from 0% to 100%. You might need to put a ballast because only one fluorescent (max 56W) won't be enough for most dimmers to work properly. The other thing you supply the transformator (the VIP90) with dimmer power and nondimmed power, the need to be on the same phase otherwise this system can't work.

If you want more info contact me at mailto:arjen@bijtelaar.nl

[ship]

Leviton/NSI/Colortran offers dimmers now for architectural applications that in working with ?advance ballast does a DMX signal to them. On the 1-10v, I'm not aware of any control signal electronic ballast that will work off 1-10v DC analog. DMX is the thing now a days.

Of notes I remember in stydying into the subject of some club wanting to attach their 8' fluorescent tubes to the DMX control of the rest of the club, first that 8' fluorescent lamps at this point are not dimmable by more than 10%. Second the more modern aka T-8 or T-5 the size the lamp, the easier it is to dim it electronically. Such ballasts can dim off a DMX signal to control them down to ??? about 30%. This as opposed to about 90% for a non-dim ballast. The smaller the lamp the easier to control it's dimming.

All this said, in the afternoon I'll be working on some Encapsulite fluorescent lighting fixtures. They have some quality magnetic ballasts that work down to about 40% in powering them up thru a ETC dimmer.

There are ballasts for flourescents that will dim either electronically and using DMX or a pripriotary control signal, or those that will work on stage dimmer packs just as well. Dimming a fluoresent will destroy much of it's lamp life but can be done.

What brand/type you list no doubt will work in one of the similar above ways.