Undimmable Swag lights

[Torch]

we have swag lights connected to a channel in the back of our stage, but the swag lights seem to be undimmable. From the booth, we try the wheel to dim them, but they dont dim, they just go off after they hit zero, but the dont dim at all. does anyone have any suggestions on what might be going on.

I was thinking that

1) because the swags are in parallel, and we took out two rows in the back, because the audience wont see it, and we dont want our actors breaking them, that that could be the reason

or

2) that the way that swags our wired, the voltage needed to sustain them is not able to be dimmed, and thus, we cannot dim them

but this is just me, does anyone know of anything whether they can or cannot be dimmed or might know what the problem is?

[soundlight]

If they're on a dimmer module in your rack, there could be a few problems:

1) they could be set to a non-dim profile on your board

2) the dimmer module could be set to non-dim

3) it could be a relay instead of a dimmer module (very unlikely)

4) they might not be drawing enough current to dim properly. how many watts are they?

[zac850]

I agree with soundlight. Or perhaps is it a florescent or arc light that is un-dimable? I doubt it, because it would flicker when you tried to dim it down. Something to look at though.

[Van]

Originally Posted by Torch

....we try the wheel to dim them, but they dont dim, ...

When you say wheel..... Do you mean they are on a wall mounted rheostat ? If so the action you are refferring to is quite common on overloaded rheostats. After a while they sort of burn out and become rotary on/off switches. If these swags are on a rheostat, I would suggest re-installing a heavy duty, commercial grade rheostat, with a heatsink facing. I bet they'd dim then.

[soundlight]

Oh yeah. Van's right there. If they're on a wall-mounted rheostat, get one that's rated for more than the total wattage of the bulbs. You might have a 300W rheostat and need a 600W, or have a 600W and need a 1000W, or have a 300W and need a 1200W (worst case scenario). And it gets worse if you have to find anything over 1200 watts, that'll be a special order from the electrical contractor.

[Torch]

thanks for all the imput and help, we found that it was actually the rheostat that was the prob. we had 300 and needed 12, plus the cable that we were using wasnt grounded properly, so we also had to do surgery and fix that as well.

Thanks all,

Torch

[Van]

YAY ! to coin a phrase, " Another Production Saved By Controlbooth.com"

[Torch]

HAHAHA indeed, thanks :D