Newbie seeks advice

Hello everyone!

I'm very excited to join the forum today.

A bit about me: I work as a manager and tech/installer at a venue that has theatrical shows as well as bands and comedians, etc during the evening and then the room transforms in to a nightclub after 10PM.
Since I've been manager in the past year I've completely gutted and upgraded the sound system. Picked out what went where and did all the cabling myself. Very happy with the outcome.
Now, I'm ready to tackle the outdated stage lighting.

I have no formal education doing this. It's all been hands on learning over the 20 years I've been in the industry.
I'm confident with audio. But still learning the way of lighting. I've only been dabbling in it for about 5 years. But I did all the cabling and installation for our dance lights as well as program them in our software.

I'm seeking out some upgrade advice to go from a traditional analog snake with stage pins to DMX and being able to control it with our current Lighting software. Light Factory.

If someone could point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it!
Looking forward to learning even more here!

Thank you so much!
Susan

Mod note: two similar threads merged, posts may appear out of the order they originally flowed.

kasnoo75 said:

I'm seeking out some upgrade advice to go from a traditional analog snake with stage pins to DMX and being able to control it with our current Lighting software. Light Factory.

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I don't think you've been specific enough about your existing equipment for anyone to provide anything useful. "Traditional Analog Snake with stage pins" sounds to me like you're talking about a multi-cable for power between the dimmers and the instruments. DMX is a digital control signal that runs from a controler to a dimmer for conventional fixtures or to the instruments themselves for moving lights or other effects generators. Your system is probably aready using DMX to send control signals from Light Factory to your dimmers.

robartsd said:

I don't think you've been specific enough about your existing equipment for anyone to provide anything useful. "Traditional Analog Snake with stage pins" sounds to me like you're talking about a multi-cable for power between the dimmers and the instruments. DMX is a digital control signal that runs from a controler to a dimmer for conventional fixtures or to the instruments themselves for moving lights or other effects generators. Your system is probably aready using DMX to send control signals from Light Factory to your dimmers.

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Hey there!
Thanks for the reply.
I'm sort of getting my feet wet on here.

Sorry to be vague. I have a bunch of pictures on their way from my tech assistant to better show what we currently have.
But for now.. we have incandescent lighting running from stage pins to a type of junction box set up in the booth. 2 rows with dozens of cables. Then the stage pin cables go to 3 big black boxes. I'll have more info on what they are when I get the pictures. From there we have what I think is a D Sub connector that runs from the vicinity of where the big boxes are to the Behringer lighting controller.

I want to upgrade by tossing our glitchy Behringer Eurolight controller and upgrading to full control over the stage lighting through light factory.

I'm wondering what converters and hardware I need in order to do this. I'm sure it would be helpful to know what those 3 huge black boxes are that we have and I'll get that info ASAP.

Thanks again!
Susan

kasnoo75 said:

Hey there!
Sorry to be vague. I have a bunch of pictures on their way from my tech assistant to better show what we currently have.
But for now.. we have incandescent lighting running from stage pins to a type of junction box set up in the booth. 2 rows with dozens of cables. Then the stage pin cables go to 3 big black boxes. I'll have more info on what they are when I get the pictures. From there we have what I think is a D Sub connector that runs from the vicinity of where the big boxes are to the Behringer lighting controller.

I want to upgrade by tossing our glitchy Behringer Eurolight controller and upgrading to full control over the stage lighting through light factory.

Click to expand...

3 big black box boxes are likey your dimmers. A D Sub connector is likely analog control of those dimmers. Most often analog congrol used a 0-10v signal. There are several products avalible to convert DMX to 0-10v and most dimmers are quite robust.

Getting as much information on this current equipment would be useful. Then posting your question in the Lighting and Elecitrics forum will likely yeild quite a bit of help (from people much more knowegeable than I am).

robartsd said:

3 big black box boxes are likey your dimmers. A D Sub connector is likely analog control of those dimmers. Most often analog congrol used a 0-10v signal. There are several products avalible to convert DMX to 0-10v and most dimmers are quite robust.

Getting as much information on this current equipment would be useful. Then posting your question in the Lighting and Elecitrics forum will likely yeild quite a bit of help (from people much more knowegeable than I am).

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Thank you SO MUCH.

You were correct. The black boxes are Genesis 1224 Teatronics Dimmers. The controller is hooked directly into the top one. I noticed on the back of the Dimmer there's an open spot for DMX 5 pin input / output. I'm wondering if it's as easy as hooking that up to the Enttec MK2 interface?? Wouldn't that be wonderful!

Hello everyone!

I'm very excited to join the forum today.

I have no formal education in A/V. It's all been hands on learning over the 20 years I've been in the industry.
I'm confident with audio. But still learning the way of lighting. I've only been dabbling in it for about 5 years and it's been mostly dance lighting. So forgive me if I don't use proper wording.

I'm seeking out some upgrade advice on our Stage Lighting.

Here's what we currently have: Incandescent lighting running from "stage pins" to 3 dimmers in our booth. Three Genesis 1224 Teatronics Dimmers. From there we have what I think is a D Sub connector that runs from the Dimmers to a Behringer lighting controller.

I want to upgrade by tossing our glitchy Behringer Eurolight controller and upgrading to full control over the stage lighting through light factory via DMX.

I noticed there is a DMX connector located on the back of the Genesis Dimmers. Is it as easy as connecting a 5 pin DMX cable to the Dinner from the Enttec MK2 DMX king Pro?

If it's not that easy.. then I'd love to know what I need to do in order to make this work?

Thank you SO MUCH!!! I look forward to the responses.
Susan

yes it is that easy BUT you have to set the DMX adress on the dimmers. So the cable runs from the Enttec MK2 to the dimmer and daisy chain on to the next dimmer and so on

coldnorth57 said:

yes it is that easy BUT you have to set the DMX adress on the dimmers. So the cable runs from the Enttec MK2 to the dimmer and daisy chain on to the next dimmer and so on

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This is the BEST NEWS!!
I wish I'd have known this a long time ago. Would have saved me some serious head aches.

Thank you!!!
And thanks for the quick reply.


Susan

One of the best things you can do is get a firm understanding about how DMX works, there's lots of articles around on controlbooth and other sources.

Any USB DMX dongle by Enttec should work well, except for the "Open" DMX one. There's lots of software options, I suggest you go ahead and download a couple to see which you like best. There will be quite a learning curve, although less than a real console.

kasnoo75 said:

I'm wondering if it's as easy as hooking that up to the Enttec MK2 interface?? Wouldn't that be wonderful!

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I think it is. The GENESIS 1224 Dimmer product page indicates that it accepts analog and digital controls simultaneously so your old Eurolight controler could be kept as a live backup control if you wish. I wish the conversion to DMX were as easy for me at my church as this should be for you. Good luck.

Referencing the manual for the 1224: http://www.teatronics.com/MANUAL/gen.pdf
looks like you'll need to pull open the front panel control card drawers and check that the multiplex switch is set to DMX and the pack select switches are set at 01, 03, and 05 on the dimmer packs so you will have individual control of each channel. Pages 15 and 16.

microstar said:

Referencing the manual for the 1224: http://www.teatronics.com/MANUAL/gen.pdf
looks like you'll need to pull open the front panel control card drawers and check that the multiplex switch is set to DMX and the pack select switches are set at 01, 03, and 05 on the dimmer packs so you will have individual control of each channel. Pages 15 and 16.

Click to expand...

Thanks!! I'll definitely make note and check that out. You guys have been a great help. thank you!