Sine Wave Dimming

[Nate1714]

Just thought I would Share this article for all to read. Enjoy the Future!

TheSilence of the Lamps: The New Wave in Dimming

 

[acoppsa]

Little bit of a hijack here but the article mentions that PAR lamps are particularly susceptible to 'lamp sing'. I have definitely noticed this, particularly in our compact black-box-like theatre. It makes it difficult to use the parcans without having them at full because if too many of them are dimmed it gets quite noisy!
Is there anything I can do to lessen this without investing in these new dimmers?
Thanks

 

[MNicolai]

Little bit of a hijack here but the article mentions that PAR lamps are particularly susceptible to 'lamp sing'. I have definitely noticed this, particularly in our compact black-box-like theatre. It makes it difficult to use the parcans without having them at full because if too many of them are dimmed it gets quite noisy!
Is there anything I can do to lessen this without investing in these new dimmers?
Thanks

Lamp them down to lower wattages, making Full consist of fewer lumens. That's really all you can do.

 

[Anvilx]

Note: the arcticle is from 2004.

Still, an interesting read.

 

[STEVETERRY]

Just thought I would Share this article for all to read. Enjoy the Future!

TheSilence of the Lamps: The New Wave in Dimming

The most interesting thing about this article is the historical perspective and time frame. It was written in 2004, and Mats predicted the demise of SCR dimmers in favor of sine wave dimmers.

That has simply not happened, and there are no signs that it will happen. Sine wave dimming in North America remains a low-volume niche product.

By a large margin, SCR dimming remains the high-volume technology.

Why?

The market was simply not willing to embrace a technology with at least a 3X cost premium that solved a noise problem that was arguably only relevant to a small number of venues.

ST

 

[MNicolai]

The market was simply not willing to embrace a technology with at least a 3X cost premium that solved a noise problem that was arguably only relevant to a small number of venues.

ST

[future speculation: I will be proven wrong]All to be a moot point when we're all using LED sources![/future speculation]

 

[SteveB]

[future speculation: I will be proven wrong]All to be a moot point when we're all using LED sources![/future speculation]

[Future Speculation}, that LED's as primary lighting source and as replacement for incandescent in use as lighting the human face, will not happen. Unless they solve serious CRI issues. Right now an LED and this means pretty much everyones LED fixtures, look like crap on the the human skin.

Plasma lamps ? - maybe.

 

[epimetheus]

To add a little more info - Mats Karlsson, the article author, is now the Technology Manager for Martin Visual Solutions.

 

[pathway]

Little bit of a hijack here but the article mentions that PAR lamps are particularly susceptible to 'lamp sing'. I have definitely noticed this, particularly in our compact black-box-like theatre. It makes it difficult to use the parcans without having them at full because if too many of them are dimmed it gets quite noisy!
Is there anything I can do to lessen this without investing in these new dimmers?

You can also experiment with different makes of lamps, though admittedly you can only try this with a couple at a time for cost reasons. In my experience, each lamp manufacturer constructs their product slightly differently (for example how well the filament is supported) and I've seen some significant differences in filament noise for the same type and wattage of lamp.

The specs of the SCR dimmer's filter choke also play a part in lamp noise. Chokes rated at less than 500mA per microsecond and those made of laminated iron (versus toroidal) can result in this problem. Also, if you have a 2.4KW dimmer with only 500W connected, expect more singing from your lamps as the choke's best performance is at its nominal load rating.

Hope this helps!

 

[Nate1714]

I would like to see some more plasma sources out there. There are a few out there but the technology just isn't worth it yet. One it is though its goal is to be inbetween LEDs and incandescent for power and lamp life.

 

[MNicolai]

I would like to see some more plasma sources out there. There are a few out there but the technology just isn't worth it yet. One it is though its goal is to be inbetween LEDs and incandescent for power and lamp life.

Every time I have talked about the future of light sources across the past 2-3 years, I've heard, "I think plasma sources are going to be revolutionary." That's greeted with a ,"That sounds interesting," and everyone moves on. I haven't met a person yet who has actually used a plasma source first-hand and can actually talk about where that technology is and where it's going.