Dimmer pack help

[buddy101089]

Hey,
Ok we have a horizon dimmer system and 24 outputs on the floor, we do alot of changing week to week lighting that is not near some of these outputs so lights are without dimmers, therefore not able to use. I was wondering if with my system, can i add in one or 2 or 3 of the dimmer packs with 4 channels similar but not limited to http://www.chauvetlighting.com/syste...es/dmx-4.html? Thanks in adavance for your responses!

[Footer]

You can add as many dimmer packs as your heart desires, as long as you have enough power, enough dmx slots (I am going to assume your dimmers are dmx), and you have enough control channels to control them. With those type of dimmers usually people put them as close to the lightsource as possible and simply run 20amps and DMX to them. You will want to hook them up to "non-dimmed" power. If you have any other question simply post them here and someone will be able to answer.

[buddy101089]

Thanks alot! so if i only have one dmx output do i need a splitter? or are those any good, and which one do yall suggest! Thanks!

[Foxinabox10]

No...you don't want a splitter...DMX cannot be split very easily. What you want to do instead is run them in series. Run the output from one into another and then that output into the next. Run the output of the last pack into your board and if you address them right, you'll be ready to go.

[Footer]

DMX can be "split". You will need a device called at opto isolator spliter. Because DMX is a digital signal, simply making a Y adapter will not work. What these boxes essitialy do is convet the digital electrical signals to light then split it then they convert the light back to electrical signals. It is only cost effective to buy one of these (they are very expensive comparitivly) is if you need dmx is many locations and do not have or want to run the amount of cable to make a loopback at ever position. I would sudgest going the daisy chaining route, also you can use CAT5e cable instead of having to buy DMX cable for permanant installs, which will save drasticly on costs.

[Foxinabox10]

Originally Posted by Footer4321

DMX can be "split". You will need a device called at opto isolator spliter. Because DMX is a digital signal, simply making a Y adapter will not work. What these boxes essitialy do is convet the digital electrical signals to light then split it then they convert the light back to electrical signals. It is only cost effective to buy one of these (they are very expensive comparitivly) is if you need dmx is many locations and do not have or want to run the amount of cable to make a loopback at ever position. I would sudgest going the daisy chaining route, also you can use CAT5e cable instead of having to buy DMX cable for permanant installs, which will save drasticly on costs.

Actually by the time you buy the cat5e converters and cable, it's basically the same cost as buying long DMX cables from places like BMI Supply. From my experience, that approach is used more in making use of cat5e cables already run.

[Footer]

Originally Posted by Foxinabox10

Actually by the time you buy the cat5e converters and cable, it's basically the same cost as buying long DMX cables from places like BMI Supply. From my experience, that approach is used more in making use of cat5e cables already run.

DMX Cable goes for about 35 cents a foot, cat 5 is less then a penny per foot. You can buy a 1000' of cat5e for 70 bux at any home depot, a 5 pin XLR cost around 3.50. A 100' DMX cable runs around 70 dollars. ESTA has done studies on the effects of using cat5e as DMX cable and have put their stamp of aproval on it. It is not sudgested to be used in high use areas where it will be thrown in cable trunks and constantly handled, but for a more permant install it fills the bill.

[buddy101089]

We have a new lighting computer system bluelite x1 thats got 4 dmx universes. I have one main wall mounted output right behind my rack mounted controller that runs to the pc, can i use that as a universe and then use the 2nd one for the other dimmer packs and the 3rd universe for when we get our dmx movable heads and color changers or do i have to use all 512 channels of one then go to the next one and so fourth?

[Footer]

Originally Posted by buddy101089

We have a new lighting computer system bluelite x1 thats got 4 dmx universes. I have one main wall mounted output right behind my rack mounted controller that runs to the pc, can i use that as a universe and then use the 2nd one for the other dimmer packs and the 3rd universe for when we get our dmx movable heads and color changers or do i have to use all 512 channels of one then go to the next one and so fourth?

You can use the second universe. When you patch it (this is how most systems work) it will patch port number first, then dmx slot. So if you have something in port 1 address 87 it will address as 1/87. Same for port 2 address 250... 2/250. Most places run a seperate feed to dimmers and intels. I usually run one run to dimmers, one to electrics, and one to FOH. If you system does not use the port/slot scheme then you will need to add 512 to everything in port 2 and 1024 to everything in port 3, as long as your ports are set up to output a full universe .

[buddy101089]

yea ours does auto patch and u select which universe you want to add to the cue list and all that fun stuff so if i did my old system one my new system the other and the inteli lights on the 3rd and then fogs and stuff on 4th it wouldnt freak out?